| Ending a very long courting period, CAOMA and professional advocate Bob Marcus signed a contract to initiate a nationwide fund-raising and lobbying campaign to get acupuncture services covered in MediCare and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, and to have acupuncturists recognized as a legitimate health care profession by the Federal government. Concurrently, the AOMNC, a new private organization founded in Florida, signed an identical contract with Marcus & Associates. These contracts allow the profession, with limited available funds, to move forward under a commission-based fund-raising arrangement. |
| CAOMA has long supported the inclusion of acupuncture services in the Medicare and Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, and its lobbying efforts have proven highly successful, accounting for over half of the Congressional Representative signing on as co-sponsors to the Bill. Bob Marcus has been lobbying various acupuncture and oriental medicine organization for over three years to allow him to represent our efforts to lobby Congress in support of the Medicare Acupuncture Act. The Bill has been introduced five times in the past nine years by Congressman Maurice Hinchey of New York, who was unable to get the bill heard in committee without significant support from our profession and from other Congressionpersons. This new arrangement fro lobbying services represents the first serious commitment by our profession to change this. |
| MediCare Campaign |