Law favoring chiropractors might not last

If you feel the need to see a chiropractor, now might be the time to go.

Lawmakers are talking about repealing the law that keeps insurance companies from charging patients a higher co-payment to see chiropractors than to see family doctors.

The odds for repeal are strong. House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman, a Lexington Democrat, and House Minority Leader Paul Stam, an Apex Republican, are drafting the bill.

"I just think we want to undo anything that was done incorrectly," Holliman said. "If [chiropractors] think it's a good thing, then we'll encourage them to put a bill through the right way, and that's through the committees."

Former House Speaker Jim Black inserted the one-sentence change in the 2005 state budget. Tom Schoenvogel, director of the N.C. Chiropractic Association, told a trade publication at the time that it was landmark legislation.

"It is our hope that this will set a precedent for other states to follow in securing co-pay equality between primary care physicians and chiropractors," he said in Dynamic Chiropractic.

The change was one of many so-called "special provisions" in that year's budget that were criticized because they had little to do with the spending plan. Those provisions also avoided the usual legislative process: sending each bill to a committee for study, debate and a vote.

State Sen. Julia Boseman, a Wilmington Democrat, filed a bill last year to repeal Black's provision but the Senate never took it up.