President-elect Obama has identified national health coverage as one of his top priorities for his first year in office. As part of this effort, Obama’s transition team has set up a website to gather ideas from ordinary citizens on how to mitigate or solve some of the problems in our current health care system.
This allows us — practitioners and users of “complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)” — an opportunity to explain what these therapies offer to us as individuals, and to the health care system as a whole.
Acupuncture is a low-cost, low-tech health care option that could potentially play a role in reducing health care costs and increasing efficiency. It might be especially helpful for Obama’s team to hear from people who have avoided surgery, elimiated the need for expensive diagnostic tests, or have been able to discontinue medication or ongoing care.
Interestingly, auto insurance companies almost all pay for acupuncture, as well as chiropractic and massage, as part of their personal injury coverage; apparently, they realize this is more cost-effective.
To put in your two cents’ worth on health care (and any number of other topics), go to www.change.gov.