FCA Claims CCE is the "Gold Standard" as Justification for a Monopoly

As the Chiropractic Cartel sees the possibility of their complete power and control of the entire educational, licensing and regulation of the profession threatened by the Florida legislature they are doubling down on the rhetoric and fear mongering.

As the legislative session in Florida continues and as legislators are beginning to see through the bullshit being promulgated by the Florida Chiropractic Association (FCA), its Head of Governmental Affairs Jack Hebert and its attorney and lobbyist Kim Driggers are cranking up the fear factor.

When you can't win on the truth just lie to them must be the lobbying strategy at the FCA at this point.

During the hearing before the House Healthcare Regulation Subcommittee Driggers attempted to instill fear in the legislators by constructing a false narrative that the Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE) is the "Gold Standard" and that taking away their monopoly and the restraint of trade it brings with it would put the citizens of Florida in some type of grave danger.

CLICK HERE to see her testimony

The FCA is continuing this line of BS in their meetings with legislators as they try to stop the Bill from being heard by the full House and try to stop the Bill from being heard in the Senate.

Here are the facts:

The Bills before the Florida legislature do one simple thing and that is remove a monopoly on chiropractic education, licensing and practice enjoyed by one corporation that is named in the statute and replace it with recognition by the United States Departmtent of Education.

Why is the FCA afraid of this when that is the only reason the CCE enjoys any recognition whatsoever? And lets not forget that every single school in the United States holds regional accreditation in addition to the monopolistic accreditation forced on them by statute.

The FCA conveniently leaves that out of their conversations with legislators.    

As Travis Corcoran D.C., A.C.P. President of the European Chiropractic Academy and Chairman of the board for the International Federation of Chiropractors and Organizations (IFCO) stated in submitted testimony to Florida House and Senate subcommittees:

"It is laughable to consider oneself the "gold standard" when you are the only one permitted to participate."

What the FCA wants legislators and chiropractors to forget and what they want to obfuscate is that the state of Florida like many other states have given the CCE and other members of the Cartel such as the NBCE and the FCLB a monopoly in chiropractic.

Imagine if your business enjoyed a statutorily created monopoly and no one could purchase your services from anyone else.

We are reminded of what attorney and Anne Neal JD stated in 2013 as she sat on the US Department of Education Committee deciding whether or not the CCE represented the profession and allowed for a diversity of philosophical thought:

"Now it may get to the broader issue which was raised earlier that in a monopoly situation, the climate of fear that we've been hearing about, that probably happens because frankly when you're accepting these standards in a monopoly situation, that's about as voluntary as accepting an offer from Tony Soprano, so I think that's the issue we really are dealing with here. But I'm very concerned that we've got to play fair with everyone, and I'm not sure we're playing fair or the Department is playing fair."

You see, the FCA is simply one of the Cartels henchmen using threats and fear to keep its Boss in power.

The FCA is no stranger to taking away chiropractors right to have choice when it comes to education. The FCA is the only Florida association that has demanded that chiropractors be forced to sit through live continuing education courses because online courses represent a threat to the public health.

Do you see a pattern?

Since the FCA's membership is so small (CLICK HERE for related story) they make the bulk of their money from statutorily mandated live CE programs. If that goes away how would they fund their efforts to keep educational monopolies in power in the state?

That is correct - the FCA does not want Florida chiropractors to be able to receive CE credits for on line courses. CLICK HERE for more on that

And what the Cartel really fears is the ever growing movement within chiropractic to put on end to the fear, the monopoly and the restriction of freedom in chiropractic education, licensing and practice as so many groups are now calling for an end to the Cartel run monopoly in chiropractic. Several chiropractic organizations and non-profit foundations have signed on to a series of Resolutions calling for a free and competitive marketplace in chiropractic education, licensing and practice CLICK HERE for more on that.   

We have reached out to the FCA including its head of Governmental Affairs Jack Hebert, its attorney and lobbyist Kim Driggers and several of the FCA Board members for comment on all of this and they have refused to comment.

Their silence is deafening and speaks volumes because they know that their contrived nonsense cannot stand up to the scrutiny of what Dr. Corcoran so eloquently referred to as their "inductively weak and deductively invalid statements being presented"

Enuf said.

CLICK HERE for more on the FCA's efforts to restrict your freedom