Fight for Health Freedom
Spring is all about freedom, and one of the most important neglected freedoms in our society is freedom over our own bodies -- health freedom.
Soon after I became interested in homeopathy, I became aware of the national health freedom movement, because our family's homeopath was leading the fight to win a health freedom bill in California. I too became involved in this
effort and became an executive board member of the California Health Freedom Coalition. Over the next couple of years, I did all I could to win health freedom for
California -- including writing much of the CHFC's publicity materials and testifying before a California Senate hearing on alternative medicine about my son's homeopathic cure from autism.
I am happy to report that we succeeded! In January 2003, California became one of the few states to boast a health freedom bill, which allows unlicensed alternative health practitioners to practice freely without the threat of being
prosecuted for practicing medicine without a license. The bill simply requires that unlicensed practitioners like homeopaths, massage therapists, and energy healers adhere to certain restrictions (that essentially prohibit any
potentially dangerous medical procedures or advice-giving) and proactively let their patients know that they are NOT licensed doctors.
What are the essentials about the health freedom movement that everyone should know? (Believe me, even the most esteemed politicians know little about this important and growing movement in America.)
- Your freedom to use the kind of medicine you want to use depends on the freedom of alternative practitioners to practice and offer their services to you.
- Health freedom efforts stress that each individual knows what is best for them. While everyone is free to listen to advice from the government, each one of us should also have the option to
choose for ourselves.
- Legal medical practice is governed at the state level. And pretty much every state without a health freedom bill (there are only a handful)
regards any kind of health advice to be "practicing medicine" and therefore subject to prosecution. While many states do not exercise this option for alternative practitioners, occasionally the medical boards do crack down
and prosecute people who have done no harm and have garnered no complaint from their patients. As a result, states with health freedom bills (like California, Rhode Island, and Minnesota) have the largest concentration of alternative
practitioners.
- There is a difference between licensing and certification. Certification assures that a practitioner is trained properly. It is always advisable to go to a certified practitioner,
no matter what type of practice. Licensing is permission to practice granted by the state.
- Many (if not most) alternative medical practices pose no risk to their patients and therefore should not require licensing which is designed to protect the public from harm.
- Licensing a profession must be done on a state-by-state basis and typically requires millions of dollars to succeed. Most small alternative health professions do not have a sufficient number
of practitioners, or enough money, organization, and political clout to mount a licensing campaign, even if they wanted to.
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Licensing bills are often an opportunity for a profession to engage in a turf war -- essentially barring anyone except their licensees from engaging in particular practices or from using certain titles such as "naturopath",
"homeopath", etc. This is particularly egregious when a practice has a broad scope, such as naturopathy, which includes many types of procedures (including the use of homeopathic remedies) under their rubric. Even though most
naturopaths are not specialists in many of the procedures they use (most naturopaths have minimal training in homeopathy, for example), licensing bills for naturopathic physicians or other types of practices can often create medical
monopolies that can shut down many unlicensed practitioners unless careful wording is inserted into their licensing bill to prevent it.
The health freedom movement is busy trying to educate the public and to pass health freedom bills in every state that ensure that unlicensed practitioners are allowed to practice freely and in a way that protects the public.
There have been many recent attempts in various states (Nevada, North Carolina, Iowa, Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Virginia) to force unwarranted licensing on many alternative practices, eliminate the practices of others, or to curtail
health freedom in some way. It is important to realize that legal language can be tricky and once enacted, a bill is not easily undone -- and people suffer as a result. Therefore, watch dog organizations like the
National Health Freedom Coalition are useful because they review the various bills being offered and make sure that they are worded in order to preserve health
freedom.
Here are some useful links to read more about these issues:
