Of the 26 races that the California Chiropractic Association Political Action Committee (CCPAC) contributed to prior to the June primaries, 19 candidates prevailed, an impressive .730 winning percentage.
According to the Capitol Weekly, the CCPAC was the eighth largest campaign contributor during the last two-week reporting period prior to the June primary. The California Medical Association was the fifth largest PAC contributor, but experienced a much lower victory rate.
The society chapters of the CCA got involved in the primaries when officers interviewed their districts' Senate and Assembly candidates to determine local endorsements. Once the local chiropractic society endorsed a candidate, the CCPAC matched funds contributed by that society. Local CCA society members actively supported candidates by walking precincts, staffing phone banks, offering campaign volunteers the use of their offices, and by sending endorsement to their own patients.
The CCA also involved student volunteers in lobbying efforts in the California primary re-election campaigns of pro-chiropractic candidates Senator David Roberti (D) and district 67 Assemblyman Thomas Mays (R). While Roberti won his primary race for re-election, Mays did not prevail.
The students walked precincts to talk to voters, made phone calls, and distributed campaign literature. The student volunteers included: Susan Bromley, Sherrilyn Mead, Christine Sawyers, Chip Schelly, Elgee Tavanlar, Dennis Buckley, Rini Florence, and Lisa Strain (all from LACC); CCCLA student Ben Higier also participated.
According to the CCA, a Roberti aide claimed that the students had a significant impact on the campaign and stated, "If the word got around about how effective your students are, you are going to get deluged with request from many candidates."
The CCPAC raised more than $300,000 for "Campaign '92" and has set a new campaign plan for raising $1.2 million. "Our goal from the start was to make strategic contributions in the last few weeks of the primaries to increase the impact of our funds," said CCPAC Chair Dr. Robert Dark.
For information about the CCA's political action team, or to find out about local society endorsements, call the CCA at (916) 387-0177.
The CCA has joined forces with other provider groups including the California Nurses Association (CNA) and the California Acupuncture Association (CAA) to take action against Proposition 166, also known as the Affordable Basic Care (ABC) initiative. The groups have banded together under the title "Health Coalition '92" and plan to lobby against this California Medical Association sponsored initiative.
Prop 166 would allow various panels to determine what procedures are "cost-effective," and would establish the scope and definition of basic health care benefits, as well as practice parameters for all health care providers. The guidelines for the chiropractic profession would be determined by a medical policy panel comprised of seven physicians and surgeons. This panel would have the authority to determine which procedures and services are "experimental, investigational, outmoded, not efficacious or otherwise not sufficiently cost effective."
"CCA has recognized the importance of the physician cartel initiative (Prop 166) and has swiftly become a leader to oppose this onerous proposition," said CCA President Dr. James Petersen.
Many relevant diagnostic signs are not performed deliberately by the examiner or by the patient at the examiner’s direction. They are observed as the patient reacts to their condition. Fortin’s finger sign, Minor’s sign, and Vanzetti’s sign are three examples of this principle.
On Feb. 1, 2024, two more legislators – John R. Carter (R-Texas) and Robert “Bob” Good (R-Va.) – co-sponsored the Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act of 2023, bringing the co-sponsor total to 155, two more than the total achieved over the entire two-year congressional cycle in which identical legislation last appeared (2021-22).
While working at the Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque, N.M., one of the primary care physicians stated that imaging every patient prior to receiving chiropractic was not medically necessary. It was at that point I reconsidered the need for the imaging of every patient to avoid malpractice.
