S.1955 FAILS ON PROCEDURAL VOTE!

(Washington, D.C - May 11, 2006) In a historic victory for chiropractors and their patients, S.1955, the Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act, was withdrawn from the Senate floor today and effectively defeated when Democrats threatened to filibuster the bill. The controversial small business health plan legislation spurred an unprecedented grassroots lobbying campaign by the American Chiropractic Association and hundreds of provider and consumer groups that believed the bill would gut state patient protection laws and leave millions of patients without crucial health care benefits. “The ACA extends an enormous ‘thank you’ to the entire chiropractic profession – state associations, individual doctors, patients, students, chiropractic college leaders and other organizations – everyone who joined together to successfully defeat this potentially devastating legislation,” said ACA President Richard Brassard, DC. “A special thank you also goes out to our allies in Congress – Senators Tom Harkin, Jeff Bingaman, Ted Kennedy, Harry Reid and others – for their outstanding leadership on this important issue. Not only did we safeguard the health coverage of millions of patients across the country, but we also showed the nation’s decision makers that the chiropractic profession is a force to be reckoned with. I can assure you that your thousands of emails, faxes and phone calls to Congress, letters and news releases to local media organizations, and other grassroots efforts made the difference.” Deliberations on S.1955 began Tuesday, when Senate Democrats, in a procedural move, voted to allow the bill to advance to the Senate floor -- with debate limited to 30 hours. On Thursday afternoon, after Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist announced that debate would end and limited amendments to S.1955 would be considered, Senate Democrats voted against cloture and the bill was pulled from consideration. The defeat of S.1955 comes after a nearly two- month-long grassroots lobbying campaign kicked off in March at the ACA’s 31st annual National Chiropractic Legislative Conference (NCLC) in Washington, DC. During that meeting, ACA’s House of Delegates declared a “state of emergency” in response to S.1955 and committed to using “all available resources” to defeat the bill. Chiropractors nationwide joined together in the effort and flooded U.S. Senate offices with concerns about the bill. At the same time, ACA and a diverse coalition of labor unions, health care and consumer groups – including AARP, the American Cancer Society, the American Diabetes Association and the AFL-CIO -- shared information and resources in a national lobbying and media relations campaign to defeat the legislation. “Today, we can breathe a great sigh of relief,” added Dr. Brassard, “but only for a moment. The small business or association health plan concept is a popular one, and a new bill will almost certainly surface again in the very near future. The ACA will work to ensure that the chiropractic profession has a place at the table when a new proposal is developed, and we will once again call the chiropractic profession to action when necessary to ensure the health and well being of our patients.”