Reporting from Washington – Acupuncturists, dietary-supplement makers and other alternative health practitioners, some of whose treatments are considered unproven by the medical establishment, would be brought more squarely into the mainstream of American medicine under the health legislation now before the Senate.
The legislation would allow doctors to incorporate alternative health providers in some treatment plans. It also includes language that some believe could require insurance companies to expand their coverage for alternative therapies, on which Americans now spend $34 billion a year.
Insurers and some scientific watchdogs say the measure would undermine one of the central principles of the healthcare overhaul: that the system cut costs by eliminating medical treatments that aren’t proven effective.
“These provisions are anti-science and anti-consumer,” said Dr. Steven Novella, a professor of neurology at Yale School of Medicine, who is mobilizing opposition to the Senate bill.
The leading champion of these measures is Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Health Committee, who credits bee-pollen pills with curing his seasonal allergies. He is also the leading recipient in Congress of campaign donations from chiropractors and dietary-supplement makers.
Harkin’s staff says he supports healthcare that has shown itself to be effective.
“Sen. Harkin has done everything he can to ensure that supports for proven preventive practices, be they traditional or complementary, are included in this bill,” said spokeswoman Bergen Kenny, referring to a version of the legislation that cleared Harkin’s committee over the summer. Read more…
