Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB106 Compare Versions

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11 II
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION S. 106
55 To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide Medicare coverage
66 for all physicians’ services furnished by doctors of chiropractic within
77 the scope of their license, and for other purposes.
88 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
99 JANUARY16, 2025
1010 Mr. C
1111 RAMER(for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. DAINES, Ms. BALDWIN,
1212 Mr. M
1313 ORAN, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. ROUNDS, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. HEIN-
1414 RICH, Mr. HOEVEN, and Mr. COONS) introduced the following bill; which
1515 was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
1616 A BILL
1717 To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide
1818 Medicare coverage for all physicians’ services furnished
1919 by doctors of chiropractic within the scope of their li-
2020 cense, and for other purposes.
2121 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
2222 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
2323 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
2424 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Chiropractic Medicare 4
2525 Coverage Modernization Act of 2025’’. 5
2626 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; STATEMENT OF PURPOSE. 6
2727 (a) F
2828 INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 7
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3232 (1) In 1972, coverage was established under the 1
3333 Medicare program for beneficiaries to receive chiro-2
3434 practic care. 3
3535 (2) Unfortunately, the antiquated statute re-4
3636 stricts beneficiaries to one service in a chiropractic 5
3737 clinic and Medicare chiropractic coverage has not 6
3838 kept up with private sector coverage and other Fed-7
3939 eral health delivery systems. 8
4040 (3) Today, due to positive evidence-based out-9
4141 comes and cost effectiveness of the services provided 10
4242 by doctors of chiropractic, private coverage for chiro-11
4343 practic services has evolved and State licensure for 12
4444 chiropractors has advanced to meet patient needs 13
4545 and health outcomes. 14
4646 (4) This Act would bring Medicare chiropractic 15
4747 coverage more in line with that provided with the 16
4848 Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of De-17
4949 fense, the Federal Employee Health Benefits Pro-18
5050 gram, and private health insurance coverage. 19
5151 (b) P
5252 URPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to ex-20
5353 pand recognition and coverage of a doctor of chiropractic 21
5454 as a ‘‘physician’’ under the Medicare program in connec-22
5555 tion with the performance of any function or action, in-23
5656 cluding current service of ‘‘manual manipulation of the 24
5757 spine to correct a subluxation’’, as is legally authorized 25
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6161 by the State in which such doctor performs such function 1
6262 or action. 2
6363 SEC. 3. PROVIDING MEDICARE COVERAGE FOR ALL PHYSI-3
6464 CIANS’ SERVICES FURNISHED BY DOCTORS 4
6565 OF CHIROPRACTIC WITHIN THE SCOPE OF 5
6666 THEIR LICENSE. 6
6767 (a) I
6868 NGENERAL.—Section 1861(r)(5) of the Social 7
6969 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(r)(5)) is amended by strik-8
7070 ing ‘‘a chiropractor who is licensed as such by the State 9
7171 (or in a State which does not license chiropractors as such, 10
7272 is legally authorized to perform the services of a chiro-11
7373 practor in the jurisdiction in which he performs such serv-12
7474 ices), and who meets uniform minimum standards promul-13
7575 gated by the Secretary, but only for the purpose of sec-14
7676 tions 1861(s)(1) and 1861(s)(2)(A) and only with respect 15
7777 to treatment by means of manual manipulation of the 16
7878 spine (to correct a subluxation) which he is legally author-17
7979 ized to perform by the State or jurisdiction in which such 18
8080 treatment is provided’’ and inserting ‘‘a doctor of chiro-19
8181 practic who is licensed as a doctor of chiropractic or a 20
8282 chiropractor by the State in which the function or action 21
8383 is performed and whose license provides legal authoriza-22
8484 tion to perform such function or action in such State or 23
8585 in the jurisdiction in which the function or action is per-24
8686 formed’’. 25
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9090 (b) CERTAINCOVERAGELIMITS.—Section 1833 of 1
9191 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395l) is amended by 2
9292 adding at the end the following new subsection: 3
9393 ‘‘(ee) L
9494 IMITATION ONPAYMENT OFSERVICESPRO-4
9595 VIDED BYCERTAINDOCTORS OFCHIROPRACTIC.—Not-5
9696 withstanding any other provision of this part, in the case 6
9797 of services of a doctor of chiropractic described in section 7
9898 1861(r)(5), payment may only be made under this part 8
9999 for such services if— 9
100100 ‘‘(1) such services are furnished by a doctor of 10
101101 chiropractic who is verified once, by a process de-11
102102 signed by the Secretary, as attending an educational 12
103103 documentation webinar, or other similar electronic 13
104104 product, designed by the Secretary or an updated 14
105105 modified version of such webinar, as designed by the 15
106106 Secretary; or 16
107107 ‘‘(2) such services are treatment by means of 17
108108 manual manipulation of the spine to correct a sub-18
109109 luxation.’’. 19
110110 Æ
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