Protect Your Access to Natural and Alternative Health Care

Health Freedom Washington
P.O. Box 6555
Olympia, WA 98507
Phone: 360-357-6263
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ON HEALTH FREEDOM

Comments from Diane Miller, JD

Director of Legal and Public Policy for National Health Freedom Action

NHFA OPPOSES MANDATORY REGULATION OF UNLICENSED PRACTITIONERS

One of the oldest and most important programs that NHFA has is the “State Support Program” to help states pass health freedom legislation that reflects constitutional grounds, and that maximize consumer options in health care.  The health freedom safe harbor exemption bills for unlicensed practitioners such as herbalists, homeopaths, traditional naturopaths, energy workers, and many more healers, are one way to do that.  As of 2007, there are health freedom exemption bills that do not require government permission before one does a healing act, in the states of Minnesota, Rhode Island, California, Idaho, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.  NHFA supports these types of laws, as well as the additional 15 states that have now introduced similar legislation.

NHFA does not support mandatory registration, or requirements of government-endorsed education on unlicensed persons, because there is no basis for a state to have jurisdiction over these practitioners.  There are many wonderful healers and health care consultants that have a broad range of services and backgrounds in the healing culture, and laws should maximize consumer access to all of these healers.  The health freedom exemption bills exempt unlicensed practitioners from being in violation of criminal laws for practice without a license, they prohibit certain acts that could cause harm, and they require disclosures of education and the fact that a person is not licensed.  But they do not require all persons in the culture and all unlicensed practitioners to get permission from the government before they do a healing act.

States have the police power to protect their citizens from harm and thus they have jurisdiction over occupations that pose an imminent risk of harm to the public.  However, in many states, the current occupational laws prohibit unlicensed practitioners from doing any act related to healing and they prohibit licensed practitioners from practicing outside of their prevailing and accepted standard of care.  Health freedom advocates are working in many states to reform occupational laws to allow holistic practitioners, whether licensed professionals such as M.D.s and R.N.s, or unlicensed practitioners such as herbalists, homeopaths, energy healers, and traditional naturopaths, to be able to be practice. 

The new health freedom safe harbor exemption laws for unlicensed practitioners resonate with constitutional requirements to regulate in the least restrictive manner when a fundamental right is at stake.  NHFA holds that states do not have the authority to regulate unlicensed health care practitioners that are not posing a risk of harm to the public.  However, this position is being challenged at some state legislatures, with some legislators demanding that all unlicensed practitioners register with the state before they do a healing act.  Mandatory registration bills are unacceptable to many health freedom advocates because there is no basis of harm for the state to use its police power to mandate registration.

In 2006-2007 mandatory registration bills were introduced in Ohio and Washington.  Health freedom groups mobilized and worked hard to successfully defeat these bills and to introduce their own health freedom safe harbor exemption bills which do not require permission from the government before one does a healing act.  NHFA hopes that all of these groups will band together in the future and create a strong presence in each state and pass safe harbor health freedom exemption laws.

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