Senate enacts Libby bill to expand care options for MaineCare patients

The Maine Senate voted unanimously on June 21 to enact a bill from Sen. Nate Libby, D-Lewiston, to expand chiropractic care options for people with MaineCare.

As amended, the bill, LD 320, “An Act To Provide MaineCare Coverage for Chiropractic Treatment,” would require all chiropractic services that are approved by the Board of Chiropractic Licensure and performed by a chiropractic doctor to be reimbursable under the MaineCare program.

“The idea for this bill came to me when a Lewiston-based chiropractor contacted me after reading, hearing, and seeing the opiate addiction crisis continue to increase in intensity,” said Sen. Libby. “He has seen patients diagnosed with chronic pain issues and prescribed heavy doses of opiate pain medication get weaned off opiates with chiropractic treatment for pain management. He told me that if he and others in the chiropractic community were able to serve the MaineCare population, they could play a more active role in addressing addiction and chronic pain without medication therapy, potentially saving lives.”

In 2017, 418 Mainers died from an overdose—an 11 percent increase from the previous year. According to a report from the Attorney General, 85 percent of the overdose deaths in Maine last year involved opioids. Some people develop substance use disorder following a legitimate prescription for an opioid to treat pain, which could potentially have been treated without medication through chiropractic treatments.

Currently only spinal x-rays and spinal manipulation are reimbursable under MaineCare, and even though MaineCare requires an initial examination before those services can be performed, the examination itself isn’t reimbursable. Additionally, other procedures which are reimbursable if a different provider were to perform them are not reimbursable if a chiropractor is the provider.

At a 2017 public hearing on LD 320, Zev Myerowitz, the Director of Chiropractic Services at Cape Chiropractic and Acupuncture, said that “if these problems were corrected and chiropractors were able to render are to a population in desperate need, many chiropractic offices would rejoin as MaineCare providers and patients would have access to a treatment options that has been shown to be less costly to the healthcare system than standard medical interventions.”

LD 320 has now been sent to the governor, who has 10 days to sign it, veto it, or allow it to become law without his signature.