By Eric Brand

The insurance coverage of acupuncture currently varies widely from state-to-state, and insured patients in many states have very limited acupuncture benefits. Many acupuncturists have been following President Obama’s recently passed Affordable Care Act in the news, and the AAAOM and other groups have been working to establish better acupuncture coverage within the new healthcare environment created by the passage of this Act.

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Today, two major articles caught my attention. Anyone reading the news today will notice that the U.S. Supreme Court decided to hear a case challenging Obama’s health care overhaul, and the court case will likely be a key feature of the 2012 political landscape. The other article that caught my attention is a request for letter submissions to the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to support the inclusion of acupuncture into the health care overhaul. Organized by the AAAOM, nearly 3000 letters in support of acupuncture have been submitted to Secretary Sebelius, but more letters are needed.

This link takes you to the AAAOM’s website, where you can find the following description about the effort.

A white paper submitted to the Institute of Medicine contained contributions from the Council of Colleges of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (CCAOM), National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM), Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care (ACCAHC), Vermont Acupuncture Association (VTAA), Integrated Healthcare Policy Consortium (IHPC), and the American Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (AAAOM). The white paper itself contains some fascinating statistics and is worth reading.

From the AAAOM:

“The Affordable Care Act, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama in March 2010, affords patients better access to care, insurance-covered options, a patient's bill of rights, and much more. Following the adoption of this act, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius requested the support of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in recommending which services should be considered "essential health benefits" for Americans.
AAAOM has inaugurated a task force comprised of board members, student organization members and legal counsel. It has also submitted a white paper to IOM identifying acupuncture as cost-effective, safe and effective and substantiating it as essential for inclusion in the recommendations made to Secretary Sebelius.

The efforts made by the AAAOM task force support this unique opportunity to be regarded as equal and essential as all other allopathic services currently available to patients nationwide. This is our call to the table, along with all other respected health care services in the United States health care system.

We believe your endorsement will help this innovative, time-tested form of treatment become an essential part of our ever-changing health care landscape and will allow Americans lead healthier and more fulfilled lives. Please help us in allowing every American to become healthy and productive citizens.”