How Health-Freedom Acts Work
Health Freedom acts–as adopted in six* states since the late ’90s–protect the public four ways:
1. They assure the public has the right to choose and have access to alternative health and counseling options.
2. They require non-licensed complementary and alternative health care practitioners (and in some cases, personal-development and counseling practitioners) to provide clients with a written full disclosure about such things as their non-licensed status, their training and qualifications, and the nature and philosophy of their practice. This is referred to as “informed consent” and the client is required to sign it, acknowledging that they have read it and understand it.
3. They guarantee the public’s right to file grievances and/or sue if a practitioner causes harm or violates conditions of the act.
4. They shield alternative practitioners from prosecution for “practicing medicine without a license” so long as the practitioners have complied with the provisions of the health freedom act.
Health Freedom Acts solve the problem caused by medical practice acts in most states that very broadly define the practice of medicine to include nearly any imaginable aspect of health counseling, diagnosis, treatment or therapy. Thus, most alternative health practitioners are vulnerable unless theirs is one of the few specific state-licensed or state-registered alternative health professions (such as chiropractic, acupuncture-Oriental medicine, dieticians, etc.).
Health freedom acts are highly efficient in that they protect the public’s interests and safety with a minimum of expensive and cumbersome oversight and regulation.
Health Freedom Acts lead to a better-informed public; encourage personal responsibility for health and fitness; and serve the health-food, fitness and personal development industries well.
Want to read the exact wording of six states’ Health Freedom Acts?
Some similar posts:
- Colorado and Washington Pioneered ‘Open Practice’
- Here’s what six states’ Health Freedom Acts look like
- Colorado’s house passes a health freedom act
- ‘Health Freedom’ language now officially part of New Mexico Complementary and Alternative Medicine Project’s right-to-practice campaign
- Help come up with ‘What’s In It For Me?’ for Health Freedom Act campaigns
