SHARP POINTS ON MEDICAL PLAN MANY REPS WANT MEDICARE COVERAGE FOR ACUPUNCTURE.

Byline: Lisa Friedman Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Something has been needling some California lawmakers: Acupuncture is not covered under Medicare.

Now a group of Golden State members of Congress from across the political spectrum are at the forefront of a growing movement to provide medical coverage for the 5,000-year-old Chinese treatment.

``I'm firmly convinced that there are aspects to this medicine that really work for some things,'' said Rep. Gary Miller, R-Brea, who credited acupuncture with curing a tennis elbow injury he suffered for years. ``Luckily, I'm able to pay for it.''

Those like Miller who would include acupuncture in the government program that underwrites health care for elderly and disabled Americans are a small bunch, accustomed to seeing their cause mocked or ignored on Capitol Hill. Yet each year, support for the measure increases. About a third of it comes from Californians.

``We have very strong Asian-American communities that utilize acupuncture, and we're a progressive state,'' said Brian Fennen, director of the Council of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Associations in Calistoga, noting that California has offered limited coverage of acupuncture under Medi-Cal since 1979.

``There's no question the rest of the country has been 10 to 15 years behind California.''

With Asians comprising nearly 11 percent of California's population and with the state now home to 10,000 licensed acupuncturists - more than anywhere else in America - there appears to be a growing acceptance among both Democrats and Republicans that it is not only medically beneficial, but also a service to which Medicare recipients should be as entitled as surgery or prescription drugs.

Many of the California lawmakers supporting the bill by Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., represent districts that include sizable Asian communities and have either experienced or been exposed to acupuncture.

That's led to support from both traditionally liberal lawmakers like Reps. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, Howard Berman, D-Van Nuys, Grace Napolitano, D-Santa Fe Springs, and Hilda Solis, D-El Monte, to deeply conservative members like Miller, Ed Royce, R-Fullerton, Chris Cox, R-Newport Beach, and Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach.

Royce said he has had a history of back problems and avoided surgery on his spine by using acupuncture.

``It seems that there's some merit to some of these alternative approaches to invasive surgery,'' he said.

Miller said he learned about acupuncture during a Chinese festival in his district some years ago. Complaining about an old tennis elbow injury for which cortisone and physical therapy had done little good, Miller said he was referred to an acupuncturist in Placentia who cleared the pain in a few sessions.

Acupuncture is based on the belief that health is determined by a balanced flow of energy or qi (pronounced chi), and that sickness occurs when the flow is blocked or deficient. The practice involves inserting hair-thin surgical needles into various points on the body just under the skin to stimulate energy and, ultimately, relieve pain.

According to the National Center for Contemporary and Alternative Medicine, more than 1 million Americans use it each year.

The costs of covering it under Medicare remain unclear.

Advocates say they plan this year to request a government review of the expenses. They also maintain that it could ultimately be a savings to the program.

``It's a low-tech medical treatment. I think there's a very significant possibility that it will reduce costs rather than increase them,'' said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena.

Added Miller, ``Why would you continue to pay doctor bill after doctor bill when this kind of thing works? If we're going to have a program, we should have the most cost-effective program.''

The American Medical Association declined to comment on the proposal. But Robert Moffit, director of the Center for Health Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington D.C., said the proposal underscores everything that is wrong with Medicare.

``In order to get something covered, you have to have an act of Congress,'' Moffit said. ``It's absurd. We will all pay for acupuncture whether we will ever use it.''

Advocating a system where recipients can pick and chose their benefits with a defined government contribution, Moffit said, ``if it includes acupuncture, that's fine. If it includes Viagra, that's fine. People should be able to get the medicine they want and need, and a one-size-fits-all solution is exactly the wrong way to go.''

Joseph Kihyon Kim, who has practiced acupuncture in Encino the past 15 years and said more than 30 percent of his clients come to him for pains associated with aging, like arthritis, said he would like to see the program cover his field.

``I think acupuncture should be more accessible to everybody, especially elderly people who would benefit from it.''

Lisa Friedman, [phone]

lisa.friedman(at)langnews.com

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Photo:

Joseph Kihyon Kim demonstrates the practice of acupuncture on patient Kim Brinkley at his Encino office. A group of Congress members from California is pressing for coverage of the ancient Chinese treatment under Medicare.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer