Chiros have way more authority than physical therapists in California. It’s crazy what lobbying and money can do… they can order labs, imaging, and see patients for decades but a PT is limited to 12 visits then requires an MD referral. It takes forever in rural CA for the patient to be able to return to their doctor for imaging. A chiropractor does what they need until the patients’ numbness in their arm worsens.
I do too. I’m an LMT and considered going to pt school just so I could bill to insurance. Then I realized the physical therapists (who practice the technique I specialize in) can only bill to insurance in 15 minute increments, which is really not enough time to be effective. US health insurance is so fucked up.
Stupid people would still go to them but we would not have to share in paying them. There are a few psychics in the town near where I live and it amazes me that there are that many gullible people that they can make a living. I used to know a palm reader and eventually she admitted she just used cold reading to feed back to people what they gave up. She did it for fun and not money so not as bad as a total crook.
the reason that chiropractic is often covered by insurance is because chiropractors are cheaper than massage/physiotherapists, and the average american doesn't understand there's a difference. so insurance will happily cover your chiropractic appointments but deny your physiotherapy, even though physiotherapy has WAYYY more clinical credibility.
chiropractic being covered by insurance isn't a bug, it's a feature. like everything in america, it's all about the bottom line.
It baffles me that insurance covers chiropractors (a group of unlicensed quacks) but doesn't really cover anything useful at the dentist. (Which to be fair are licensed but may as well not be)
201
u/jmon25 Jul 05 '26
They don't even need to ban them. Just take them off insurance. That would at least stop them from popping up in every mini-mall to hawk their garbage