TCM delegates support Acupuncture Medical Insuranc...

On April 2, 2019, as the highlight of the second World TCM & Acupuncture Forum, some delegates came to Capitol Hill to support the Acupuncture for Our Heroes Act and Wildfire Prevention Act of 2017 (HR1182 and HR1183) introduced by Congresswoman Judy May Chu.

More than 100 delegates of Chinese medicine practitioners from all over the world and 50 states in US, under the leadership of Michelle Lau, the president of the American Alliance of Acupuncture, went to the office of US Congress, and shared their views with the members of the Congress,explaining the importance of the two bills, and persuading the representatives to support them. Some Chinese medicine practitioners have conducted health check for representatives for free, hoping to win their support by showing them the actual effect of Chinese medicine.

At the following press conference, Judy MayChu delivered an important speech. She first expressed her thanks to everyone for their strong support for the bills that she proposed and pointed out that the content of the bill is to require the Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare system to cover acupuncture for all veterans who want access to it. Mrs.Chu said, “we specifically chose to focus on the veteran population, because inCongress, there is great bipartisan support for the veteran community. And the one benefit, like acupuncture, is approved for veterans. it is easier to expand that benefit to other populations, like seniors. We chose to focus on veterans because the two parties in Congress have great support for this special group, so to ensure that acupuncture would be classified as an Essential HealthBenefit in the future.

The heads of the Chinese acupuncture and moxibustion societies in different states spoke at the press conference to express their support for the bills and called on all Chinese medical practitioners to work together to promote the bills and benefit the American people.

The press conference was hosted by Michelle Lau, the president of the American Alliance of Acupuncture, and more than 30 board members of World TCM Forum attended the event.