Daily News

House Speaker Jim Black can do all the spinning he wants. But the truth remains — he gave the North Carolina chiropractors a sweetheart deal. And they gave him a pile of cash.

Coincidence? Not likely.

Last year, Black got more than $35,000 in campaign contributions from people who listed their occupation as chiropractor. The N.C. Chiropractic Political Action Committee sent $4,000. The previous year, chiropractors gave him just over $12,000 and the PAC kicked in $4,000. In 2003, he got nothing from chiropractors and $1,000 from their PAC. The trend hints that chiropractors, as a group, wanted something.

Last year, in a copious dose of smoke and mirrors, they got it. A new law that took effect last month bars insurance companies from requiring higher co-payments for chiropractors than for primary-care physicians. Many insurance plans have invoked a substantially higher co-pay for chiropractic services.

The law is a boon for chiropractors, making their services more affordable and more accessible for potential patients — it’s a great business-builder. It also creates a heavier burden for insurance companies, whose costs will rise. Those costs, of course, are passed along to the customers. Some insurance plans have already raised their premiums as a result.

The co-pay law didn’t follow the usual path through the General Assembly. It was never debated on the floor of the House or Senate. Many legislators didn’t even know it was there. It was added, late in the session, to a House version of the state budget bill. Despite opposition (“We tried like hell to get it out,” Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, a Fayetteville Democrat, told an Observer reporter), the stealth bill became law. (more…)

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This entry was posted on Friday, April 28th, 2006 at 4:09 am and is filed under Daily News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.