Federal Bill: HR 539

Bill Summary
One in three American seniors lives with chronic pain, and Medicare, the program built to cover their care, still treats chiropractic like it is 1972. That year, chiropractors were recognized as physicians under Medicare, but coverage was limited to exactly one service: manual manipulation of the spine, commonly known as an adjustment. More than fifty years later, that is still the only chiropractic service Medicare pays for. Not the exam. Not the evaluation. Not the things a chiropractor's licensing board requires before care ever begins. Seniors deserve the freedom to choose their doctor and to receive the full range of care their state already trusts chiropractors to deliver.

The Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act, H.R. 539, finally fixes that. When it passes, Medicare's chiropractic coverage will reflect what doctors of chiropractic are already licensed by their states to do, similar to the broader recognition already seen in the VA, Department of Defense, federal employee health plans, and private insurance. Nothing in the bill changes any state's scope of practice. Medicare is a payer, not a scope authority; it simply brings chiropractors into parity with other physician-level Medicare providers. The support is already there: 166 House cosponsors, nearly evenly split between the parties. What the bill needs now is a committee vote. That is exactly what constituent pressure produces.

Why It Matters to MAHA
This is MAHA in one bill: root-cause, non-drug, non-surgical care; patient choice; and healthcare freedom for seniors who should not be forced into limited and often higher-risk options before conservative care. It is also a state-autonomy bill. There is no federal scope grab and no national standard imposed. The bill defers entirely to each state's authorized scope of practice, so Medicare simply follows what each state has already decided its licensed chiropractors may do, and it draws a clear boundary: coverage does not extend to drugs, surgery, or obstetrics, and the profession is not asking for them. Chiropractors are licensed in all 50 states, and every state sets its own scope. Medicare's 1972 restriction is exactly the kind of outdated, government-imposed limitation on patient choice that MAHA exists to remove. Modernizing Medicare to reflect state licensure, current professional standards, and what patients already choose is a core MAHA objective.