Thursday, March 12, 2015

ACTION ALERT: HB181 Law to Regulate Naturopaths



HB 181 is a bill that has passed the Idaho House that would regulate naturopaths in the state of Idaho. The bill is now in front of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee. The bill dictates everything a naturopath can and can't do and importantly requires that a person have attended one of only a couple of naturopathic colleges. It also creates a new board to regulate naturopaths.

A doctor I know in Boise who is an MD and a naturopath would not be able to practice integrative medicine any longer because she did not go to the right naturopathic college according to the legislature. One of the problems with these regulatory boards is that they can and do abuse their powers and this law would mean that only the 20 or so Idaho naturopaths who trained at the "right" school can continue practicing while all the others could not. This abuse of powers is seen in Western medical boards as well where doctors are threatened with having their licenses withdrawn if they don't follow every edict of the regulatory body like vaccines or drugs for kids.

Given that many folks choose a naturopath instead of an MD and that regulation by the federal government has increased with the Affordable care act it is not hard to envision a time when naturopaths are not allowed to practice at all and the only "medicine" that is approved by the government is Western medicine.

If you like me, don't want to be restricted in the type of medicine that you use in your family, it is important to stop this bill.

Please call or email every member of the Senate Health and Welfare committee to stop this bill. All I've written above can be used as talking points.

Chair Lee Heider 332-1347
Vice Chair Fred Martin  332-1407
Patti Anne Lodge  332-1320
Sheryl L. Nuxoll  332-1355
Marv Hagedorn  332-1334
John H. Tippets  332-1429
Abby Lee  332-1325
Dan Schmidt 332-1405
Maryanne Jordan  332-1352



Following is the message my doctor in Boise sent out to all her patients:

URGENT! PLEASE HELP!

The Idaho Legislature is considering the passage of HB181. It has passed the House of Representatives. It is up for review in the Senate today. This bill would make all naturopathy the exclusive domain of the 20 or so naturopaths that went to naturopathic college. I have my naturopathic credentials from the American Naturopathic Medical Institute but I did not attend a four year college of naturopathy. If this passes, this means I would no longer be able to practice integrative medicine.

More background from someone else:

Bill 181 comes down to licensing naturopaths. Some states license them and some don't. Idaho has not licensed in the past. Instead, they practice under the Smith Act which allows naturopaths to use other means besides prescription drugs (which is the very definition of naturopathy). Bill 181 wants to make it required that all naturopaths in the state of Idaho be licensed and that in order to be licensed they have to do whatever the Health and Welfare committee decides they must do to be licensed. We already know from the Health and Welfare committee (from previous attempts to push this bill through every year since 2007) that their licensing structure is that naturopaths must have attended 1 of 2 approved naturopathic schools in the US. Both of these schools are more homeopathic than naturopathic and are not only expensive but the degree is a 5 year degree. Instead of allowing naturopaths who already have degrees (from other schools) be grandfathered in, they would basically have to close their doors as naturopaths in Idaho and those who could afford to do so may choose to go and get the 5 year degree for naturopathy all over again. That is the main problem with it although there are others.

I should add that they would then be regulated to only practice naturopathy according to the approved methods from those schools. The Health and Welfare Committee would do the regulating and the woman heading it up has already stated her agenda (Kristy Perry is her name).


Leslie Manookian
leslie.manookian@me.com

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.~ Benjamin Franklin