FLA Bill Hijacks Herbal/Homeopathic Remedies- please act now.

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Misty

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URGENT! Florida Health Freedom Act needs your Action TODAY

 

Dear Practitioners and Clients

 

I'm writing from the Florida Health Freedom Action about HB 1301, the

Florida Consumer Health Freedom Act. Our lobbyist and attorneys will

meet with members of the House of Representatives' Health Care

Committee this coming Monday and Tuesday, March 17 & 18, to ask them

to support our bill.

 

It is critical that these legislators know that this bill is

important to you, the voters.

 

Strong and well funded opposition to our bill is being led by the

" Naturopathic Physicians " (NPs). The NPs are seeking to create a

licensed profession in Florida which will combine both conventional

medicine and naturopathy (natural healing). They are changing what

has defined the practice of naturopathy for decades (natural healing

methods involving plants)-- adding prescription drugs, insisting

that they are still practicing naturopathy, and declaring that no

other practitioner may use that term to describe natural healing

methods.

 

Under their bill, HB 1615, NPs would have the exclusive right to use

natural health care remedies, such as herbs and homeopathic

remedies. The NPs want to keep unlicensed CATH practitioners off

of " their turf. " Giving the NPs a monopoly on natural healing

methods will put natural healing practitioners out of business, and

drive up the cost of natural healing to consumers by requiring them

to go to licensed Naturopaths for natural healing services.

 

Your message will be most effective if it is received on Monday or

Tuesday. For this reason, please call first. If you are willing, a

letter is also important. It will take just 5 minutes of your time

to make a call or write a letter. 10 minutes to do both!

 

It is essential that members of the House Health Care Committee hear

that the Consumer Health Freedom Act HB 1301 is important to you. If

a Representative does not receive a sufficient number of contacts

from voters, it is possible that he or she may vote against our

bill. It is equally important that they know that you want them to

vote against HB 1615, the Naturopathic Physicians' bill, because of

their effort to claim a monopoly on natural healing methods and the

overlap their bill creates between natural healing methods

(naturopathy) and conventional medical care which involves drugs and

surgery.

 

Here are the steps:

 

1. STARTING MONDAY MORNING (the 17th!), CALL as many of the

legislators at the end of this email as you can. Speak with the

legislator directly or one of their staff. Ask them to:

 

A. VOTE IN FAVOR OF HB 1301, THE CONSUMER HEALTH FREEDOM ACT.

 

In your phone call, inform the legislator or their staff that HB

1301 is needed for 3 important reasons:

 

(1) to allow Floridians greater access to complementary and

alternative health care ( " CATH care " ) by allowing unlicensed persons

to practice those therapies which pose little or no risk to

consumers (such as homeopathy and vitamin therapy).

 

(2) to allow consumers to make informed CATH care choices by giving

consumers written information about their CATH practitioner and the

therapies they provide.

 

(3) to encourage communication between licensed health care

providers and CATH care practitioners, by removing the threat of

prosecution of CATH care practitioners for the unlicensed practice

of medicine. When this threat is gone, CATH practitioners will feel

safe about suggesting that their clients share information with

their medical doctors about the CATH care that they are receiving.

 

B. VOTE AGAINST HB 1615, THE NATUROPATHIC PHYSICIANS' PRACTICE ACT.

 

Tell your legislator that HB 1615 confuses the public by changing the

definition of an age-old natural healing word - " naturopathy " . Ask

him or her to look in their dictionary. They will find

that " naturopathy " is described as " a system of treating diseases

without drugs or medicines and without surgery, by physical agents

such as light, heat, air, water and plants " .

 

This is what a traditional naturopath is doing. This is not what HB

1615 would allow Naturopathic Physicians to do i.e. to prescribe

many pharmaceutical drugs---and perform minor surgery!

 

Tell your legislator that HB 1615 would give NPs a monopoly on

natural healing methods that do not harm consumers. This monopoly

would drive up the cost of your natural health care, and drive your

unlicensed traditional naturopath out of business.

 

2. RIGHT NOW ask 10 of your friends, relatives and clients who live

in Florida to call, write and/or e-mail the legislators using the

enclosed information.

 

FORWARD THIS EMAIL BY COPYING the whole letter (Select All from the

Edit Menu) AND PASTING IT INTO A NEW email (to avoid a myriad

<<<each line)

 

3. THIS WEEKEND WRITE TO EACH LEGISLATOR BELOW. It's best if you

write a letter in your own words. You¹ll find a sample letter at the

end to help you.

 

 

4. PLEASE SEND US A COPY of your letters. They will be of tremendous

help as we appear before legislative Committees to attempt to have

our bill become Florida law.

 

Thank you for your support,

Deborah J. Miller, J.D.

President, Florida Health Freedom Action

_________

 

SAMPLE LETTER

 

Date

 

RE: VOTE IN SUPPORT OF HB 1301

VOTE AGAINST HB 1615

 

Dear Representative ______________________:

 

I am a Florida resident and I use complementary and alternative

health care (CATH care) for my health care needs. (It will help if

you describe the CATH care that you use and how it has helped you)

 

I am writing today to ask you to SUPPORT HB 1301, the Consumer Health

Freedom Act. This bill, authored by Representative Rene Garcia, will

come before your committee this legislative session.

 

Florida needs HB 1301. A majority of Floridians now use CATH care.

Because of the overly broad scope of many licensed health care

professions' practice acts, however, almost every kind of CATH care

practiced by unlicensed persons is technically illegal - even if it

does not harm consumers.

 

The Consumer Health Freedom Act will do two important things. First,

it will narrow the scope of the health care professions' practice

acts so that CATH practices that are so safe they don't qualify for

a profession and licensure - such as homeopathy - may be practiced

by people who aren't members of the licensed health care

professions. Second, the Act will provide consumers with

important information about their CATH care practitioners and

therapies so that they may make informed choices about their

complementary and alternative health care.

 

I am also writing to ask you to OPPOSE HB 1615, the Naturopathic

Physicians' bill. This bill confuses the public by changing the

definition of an age-old natural healing word - " naturopathy " .

Please look in your dictionary. You will probably find

that " naturopathy " is described as " a system of treating

diseases without drugs or medicines and without surgery, by physical

agents such as light, heat, air, water and plants " . This is what my

unlicensed traditional naturopath is doing. This is not what HB 1615

would allow Naturopathic Physicians to do. Under this bill, they

could prescribe many conventional drugs and perform minor surgery.

 

HB 1615 would give NPs a monopoly on natural healing methods that do

not harm consumers. This monopoly would drive up the cost of my

natural health care, and drive my unlicensed traditional naturopath

out of business. (If you are a practitioner, please speak about the

number of people you have helped with traditional naturopathic

health care methods and that HB 1615 would put you out of business).

 

Please vote FOR HB 1301 and AGAINST HB 1615.

 

Sincerely,

(Include your name, address and telephone number)

_________

 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

HEALTH CARE COMMITTEE MEMBERS

NEEDING CALLS & LETTERS

MARCH 14, 2003

 

1. Rep. Holly Benson

214 House Office Building

402 South Monroe Street

Tallahassee, FL 32399-1300

Phone: 850-488-0895

Email:

HREF= " BENSON.HOLLY " >BENSON.HOLLY@myfloridah

ouse.co

m

Staff: Katie O¹Brien & Mary Peebles

 

2. Rep. Frank Farkas, Chairman

House Health Care Committee

210 House Office Building

402 South Monroe Street

Tallahassee, FL 32399-1300

Phone: 850-488-5719

Email:

HREF= " Farkas.frank " >FARKAS.FRANK@myfloridah

ouse.co

m

Staff: Chris Davis & Rebecca Bailey

 

3. Rep. Carole Green

221 Capitol

402 South Monroe Street

Tallahassee, FL 32399-1300

Phone: 850-488-2047

Email:

HREF= " Green.carole " >GREEN.CAROLE@myfloridah

ouse.co

m

Staff: Ashley Tucker & Monica Parker

 

4. Rep. Ed Homan, Vice-Chair

House Health Care Committee

210 House Office Building

402 South Monroe Street

Tallahassee, FL 32399-1300

Phone: 850-488-3087

E-mail:

HREF= " HOMAN.ED " >HOMAN.ED

Staff: Linda Barrow & Janet Roder

 

5. Rep. Dave Murzin, Vice-Chair

House Health Services Subcommittee

1102 Capitol

402 South Monroe Street

Tallahassee, FL 32399-1300

Phone: 850-488-8278

Email:

HREF= " MURZIN.DAVE " >MURZIN.DAVE@myfloridahou

se.com<

/A>

Staff: Casey Reed & Dawn Beasley

 

6. Representative Ralph Poppell

1101 Capitol

402 South Monroe Street

Tallahassee, FL 32399-1300

Phone: 850-488-3006

Email: POPPEL.RALPH@ myfloridahouse.com

Staff: Christy Lewis & Bonnie Rhodes

 

7. Representative Julio Robaina

221 Capitol

402 South Monroe Street

Tallahassee, FL 32399-1300

Phone: 850-488-6506

Email:

HREF= " ROBAINA.JULIO " >ROBAINA.JULIO@myflorid

ahouse.

com

Staff: Claudia M. Miro & Alejandro Dominguez

 

8. Representative Susan Bucher

1402 Capitol

402 South Monroe Street

Tallahassee, FL 32399-1300

Phone: 850-488-0175

Email:

HREF= " BUCHER.SUSAN " >BUCHER.SUSAN@myfloridahous

e.comA>

Staff: Audrey Spudeck & Rodney Statham

 

9. Representative Yolly Roberson

316 Capitol

402 South Monroe Street

Tallahassee, FL 32399-1300

Phone: 850-488-7088

Email:

HREF= " ROBERSON.YOLLY " >ROBERSON.YOLLY@myflor

idahous

e.com

Staff: Gayle Yenory & Reginald Darbonne

 

10. Representative Eleanor Sobel, Vice-Chair

House Health Standards Subcommittee

1402 Capitol

402 South Monroe Street

Tallahassee, FL 32399-1300

Phone: 850-488-0465

Email:

HREF= " SOBEL.ELEANOR " >SOBEL.ELEANOR@myfloridaho

use.com

 

Staff: Gregory Fields & Bill Sherwood

 

11. Representative Gus Bilirakis

221 Capitol

402 South Monroe Street

Tallahassee, FL 32399-1300

Phone: 850-488-5580

Email:

HREF= " BILIRAKIS.GUS " >BILIRAKIS.GUS@myfloridaho

use.com

 

Staff: Chandry Kime & Anthony De Lucia

 

12. Representative Rene Garcia, Chair

(Rene Garcia is our Consumer Health Fredom Act sponsor in the House.

Please

thank him for his support)

House Health Services Subcommittee

214 House Office Building

402 South Monroe Street

Tallahassee, FL 32399-1300

Phone: 850-487-2197

Email:

HREF= " Garcia.Rene " >garcia.rene@myfloridahou

se.com<

/A>

Staff: Osvaldo Guerra & Chastity Acosta

 

13. Representative Gayle Harrell

214 House Office Building

402 South Monroe Street

Tallahassee, FL 32399-1300

Phone: 850-488-8749

Email:

HREF= " HARRELL.GAYLE " >HARRELL.GAYLE@myfloridaho

use.com

 

Staff: Jeffrey Takacs & Janet Skolnick

 

14. Representative Stan Mayfield

212 Capitol

402 South Monroe Street

Tallahassee, FL 32399-1300

Phone: 850-488-0952

Email:

HREF= " MAYFIELD.STAN " >MAYFIELD.STAN@myfloridaho

use.com

 

Staff: Judith Lellie & Bethany Fretwell

 

15. Representative Joe Negron

221 Capitol

402 South Monroe Street

Tallahassee, FL 32399-1300

Phone: 850-488-8832

Email:

HREF= " NEGRON.JOE " >NEGRON.JOE

m

Staff: Cheri Vancura & Holly Demer

 

16. Representative Manuel Prieguez

300 House Office Building

Phone: 850-488-4202

Email:

HREF= " PRIEGUEZ.MANUEL " >PRIEGUEZ.MANUEL@myflori

dahouse

..com

Staff: Viviana Bovo & Maritza Prebal

 

17. Representative Ran Sansom

210 House Office Building

402 South Monroe Street

Tallahassee, FL 32399-1300

Phone: 850-488-1170

Email:

HREF= " SANSOM.RAY " >SANSOM.RAY@myfloridahouse

..com>

Staff: Samantha Sullivan & JoAnn Hofstad

 

18. Representative Arthenia Joyner

1401 Capitol

402 South Monroe Street

Tallahassee, FL 32399-1300

Phone: 850-488-5432

Email:

HREF= " JOYNER.ARTHENIA " >JOYNER.ARTHENIA@myfl

oridaho

use.com

Staff: Sonya Pridgen & Rosalie Smith

 

19. Representative Christopher Smith

316 Capitol

402 South Monroe Street

Tallahassee, FL 32399-1300

Phone: 850-488-1084

Email:

HREF= " SMITH.CHRIS " >SMITH.CHRIS@myfloridahou

se.com<

/A>

Staff: Marna Clark & Jackson Davis

 

20. Representative Shelly Vana

1402 Capitol

402 South Monroe Street

Tallahassee, FL 32399-1300

Phone: 850-488-4791

Email:

HREF= " VANA.SHELLY " >VANA.SHELLY@myfloridahou

se.com<

/A>

Staff: Michelle M¹Sadoques & Kathy Fitton

 

_________

 

Florida Health Freedom Action

P.O. Box 430871, South Miami, FL 33243-0871

Phone: 305 668 2800 € Fax: 305 662 1665

Website:

HREF= " http://www.floridahealthfreedom.org " >www.floridahealthfreedom.o

rg

 

Promoting freedom for health care choice in the state of Florida.