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October 2011 - Look what’s happening in Wisconsin! State Health Freedom Activists are having an impact for health freedom! Wisconsin Health Freedom Coalition is introducing a Consumer Choice and Wellness bill and opposing a monopolistic Dietitian licensing bill initiative. Go Wisconsin! Grass roots activists all over the country are working within their own states for health freedom initiatives that will ensure that consumers can have access to the healing practitioners of their choice and that those practitioners will have the right to practice. These initiatives are working! Today eight states have safe harbor exemptions in place that give many holistic practitioners an exemption from charges of practicing medicine without a license. And health freedom groups are also rising up successfully in many cases to prevent the passage of laws that would give a monopoly to some practitioners: for example, licensure of dietitians that would prohibit other people from giving nutritional advice. Wisconsin is an example of a state where citizens are working on both issues simultaneously. Wisconsin’s grassroots work can help you understand what might be needed in your own state. National Health Freedom Action is here to support your work on issues that impact your right to have access to the healing practitioners, information and products that you feel are important for your health and survival. NHFA PRESS RELEASE: NHFA Director Diane Miller joined three Wisconsin legislators and a Nutritionist as panelists at a Wisconsin Legislative Breakfast, sponsored by the Wisconsin Health Freedom Coalition. The purpose of the meeting was to examine two pieces of proposed legislative drafts from the perspective of health freedom. Panelists were called to articulate reasons for opposition to a Wisconsin monopolistic Dietitian licensing initiative, and for support of a Wisconsin Consumer Choice and Wellness bill draft for complementary and alternative health care.
Karen Hurd, Nutritionist, began the event with an overview of Wisconsin’s diverse natural health service providers who advise on nutrition and who, therefore, would be impacted by the Wisconsin Dietetic Associations’ bill. Karen explained how the dietician scope of practice in the WDA bill creates a monopoly over speech relating to nutrition and would, thereby, put thousands of Wisconsin practitioners who deliver nutrition related services but who choose not to become licensed dietitians out of business. The second panelist, attorney Diane Miller, National Health Freedom Action’s Director of Law and Public Policy, was invited to explain the Wisconsin Consumer Choice and Wellness Bill and the health freedom concepts that it was drafted on. Diane discussed how other states create exemptions to licensing bills, known as Safe Harbor or Consumer Choice and Wellness bills. These exemption bills function to protect the practice of unlicensed practitioners as long as they avoid prohibited conduct listed in the Consumer Choice and Wellness bill and as long as they give out proper disclosure. Miller described the Consumer Choice and Wellness bill as a way to retain the fundamental rights of regular citizens to provide healing practices that do not rise to the level of harm requiring licensure. She applauded the work of Wisconsin Health Freedom Coalition, and encouraged citizens present to become engaged in the process of legislation. Joining Diane Miller on the panel was Senator Terry Moultan (Republican), representing the 23rd district, Representative Kathy Bernier (Republican), representing the 68th district, and Representative Warren Petryk (Republican), representing the 93rd district. Terry Moulton discussed the importance of informed consumer choice when it comes to choosing health practitioners and therapies and emphasized the dire need for increased attention on wellness and nutrition. Specifically, Senator Moulton spoke from his personal experience at the legislature where he learned the truth about the negative impact a monopolistic licensing bill prohibiting many beneficial nutrition programs would have on the citizens of Wisconsin. Representative Bernier was similarly forthcoming about the vulnerability of health freedom that exists when misinformation is used as a tool by those supporting licensure. As a freshman representative, she shared the humility she felt upon discovering the extent to which supporters of a given licensing bill shroud the true impact of their proposed regulation and blatantly mislead representatives and consumers into supporting their cause. Specifically, she cited her experience with the WDA bill when supporters convinced her that the only nutrition professions impacted by their bill would be dieticians. Representative Bernier is now a champion for the diverse natural health practices available to Wisconsin citizens. Representative Petryk, a client of Karen Hurd, was the last panelist to speak. Representative Petryk focused on constitutional issues related to licensure bills with broad scope of practice language, such as unjustifiable mandates for consumers of nutritional therapies since licensure forces consumers to choose a professional practicing within the monopoly created by a licensing bill. He also discussed how overreaching in scope of practice results in the loss of jobs for practitioners who choose not to become licensed. Given the state of the economy and the state of American health, Representative Petryk stressed that it’s a collaborative and holistic approach to health care, one not available under monopolies created by licensing bills, which society needs to survive, both economically and literally, in the twenty-first century. The audience, Wisconsin residents on both sides of the issue, had an opportunity to ask questions to the panelists. Their concerns addressed everything from the role of nutrition professions in the reduction of health care costs and in finding relief from ailments not amenable to conventional therapies. NHFA appreciated the opportunity to contribute to the panel and is grateful to the legislators for their testimony and support. Click here to see the language of the proposed Wisconsin health freedom bill
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