A student stands over a patient, needle poised. They have a “perfect” prescription: a textbook combination of points harvested from a lecture slide on chronic lower back pain. But as the needle meets the skin, the student hesitates - the symptom of a quiet habit that has taken hold of our profession. We routinely say we “prescribe” points. It sounds efficient. It echoes the authority of biomedical culture and fits neatly into the insurance field. But vocabulary is never neutral; repeated long enough, it dictates behavior.
California Legislator Becomes 42nd Co-Sponsor for HR 818
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA, 46th district) has become the 42nd co-sponsor of HR 818, the Federal Acupuncture Coverage Act of 2005. A five-time co-sponsor of the act from previous sessions of Congress, Rep. Rohrabacher is the 12th member of California's congressional delegation to co-sponsor H.R. 818.
Rep. Rohrabacher is also one of the most outspoken advocates of acupuncture in Congress. On June 24, 2003, in a speech on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, Rohrabacher referred to several forms of healing, including acupuncture. "The American people need to have these available to them, these and other vehicles, for a good, healthy life." Rep. Rohrabacher's reference to acupuncture was also published in The Congressional Record.
For more information on the status of the Federal Acupuncture Coverage Act, visit http://thomas.loc.gov, and enter "HR 818" in the "Search Bill Text" box.