During the 1920s and 1930s, the AOA pushed for recognition by federal health programs. For example, when in 1935 the U.S. Employees' Compensation Commission strictly defined a physician as the holder of an M.D. degree. The AOA set out to rectify the situtation.   In 1938, the Federal Compensation Law was amended to include D.O.s as physicians.

Throughout the next decades, the AOA continued to apply pressure for equal standing in national health insurance issues. Today, these battles are smaller, but they continue.