Congress urged to approve HR 4803 to incorporate acupuncture into federal healthcare system

(SAN FRANCISCO) In July 2021, U.S. Representative Judy Chu (D-California) introduced HR 4803, the Acupuncture for Our Seniors Act, which would instruct the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to recognize qualified acupuncturists as Medicare providers. Chu was at the San Francisco Chinatown last Saturday on April 16 to promote her legislation and urge the Congress to pass it in 2022.

"We still have a lot of work to do. I don't see any reasons for the Congress members not to support this bill. I look forward to that day to celebrate the acupuncture to be recognized and benefit all the patients in the nation," said Chu at the Chinatown Hilton Hotel rally and press conference.

Under HR 4803, Medicare recognition would enable eligible acupuncturists to provide covered services to Medicare beneficiaries, who are generally aged 65 and older, without supervision. The acupuncturists can bill Medicare directly for these services.

There are over 60 million Medicare beneficiaries nationwide. Michelle Lau, President of the American Alliance of Acupuncture and an acupuncture practitioner both in Sacramento as well as San Francisco, has worked with Chu to propose the legislation bringing the legal status of acupuncture to the federal healthcare system.

Lau recognized the significance of HR 4803 which would modernize the Medicare program by providing provider status to acupuncturists and also allow the Medicare beneficiaries to have direct access to acupuncturists.

“The seniors in the entire country will be the largest beneficiaries under this legislation,” Lau said and praised Chu in support of acupuncture for decades dating back to the days when she was the elected Assemblymember in California state legislature.

HR 4803 is pending in Congress. Lau and the leaders of the acupuncture community will begin to write letters and call the Congress members nationwide to advocate for the legislation.

State Controller Betty Yee was also in attendance to show her support for HR 4803 and the acupuncture community.

Acupuncture is part of traditional Chinese medicine including Chinese herbs with a history of over 4,000 years. Acupuncture was first introduced to the United States in the early 1970s when Richard Nixon was the 37th U.S. President.

It was documented that President Nixon’s Secretary of State, Henry A. Kissinger, traveled to China in 1972. A journalist for the New York Times, James Reston, accompanied Kissinger. While in China, Reston fell ill and ended up in a Chinese hospital requiring an emergency treatment. Doctors in China used acupuncture to relieve his pain.

Reston was impressed with the effectiveness of the acupuncture treatments and wrote about his experience in the New York Times. The article brought attention and the ideas of acupuncture to most Americans for the first time.

In 1973, Nevada became the first US state in the nation to authorizing the practice of acupuncture. Many states thereafter followed.

In California, Senate Bill 86 created the Acupuncture Advisory Committee under the Board of Medical Examiners and allowed the practice of acupuncture but only upon a prior diagnosis or referral by a licensed physician, chiropractor or dentist in 1975. The bill was signed into law by former Governor Jerry Brown.

In 1976, California became the eighth state to license acupuncturists. Subsequent legislation in 1978 established acupuncture as a primary health care profession by eliminating the requirement for prior diagnosis or referral by a licensed physician, chiropractor or dentist.