In a Historic Event, MAHA Meets With Chiropractors to Find Common Ground

By John Klar, Contributor, The MAHA Report

On March 10, in Washington, D.C., leaders of MAHA Action met for four hours with a wide range of chiropractic organizations and individuals to identify areas where their concerns align and to plan for future collaboration.

Each year, an estimated 30 to 50 million Americans seek chiropractic care for neuromusculoskeletal conditions, including acute and chronic spinal conditions, as well as for wellness and preventive care that support long-term health. These conditions affect millions of families, contribute to lost productivity, and represent a major driver of healthcare spending in the United States.

Chiropractic doctors provide non-drug, non-surgical care that helps patients locate and eliminate subluxation, restore mobility, reduce symptoms, and improve overall function. As the nation continues to confront chronic disease, rising healthcare costs, and the lasting impact of the opioid crisis, expanding access to safe, conservative care options is an essential part of building a healthier future.

For decades, chiropractors have been marginalized and even slandered, often motivated by allopathic healthcare providers eager to jealously preserve their professional and economic primacy. Despite modern recognition of the many benefits of chiropractic care, and increasing revelations about the failures of many conventional medical interventions to be as “safe and effective” as advertised, the profession is still battling stigma and prejudice.

The unprecedented March 10 conference brought together a wide variety of chiropractic organizations and professional associations, including the International Chiropractors Association (ICA), the American Chiropractic Association (ACA), ChiroCongress, and Chiropractic Future. The goal – to align policy priorities and achieve consensus on paths forward to improve patient care through chiropractic disciplines.

In a first, members of such organizations sat at one (long) table, together with reps from the MAHA movement, including the events’ chief organizer, Leigh Merinoff, Director and Strategic Health Initiatives Chair, MAHA Action.

MAHA Action President, Tony Lyons, opened the meeting with an invitation to strengthen bonds between MAHA and chiropractors. He said MAHA Action had organized the day’s discussion to listen, learn, and serve, and he invited participants to identify the issues they considered the highest priority to resolve.

Historically, some of these organizations have worked independently, at times favoring differing policy positions. Recognizing the unique opportunity presented by MAHA Action, the chiropractic groups openly shared their concerns.

Among them:

• Promoting prevention, wellness, and whole being health approaches to care

• Reducing reliance on opioids and unnecessary medical and surgical interventions

• Supporting patient choice and fair treatment of licensed healthcare providers

• Encouraging research and innovation that advances conservative healthcare approaches

From its end, MAHA reps presented a plan to use the movement’s powerful grassroots base to disseminate reliable information about the numerous benefits of chiropractic care and the regulatory, financial, and monopolistic hurdles that must be cleared to make chiropractic services more widely and affordably available to Americans of all stripes, including active military and veterans.

The alliance between the MAHA movement and chiropractic care is not new. Many chiropractic voices, including Dr. Eric Berg and Dr. Gilles LaMarche, have served as regular contributors to the MAHA effort, including appearing on the MAHA Media Hub.

MAHA Action believes that improving health in America requires a broader vision of healthcare—one that prioritizes healthy food, prevention, personal responsibility, patient choice, and whole being health. Chiropractors play an important role in this effort by providing drug-free, non-surgical care while supporting long-term wellness.

After the event, Merinoff (seated, front and center), emphasized the highlights of the historic collaboration between chiropractors and the MAHA movement in this statement, “MAHA Action recognizes the chiropractic profession as an important partner in the national effort to restore health in America through prevention, patient empowerment, and whole being health.”

She continued, “For generations, doctors of chiropractic have advanced principles that align closely with the goals of the MAHA movement: prevention-focused care, respect for the body’s natural ability to heal, reducing and eliminating dependence on pharmaceuticals, and healthcare approaches that prioritize restoring function rather than simply managing symptoms.”

Finally, she said, “Together, through collaboration, innovation, and patient-centered policy, we can help build a healthcare system that restores function, strengthens families, and supports the health of the whole being.”

For many attendees, myself included, the event was inspiring. It is the beginning of an effort to empower a marginalized community of key healthcare providers and to push for the policy changes, research, and funding needed to improve patient care and lift Americans up toward better health.