[originally published in KCN, February 2010]
As our nation waits on pins and needles for our elected officials to craft a “health-insurance- plan-for-everyone,” those who are super-excited by this proposition need to understand that it will not be “free.” We will all directly and indirectly pay for it. You can be sure of that. And the scary thing is, we are looking to the federal government to craft this utopian health insurance plan… when their track record in the insurance business is down right lousy. Can you say “Medicare?”
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We have many rights in this great land of ours: the right to free speech, the right to bear arms, and the right to vote are a few that come to mind; and starting next year, Washingtonians will have a brand new right that’s sure to deepen their constitutional pride — the right to direct chiropractic access. No longer will patients be faced with the obstacle that some managed-care insurance companies have placed in their way, which require them to obtain a referral from their primary doctor before seeing a chiropractor. This new “right” falls under the Patient Bill of Rights that was recently written into law in our Evergreen State a few months ago and is set to take effect on all insurance plans regulated by our state “entered into or renewing after June 30, 2001.” 
Wow, chiropractic sure helped you out last year! It helped you overcome and manage that crippling back pain you’d been battling for years. It did wonders for your spouse’s chronic headaches, not to mention how it set things straight when your daughter took a tumble off the jungle gym. Oh, and let’s not forget, how it soothed your newborn’s cringing bout of colic. With such a great track record for ‘99, do you think it can offer any relief for that pain that’s persistently been getting worse since the year ended? You know, the one that has April 15th written all over it.
Ironically, the biggest driver of costs associated with work injury claims often is not the actual health care rendered to the injured worker, but rather the amount of time-loss wages paid to the worker themselves. And, for us employers, this usually translates to the ever-dreaded premium hike. So what’s a cash-strapped employer to do when one of his workers is stricken with a debilitating work injury?
Our neighbors to the north have recently been shown a way to save millions, if not billions, of dollars each year on their health care, thanks to a comprehensive report presented earlier this year by Canadian health economist Pran Manga, PhD.
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