Every so often, a politician transcends party politics and speaks straight to the heart of issues that matter to their constituents. In this country, we are experiencing a crippling opioid epidemic, and yet no one is talking about the contributions of chiropractors. We are experiencing deplorable medical treatment of our heroic veterans, and yet no one is talking about the contributions of chiropractors. We are experiencing a health care crisis for which no one seems to have a solid solution, and yet still, no one is talking about the contributions of chiropractors – until now.
Michelle Steel is running for Congress in the 48th district in California (coastal Orange County). For the past eight years, she has advocated for chiropractors from her position as chair of the Orange County Board of Supervisors. Her husband, Shawn Steel, is one of California's leading advocates for chiropractic as the founder of a chiropractic law firm, former appointee to the California Chiropractic Association (CCA) board of directors, and now lecturer of ethics and jurisprudence at all three of California's chiropractic colleges.
Michelle believes we can't talk honestly about the opioid crisis without elevating chiropractic to a national standard to get those with chronic pain out of PCP offices, ERs, and inevitably, pharmacies and into DC offices for narcotic-free treatment. She understands the inequity of Medicare's refusal to pay DCs the same for the same treatment rendered by MDs. And she believes that every man and woman in uniform should have access to a lifetime of chiropractic treatment for the injuries they sustained in service to our nation. This is unlike any member of Congress who has come before her.
Over the years, many legislators have pledged their support for chiropractic in the hopes of receiving an endorsement or contributions. Some have even sponsored pro-chiropractic legislation, but to no avail. The bill currently before the House to extend chiropractic benefits to Armed Services members, for example, has died in committee every year for over a decade. Not a single member of Congress has truly championed this issue and pushed the legislation through the arduous process necessary to get a bill to the president's desk for his signature.
It takes a real advocate to truly shine a national spotlight on this crucial profession to raise awareness for the necessity for widespread access to drug-free treatment options in this country – and that advocate is Michelle Steel.
Editor's Note: Interested in learning more about Michelle and her campaign platform? Visit https://www.michellesteelca.com/about/.
Many relevant diagnostic signs are not performed deliberately by the examiner or by the patient at the examiner’s direction. They are observed as the patient reacts to their condition. Fortin’s finger sign, Minor’s sign, and Vanzetti’s sign are three examples of this principle.
Spearheaded by burgeoning scientific and clinical research literature, psychedelics have reached a level of media coverage and popular interest that has not been seen for over half a century. By “psychedelics,” we are referring to the unique class of substances that includes psilocybin (the active compound found in so-called “magic mushrooms”), LSD, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), ayahuasca, 5-MeO-DMT, and mescaline – each of which occurs in the natural world (except for LSD, which is a semi-synthetic compound).
While working at the Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque, N.M., one of the primary care physicians stated that imaging every patient prior to receiving chiropractic was not medically necessary. It was at that point I reconsidered the need for the imaging of every patient to avoid malpractice.
