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[mefree]

Received in a consumer health newsletter I subscribe to. Thought it might be pertinent to some interests.

Consumer Health Digest is a free weekly e-mail newsletter edited by Stephen Barrett, M.D., with help from William M. London, Ed.D. It summarizes scientific reports; legislative developments; enforcement actions; news reports; Web site evaluations; recommended and nonrecommended books; and other information relevant to consumer protection and consumer decision-making.

By a vote of 365-6, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed the "Chiropractic Care Available to All Veterans Act" (H.R. 1017), which would provide chiropractic care at all Veterans Administration Medical Centers (VAMC). http://www.chirobase.org/08Legal/VA/hr1017.pdf  The bill aims to add "chiropractic care" to the VA's medical and rehabilitative services and add "periodic and preventative chiropractic examinations and services" to its preventive health services. The VA currently has 28 chiropractors providing care at 36 VAMCs. The bill, which has attracted no media attention, would require the VA to provide care at 75 VAMCs by the end of calendar year 2011 and at all 153 by the end of calendar year 2013. Assuming that chiropractic care would be provided at the current level of service to individual centers, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the VA would require 24 additional chiropractors in 2011 and 41 more by 2014. Based on an average cost per chiropractor of $115,000 in 2010 and after adjusting for inflation, CBO estimates that the bill would cost $3 million in 2011 and grow to $13 million a year by 2014. It is not clear, however, whether the OMB or the legislators who voted for H.R. 1017 considered whether "periodic and preventive chiropractic services" have any value. Many chiropractors claim that to promote general health, everyone should be checked periodically from birth onward to detect and correct "subluxations." This process, commonly referred to as "preventative maintenance," has no plausible rationale, has never been tested, and is not a covered service under Medicare. It is not clear what might happen if H.R. 1017 becomes law and the VA hires chiropractors who espouse "preventative maintenance."

more at http://www.ncahf.org/digest10/10-23.html

[ethercat]

Stephen Barrett, M.D is the man behind the Quackwatch.org website, which has exposed a lot of the chiropractic and medical scams some scientologists are so involved with, right?

[mefree]

Yes. I should also mention that he is currently being sued. It will probably come as no surprise that he is frequently under attack for exposing health care fraud.

More on the Doctor's Data suit against Dr. Barrett that has been widely criticized.

More than a hundred Web sites have posted negative reactions to the news about Doctor's Data suing Dr. Stephen Barrett. The suit is primarily concerned about Barrett's article, "How the urine toxic metals test is used to defraud patients," which describes how chelationists mislead patients into believing that they need treatment for heavy metal toxicity. http://www.quackwatch.org/t  The events leading up to the suit are described at http://www.quackwatch.org/14Legal/dd_suit.html  Contributions to Barrett's defense fund can be made by mail or through the Quackwatch donations page: http://www.quackwatch.org/00AboutQuackwatch/donations.html

[Lorelei]

I'd be more concerned if my body's waste products DID NOT have bad things in them. It is their JOB to remove bad stuff from my body. The day they stop doing that, I'm in serious medical trouble.