ACA, ICA “Pulling in One Direction” to Advocate for the Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act (H.R. 539 / S. 106)
In Brief
- MAHA Action, ACA, and ICA are working together to pass H.R. 539 / S. 106, the Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act.
- ICA and ACA have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the MAHA Chiropractic Hub to ensure that America’s seniors have access to modernized coverage of chiropractic services in Medicare through the passage of this legislation.
- For more information, check out this video from Brandon Hoffman, Executive Director of the MAHA Chiropractic Hub.
- The bill will be amended to: Expressly exclude drugs, surgery, and obstetrics; add Medicare private contracting rights modeled on the existing physician framework; and, include a timely implementation schedule.
- Is your member of Congress a co-sponsor of the Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act? Four members of the Michigan delegation, as well as Senators Gary Peters and Elissa Slotkin, have yet to sign on.
Get Involved Today! The Time is NOW!
Do you live or work in the district of one of the following Michigan Members of Congress? Contact them today and ask them to support this initiative!
Congresswoman Hillary Scholten (D-Grand Rapids). Michigan’s 3rd Congressional (District includes parts of Kent, Ottawa, and Muskegon counties). Phone: (202) 225-3831
- Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor). Michigan’s 6th Congressional District includes all of Washtenaw County and parts of Wayne, Oakland, and Monroe counties). Phone: (202) 225-4071
- Congressman Tom Barrett (R-Charlotte). Michigan’s 7th Congressional District includes all of Ingham, Clinton, Livingston, and Shiawassee counties, and parts of Oakland, Genessee, and Eaton counties. Phone: (202) 225-4872
- Congresswoman Lisa McClain (R-Bruce Township. Michigan’s 9th Congressional District includes parts of Macomb, Oakland, and Tuscola counties, and all of Huron, Lapeer, Sanilac, and St. Clair counties. Phone: (202) 225-2106
If you live or work in one of these districts, click here to use MAHA Action’s Legislative Tracker to contact your member of Congress! Then, follow up your email with a phone call to the representative’s office by July 15, asking them to cosponsor and support H.R. 539!
The nation’s most prominent chiropractic organizations agree that Medicare must be modernized to support improved patient outcomes, and they are mobilizing behind H.R. 539 to do so. Chiropractors from across the nation will gather in Washington, DC, from July 19-21 to raise awareness of H.R. 539 and garner legislative and voter support for this law change. What the bill needs now is a committee vote, this session.
America’s senior citizens have been waiting since 1972 for this simple remedy of an outdated system. With the help of the MAHA movement, 2026 can and should be the year Congress finally passes chiropractic Medicare modernization legislation and gives our seniors the care choices they deserve.
Introduction
As you know, over the past few months the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement and national thought leaders and association governing bodies in the chiropractic profession have been working together to align policy priorities and move the profession forward. The cornerstone of the MAHA movement is to prioritize preventive health practices in response to the nation’s chronic disease epidemic, including healthier diets, more exercise, and expanded access to non-drug, non-surgical healthcare options, such as chiropractic care.
One priority identified during these discussions is ensuring that America’s seniors have access to modernized coverage of chiropractic services in Medicare. To that end, the nation’s two leading chiropractic associations, the ICA and the ACA, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the MAHA Chiropractic Hub aligning policy priorities.
How Did We Get Here?
The alignment between MAHA and the nation’s chiropractic leadership has been building all year. Each step along the path set up the one that followed.
- In March, MAHA Action President Tony Lyons presented at The Chiropractic Summit, prompting a four-hour meetingbetween MAHA and chiropractic leadership in Washington, DC.
- In May, the ACA and ICA issued a joint statement pledging collaboration to improve patient access to chiropractic care.
- In June, the MAHA Chiropractic Hub, hosted by MAHA Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, launched to carry the profession’s long-standing priorities forward, host the nation’s chiropractors, and connect Americans to a broader array of preventive medical services.
Now, several key initiatives are converging to ensure senior citizens get expanded chiropractic care in 2026.
ACA-ICA Working Together to Pass Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act
The ICA and ACA have at times disagreed but share a commitment – to modernize Medicare coverage for chiropractic services as soon as practical. As Brandon Hoffman, executive director of the MAHA Chiropractic Hub, put it: “For the first time in this fight, the entire profession is pulling in one direction. The agreement locks that alignment in, and now we turn it into committee action.”
“This happened because of the leadership of Leigh Merinoff and Deirdre Goldfarb and the enormous effort of the entire MAHA team, who turned a shared goal into a signed agreement and a working plan in a matter of months,” Hoffman added.
The focus of the MOU is to unite chiropractors and to advocate for updated Medicare coverage via H.R. 539, and S. 106 in the U.S. Senate, the Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act of 2025.
Dr. Joe Betz, ICA President (pictured, left), is optimistic: “The energy behind this effort is unlike anything I have seen in my career. Chiropractors, patients, and the health freedom movement are aligned on modernizing Medicare, and the ICA will keep pressing until seniors have the same freedom to choose their chiropractor that they have with any other doctor.”
ACA President Dr. Kris Anderson (pictured, right) added: “The ACA built the foundation for this moment: the bipartisan coalition, the relationships, and the case for modernization. With the entire profession now adding its weight, we have never been better positioned to get this done for our patients.”
H.R. 539 / S. 106: Improved Through the Amendment Process
ACA, ICA, and MAHA are united behind passing the bill and will strengthen it through the formal amendment process, with three major improvements:
- Defining the covered benefit by each state’s authorized scope of practice, with an express exclusion of drugs, surgery, and obstetrics (which are not routine parts of chiropractic practice and for which the profession is not seeking Medicare coverage)
- Adding Medicare private contracting rights for doctors of chiropractic modeled on the existing physician framework, and
- Including a timely implementation schedule
These amendments make a good bill better and keep the legislation bipartisan. The immediate goal is for a committee markup this session so the bill can pass in the 119th Congress.
Chiropractic in Medicare – Current Status
Congress added chiropractic care to Medicare coverage in 1972, but coverage was limited to one service – manual manipulation of the spine to correct a subluxation (commonly called an “adjustment”). Other necessary services, including initial assessment and evaluation, are still not covered some five decades later, despite more than one in three American seniors living with chronic pain.
For decades, chiropractic services have demonstrably offered less intrusive, meaningful relief for patients. Senior citizens deserve the right to choose preventive chiropractic healthcare, subject to the scope of practice limitations in each state. The states regulate the scope of services chiropractors may legally provide; Medicare is the federal vehicle that provides financial support to patients for some of those services.
Supporting patients in their healthcare decision-making is a foundational goal of the MAHA movement. Millions of patients have found relief over the decades through chiropractic care that often obviates the need for prescription painkillers (risking addiction or overdose) or surgery (threatening medical complications and a long recovery). A 2020 study in the journal Pain Medicine found that patients with spinal pain who received chiropractic care had substantially lower odds of filling an opioid prescription. Prevention is generally less costly than reactive allopathic medicine: it is also often more effective.
America’s senior citizens deserve the option to utilize proven therapies already authorized by the states that address root-causes and do not rely on drugs or surgeries that often fail to relieve suffering. Especially with spinal injuries or strains, surgery should be the last medical recourse: only after milder, less intrusive treatments such as chiropractic care are employed should surgery be contemplated. Many patients will respond positively to lower-risk adjustments, saving the pain, risk, and cost of surgeries.
This is why improved chiropractic care aligns with the policy priorities of the MAHA movement. Prevention is superior to reactive cures. Less intrusive means should be employed before resorting to opioids and scalpels.
Current Congressional Support
As of July 9, 2026, 166 members of the U.S. House of Representatives are co-sponsors of the bill. That includes 96 Republicans and 70 Democrats, showing the bipartisan nature of the issue. Current co-sponsors include nine members of the Michigan delegation:
- Congressman Jack Bergman (R-Watersmeet)
- Congressman John Moolenaar (R-Caledonia)
- Congressman Bill Huizenga (R-Holland)
- Congressman Tim Walberg (R-Tipton)
- Congresswoman Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Bay City)
- Congressman John James (R-Shelby Township)
- Congresswoman Haley Stevens (D-Rochester Hills)
- Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit)
- Congressman Shri Thanedar (D-Detroit)
In the Senate, 15 U.S senators are co-sponsors (eight Democrats / seven Republicans) of S. 106. Unfortunately, neither of Michigan’s two senators – Gary Peters and Elissa Slotkin – have signed on.
Source:
MAHA Report Guest Opinion by John Klar, MAHA and America’s Chiropractors Are Agreed: Congress Must Pass Legislation to Upgrade Medicare to Include Chiropractic Care for Seniors, July 8, 2026
