What are the values of membership and participation? With the ACA you get the largest professional association committed to improving the lot of chiropractors in this country. We provide a voice for all DC’s at the federal level, as well as within the insurance industry. Your billing and coding questions are addressed and answered by professionals. You have representation on the AMA coding committee. You have staff and directors that meet regularly with insurance industry representatives from the highest levels within those businesses to work on the problems of chiropractic perception and insurance industry misunderstanding. There is help for the new practitioner in formatting contracts, getting associate positions lined up and having experienced doctors on the list-serve ready and willing to answer any question that they have.

When I started being more actively involved in the ACA at the state level, I asked what it would take to get non-members to join. I was told that there had to be something in it for the field doctor. I was not the only one getting that response. The ACA acted and that activity resulted in Chiropractors in the VA, Chiropractors in the DOD facilities, Medicare full reimbursement for all participating New Mexico DC’s, an appeal that removed the PT’s from being able to perform SMT under Medicare, and brought suit against Cigna, Humana and ACN that has produced settlements and agreements on how chiropractic claims will be reviewed and administered. This has all been of direct benefit to the DC’s in New Mexico.

With such success we should now have roughly twice the membership from New Mexico in the ACA, right? WRONG, the membership has stayed static (66-69) members per year. At $50 per month for the general membership you should join. The ACA has done much in the last few years to directly impact the field chiropractor and especially the New Mexico field chiropractor. Subluxation correction is the unchallenged core of the ACA professional philosophy. The ACA allows and encourages many voices, from the far left (medical) end of the chiropractic spectrum to the far right (super straight DC) of the professions philosophic ocean. We are a microcosm of the profession, allowing all ranges of voice and opinion so that a consensus chiropractic opinion can be presented. As with any consensus opinion, there is not universal and total agreement, but it is the majority that forms and molds what is said and done.

I need your voice. I need you to be a member of the ACA. I truly appreciate those that thank me for my work during convention and via e-mails. Invariably these are ACA members and they are who I do this work for in principle. In reality, I do this work for all DC’s in New Mexico and have a hard time deciding to deny non-members answers to their questions. It’s not fair to members to not be a member, so whatever method of rationalization you are using now – STOP IT. $50 a month is less than one comprehensive treatment a month. Isn’t that what your national association is worth to you? I intend to wait and let the numbers speak for them selves. No new members is an indication that the work I’ve done and the benefits that the ACA has secured for all chiropractors is just not important enough for you to invest $50 a month. Paraphrasing President Kennedy, Ask not what your profession can do for you, ask what you can do for your profession.

The simplest and easiest thing you can do is join, become a general member. So click here for an EZ pay ACA application. Fill it out, send it in, go on line, and join or call my office and the staff will fill out the form for you, but join. We’ve developed a big presence in Washington DC and that has helped us get the benefits we’ve won for chiropractors so far. So, step up and become involved. Show us that the efforts are worthwhile and appreciated. Be involved in your future. Act instead of react, be proactive and help us keep up the work. There are huge changes coming in the health care industry and we must be a partner in the process. Let’s not make the same mistake we made with Medicare. Don’t let the new paradigm be formed and then try to break into it, be a part of the parody to begin with. We need your help and participation!!