Nevada’s End Run: How Jason Jaeger and the NBCE Cemented Control
Originally published: 2025-09-19
For years chiropractors have warned about a “cartel” that quietly pulls the strings of our profession. The names are familiar: the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (NBCE), the Federation of Chiropractic Licensing Boards (FCLB), and the Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE). Together, they decide what counts as an exam, what counts as a school, and who gets to wear which titles. And they do it while funded by the very students and practitioners they regulate.
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This isn’t just theory anymore. Nevada and many other states are giving us real-time case studies in how the system works, and how quickly it can be locked into law when no one is watching.
AB 513: the Board’s Bill
In April, the Chiropractic Physicians’ Board of Nevada (CPBN) described AB 513 plainly as “the Board’s bill.” The minutes record the moment like a victory lap: “The Board’s bill was heard yesterday before the committee and passed.” And the record shows who was steering it:
“Dr. Jaeger thanked Mr. Ling, Mr. Musgrove and Julie Strandberg for collaborating to prepare the presentation for AB513 that he presented before the committee.”
That’s Jason Jaeger, the Secretary and Treasurer of the Chiropractic Physicians Board of Nevada (CPBN), but also a Vice President of the NBCE and a member of the Board of Directors of the International Chiropractors Association. One man, three hats.
With AB 513, Nevada rewrote its chiropractic law. The new statute names the NBCE’s exams as the core path to licensure, gives the Board wide discretion over what exams look like and when they are given, and explicitly allows the Board to require NBCE’s “SPEC” exam for reinstatements. In other words: NBCE at the front door, NBCE at the back door, and the Board via Jason Jaeger in the middle deciding when to pull the lever.
RCSP Waiting in the Wings
If that weren’t enough, the CPBN’s July agenda contained another telling item:
“Addition of language to accept the Recognized Chiropractic Specialty Program (RCSP).”
That’s the FCLB’s registry and control of “recognized” specialties. Once a board accepts RCSP, it is effectively outsourcing specialty recognition to the FCLB’s private list. Combined with NBCE exams, it means the same small circle decides who gets in, who stays in, and who gets to claim specialty status.
And just in case anyone missed the point, the agenda carried a standing line:
“FCLB/NBCE Matters — For possible action.”
Nevada’s board has literally reserved space on its docket to act on whatever NBCE and FCLB want next.
The Failed Consolidation and the Quick End Run
All of this unfolded while another bill, SB 78, was floating through the legislature. SB 78 would have consolidated dozens of boards under one state umbrella, stripping stand-alone boards like CPBN of their independence. That bill died in June after heavy opposition from osteopaths and others.
But the CPBN didn’t wait to see if consolidation would succeed. They hustled AB 513 through first, cementing NBCE and FCLB into Nevada’s statutes and agendas. So even though SB 78 failed, the board got exactly what it wanted, more discretion, more control, and a tighter relationship with the NBCE and licensing cartel.
Jaeger’s Contradictions
This is the same Jason Jaeger who, in a live podcast at the Florida Chiropractic Association convention, called for “one voice,” “Medicare parity,” and dismissed what he disparagingly called a “vocal, nauseous, loud minority on the left and the right.” He never defined who that minority is. He never mentioned exam centralization or the grip of the NBCE. And he never admitted that the board he helps lead was moving at lightning speed to make Nevada more dependent on NBCE and FCLB than ever.
“vocal, nauseous, loud minority on the left and the right.”
It’s also the same Jaeger who sits on the ICA Board, an association that officially affirms professional autonomy, vitalism, innate intelligence, and chiropractic as non-therapeutic. Yet his legislative and regulatory work lines up with the WFC, the WHO, and the rest of the very cartel that Don Harrison, his own mentor, spent decades warning against. Harrison even published the now-infamous graphic showing how student loan money and field dollars fuel the cartel machine. Jaeger has turned that warning upside down and is now helping the machine run.
Why This Matters Beyond Nevada
If you’re a student, this means your future continues to depend on one testing company’s products. If you’re a practicing DC, it means reinstatement or discipline can be tied to NBCE’s SPEC. If you’re pursuing post-graduate credentials, it means your specialty may only “count” if it’s on FCLB’s RCSP list and a couple of people in charge say its OK. And if you’re a patient, it means your chiropractor’s license and training are being shaped not by open competition or transparent criteria, but by private organizations with no public accountability.
The Real Minority
Jaeger says most chiropractors are aligned and that only a loud minority stands in the way. But look closely. The real minority is the faction that wants to hard-wire NBCE, CCE and FCLB into law, cut out dissenting schools and techniques, and maintain a closed loop of control. Everyone else, from vitalists to reformers to the thousands who signed onto resolutions demanding freedom in education, licensing, and practice, is being told to sit quietly while the cartel writes the rules.
The Bottom Line
Nevada shows us exactly how it works. The Board runs its own bill. The NBCE executive sitting on that Board presents it. The Legislature passes it. The Governor signs it. And before anyone can blink, the exam company and its FCLB partner are written into state law and board agendas.
Unity isn’t the problem. Control is. And until we confront the conflicts, name the players, and demand multiple open pathways into and through the profession, the cartel will keep winning, one “Board’s bill” at a time.
