It's about time: Acu at Federal Level
This just in:
There's a bill to add Acupuncture to Medicare services.
This could be a big deal since approval at the Federal level would likely pave the way for inclusion in other states' coverage as well.
Federal recognition - does it mean all the acupucture nay-sayers are wrong, or is the current administration nothing but a bunch of left-leaning hippie-loving liberals?
ox
On acupuncture:agree with herb ox
I hope that insurance coverage is extended to cover acupuncture treatment by licensed competent and qualified acupuncturists.
A single model of treatment does not serve every possible health problem.Medicine is an applied science not a pure science. The benefits of acupuncture has been of use to many people over many years. In every legitimate treatment systems there are competent people and incompetents, procedural care and procedural sloppiness.
There is no question on the efficacy and advantage of western medicine and equipment in a wide variety of cases, specially emergencies. But with some chronic problems many medications can have undesirable side effects and many surgical procedures are over used..
Comptent acupuncture has very little if any adverse side effects.
One of the problems in health delivery is the weakness of good diagnosis. Analysis of possible causation is an art that has been replaced by multiple lab testing more for legal reasons that medical.
So my brief is not for any acupuncture but good acupuncture. Check the background and training of the acupuncturist= one should do that more with MDs as well.
In the US in non Chinese communities- folks were not really aware of acupuncture till the Nixon visit to China when there were accompanying journalists including James Reston -an editor of the New York Times. He suffered serious appendicitis in China and there was not enough time for him to fly back to the US for treatment. Then on TV was shown the circumstances of Reston's care--- cooperation between Western and Chinese medicine. Instead of the standrd anesthesia- Reston was acupunctured for the operation. He was not unconscious.
In China in big cities there are Colleges of Western medicine as well as Colleges of TCM. The former is often used for cuts, wounds, accidents. major infections. The TCM modalities including acupuncture often used for strokes, arthritis and many kinds of imbalances in the body.
I have been helped many times by competent practitioners of western and eastern medicine.
I don't need to go into personal details here.
The concern on costs is a different matter---the real costs of health care is caused by greedy
drug companies and their system of peddling and hospitals who charge exorbitant amounts
and their partners in the health "industry".
joy chaudhuri