Jan 25, 2012: IOWA Urgent Alert - hearing tomorrow
Oppose Iowa HSB 507

Iowa consumers and national health freedom advocates oppose HSB 507, a monopolistic licensing bill for naturopathic physicians, because, first and foremost, it would block consumer access to hundreds of natural health practitioners in Iowa that Iowa residents currently enjoy. It would do this by outlawing in Section 2. Section 147.2, practitioners practicing traditional naturopathy and many other complementary and alternative health care modalities and by criminalizing in Section 9. 148F.3 persons using the title “naturopath”, a word that has been used in the public domain for decades by thousands of natural health practitioners providing traditional natural practices.

Thousands of Iowa consumers use natural health care. A July 2009 report from the National Institute of Health’s National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) reports that 38% of Americans’ use complementary and alternative medicine. It also found that Americans spent $33.9 billion in out-of-pocket costs in a 12-month period for complementary and alternative medicine. Many of these complementary and alternative practitioners are not licensed, registered, or certified by this state. This fact has motivated many states to pass protective safe harbor laws for traditional natural health care services such as Minnesota, California, Rhode Island, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Idaho and Arizona.

Consumer have a right to choose from whom they receive natural health care information and advice. HSB 507 would restrict a consumer’s right to choose by eliminating the majority of their options and only leaving a small group of practitioners from a small group of schools to meet their needs. This would be devastating to the number of consumer choices now available.

The way this bill is written it does not protect the practices of hundreds of natural health care practitioners who practice traditional therapies and who have no intention of becoming medical doctors or of going to medical school or providing medical services. Examples of these traditional practitioners include traditional naturopaths, homeopaths, herbalists, and aroma therapists.

In addition, the way this bill is written it does not include the well-known safe harbor exemption that other states have for practitioners who practice natural health care, who do not hold themselves as doctors, and who do not belong to a conventional state licensed occupation. This bill attempts to offer an exemption that is completely misleading. First the bill states that an unlicensed person is illegal when practicing the natural healing arts included in the broad definition of naturopathic medicine, and then it states that they are exempt if they are “lawful”. The phrase “as long as such therapy is lawful” is a way of confusing Iowans and not being responsible for a forthright exemption to the bill.

And finally, the way that this bill is written it creates a monopoly by one small special interest group who has gone to a small number of schools, monopolizing the entire field of natural health and complementary and alternative health care services. The bill contains a flawed exemption for unlicensed persons and attempts to regulate the entire field of natural health care.

Proponents for HSB 507 will often say that they have no wish to put other practitioners out of business. But in reading the language it clearly does not adequately protect traditional naturopathy and it out rightly steals the term naturopath with absolutely no exemption language for unlicensed traditional naturopathic practitioners using such term.

Proponents of HSB 507 also say that there is a real need for the students from the five naturopathic colleges to get licensed in order to practice what they have learned in college. And it is understandable that they would request permission to do dangerous procedures similar to medical doctors before they practice. However the way this bill is written it merges the allopathic procedures with all of natural health and takes all of natural health out of the public domain and puts it into a licensing bill. There are states such as California and Minnesota that have successfully passed licensing bills that contain the protections necessary for all other natural health practitioners. Without these protections, this bill is not beneficial to consumers or to the natural health community.

There is no need for this bill to encompass the broad scope of natural health care. Governments do not generally mandate licensure for occupations unless they pass constitutional muster and make a showing of public harm that would indicate a need for licensure. This bill not only mandates licensure for allopathic procedures such as giving I.V.s and prescribing prescription drugs, but it goes way beyond what is constitutionally indicated and mandates licensure for all of natural health. This would harm the age old practices that have historically been practiced in Iowa.

HSB 507 is unnecessary and overreaching legislation that harms the natural health community by attempting to put all of natural health care into a licensing scheme designed by special interest group supported by trade groups such as the American Naturopathic Physician Association, an organization that focuses on naturopathic medicine. Natural health is much more diverse and historic that only the study of naturopathic medicine in naturopathic medicine schools. It is a rich and diverse natural health community providing age old wisdom to many eager consumers.

Similar types of bills have been repeatedly defeated in several states, especially those bills that do not contain a safe harbor exemption for unlicensed natural health practitioners.

For the above stated reasons, we urge you to oppose HSB 507. The citizens of Iowa deserve protection of their access to receive natural health care services from whomever they choose. This is their basic freedom. And the diverse natural health practitioners of Iowa should be able to continue their vocations and trades and continue their special callings in the healing arts. These practitioners are much sought after and beneficial to the citizens of Iowa. Instead Iowa should pass legislative that will forever protect the natural healing arts like other states have done.

Thank you for your time and consideration.