AANP's DC FLI Sets New Records

By Karen Howard
AANP Executive Director


This year's annual Federal Legislative Initiative (DC FLI) topped all records.

• Over 170 visits to Congressional offices representing 38 states and the District of Columbia.
• 171 attendees of whom 100 were naturopathic medical students.
• 1,500 emails were sent in one day from 'virtual' lobbyist across the country using our electronic CapWiz program to write to their Members of Congress.

A special recognition goes to the students of the University of Bridgeport for winning the "Bring a Founder to the FLI" contest and receiving the AANP's first traveling trophy for school spirit.

This year we focused on how Congress can address the critical shortage of primary care physicians by accessing naturopathic medicine. Our specific requests included inclusion in all federal loan repayment programs and defining the term "integrative health care practitioner."

The term, "integrative health care practitioner" is used throughout the health care reform law and is not defined in the statute. Our objective is to encourage Congress to ensure Americans have access to the best, most qualified providers - many, if not all, of whom are underutilized in federal programs. As you may recall, the Coalition for Patients Rights, of which the AANP is a member, represents 3.3 million such practitioners. Our proposal uses language from the original H.Con.Res 406 and H.Con.Res. 58 (introduced by Congressman Langevin) and reads as follows:

"An Integrative Health Care Practitioner, acting within the scope of that provider's license or certification under applicable State law, addresses the underlying causal factors associated with chronic disease; improves individual health and increases individual capacity to engage in activities of daily living through lifestyle change, including strategies relating to diet, exercise, smoking cessation, and stress reduction; and provides patient-centered care that:

1. addresses personal health needs;
2. uses a multidimensional approach to encourage patients to improve their own wellness through lifestyle changes and the use of scientifically based therapies and outcomes based treatments that facilitate the inherent ability of the human body to maintain and restore optimal health; and
3. utilizes clearly defined standards to determine when the implementation of wellness and health promotion activities will be useful for each patient based on the diet, exercise habits, individual health history, and family health history of the patient."

What happens now? Staff is working to mine the reams of data from these very valuable visits on Capitol Hill and will work directly with several of our state contingencies of NDs to create a successful strategy for our efforts. Capitol Hill is a tad weary on the topic of "health," in general, but preliminary work is beginning on what will constitute a technical amendment bill - and the appropriations process is also available as a possible vehicle for these changes. Our relationships continue to grow and deepen on Capitol Hill and our presence is clearly having an impact.

Massachusetts - Planting the seeds of revolution?

Guest post by Carol Rainville, N.D.


Photo by occam via Flickr, used under the Creative Common's license.

Itʼs been several days now and I am still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that conservative Republican Scott Brown won the senate race in Massachusetts. I was hoping for some kind of voting irregularities to surface but, alas, such is not the case.

A recent Washington Post poll says health care was the most important issue driving the results. I didnʼt really need a poll to figure that one out. One candidate vowed to vote for it and the winner vowed to vote against it. The poll also said that the majority of voters support the Massachusetts universal health care plan. In my own little poll, my selfemployed friends have expressed far greater fear, frustration and anger with the state mandate than the friends with employer-provided health care plans.

Since the universal health insurance law went into effect here in 2007, premium costs have skyrocketed. If you donʼt have “credible” health insurance coverage, you will be fined. Since January 2009, credible means, in addition to the basic coverage prescribed by law (catastrophic insurance alone isnʼt enough), you must also pay for prescription drug coverage whether you need it or not. We are seeing double digit annual increases in our premiums. Blue Cross was planning increases of up to 47% for some small businesses for 2010, claiming costs have increased that much in the span of one year!

I had high hopes for health care reform when President Obama took office. The original ideas looked like real reform. It now looks like the Massachusetts plan gone national and I believe that is the message the voters here were sending. They are outraged and they donʼt want more of the same. I share the outrage. As a self employed individual I pay well over $8000 per year just in premiums, plus co-pays and the cost of membership in a chamber of commerce to get that special group rate. I rarely use prescription drugs and the ones I have used were not covered by my insurance. Itʼs not hard to see who the winners are here.

For a lot of reasons, though, Scott Brown was not my candidate of choice. My thinking was that if Congress did pass this legislation, with the same results we have seen here, the national outrage would drive real reform. Senator-elect Brown is an intellectual lightweight and once he casts his vote against the health care bill, his 15 minutes of fame will be over. However, that vote may well be “the shot heard round the world.”

I do believe things happen for a reason. Massachusetts has sent a strong message to Washington because the citizens of this state and this country, however naively, still believe in government of the people, by the people, for the people. There is an incredible opportunity here. President Obama and Congress can grab it and regain the peopleʼs trust or they can let it pass them by. If the latter happens, I sense a revolution sprouting. Cake anyone? (Apparently, Marie Antoinette never really said “Let them eat cake” but the symbolism remains.)

Pogo Wisdom

By Bill Benda, MD, FACEP, FAAEM


Photo by thisisbossi via flickr, used under the Creative Commons License.

I had planned to write this blog submission as a reflection on my three days attending the Integrative Healthcare Symposium (IHS), which just concluded in New York City this past week. I was brimming with cutting editorial analysis about the keynote speakers, and the content, and the panels, and the vendors, and the commercial and political negotiations that take place in hallways, at dinner tables, and in bar booths. A curmudgeon’s commentary about the same faces, same speeches, same arguments and same deal making as last year and the year before that and undoubtedly returning to afflict us again next year.

But something changed for me during the flight back to California. Perhaps instigated by the fatigue, or the frustration, or the unexplained pain in my right hip. An insight, one might say, into the reality that there are, and never will be, any definitive answers, or solutions, or final agreements that address the issues that have been with us since the first caveperson argued with the second caveperson at the first Integrative Cave Conference (ICC) about who’s rock was going to best cure the physical and political ills of the cave community.

What I began to understand, and have begun to accept, on that long flight home is that we will never solve this healthcare conundrum. Ever. Not with legislation, or research, or drugs, or botanicals. In fact this whole process we have been battling over is not about therapies, or modalities, or titles. Its not about who gets the most money or power. It’s not about anything found in the conference brochure or the behind the scenes deal.

It’s about us.

Its about how we respond to the people and information put before us, and how they and it are the same as last year and the year before only because we am the same as last year and the year before. And how continuing to work within this system and attend these conferences can remain of interest and worth year after year only if we find the capacity to see things in a different light each time.

I must confess that one of my greatest teachers here has been our own Karen Howard, who I have watched work relentlessly for an outcome, and, when finding that it has slipped away through universal serendipity or someone else’s stupidity, has the capacity to hold the situation in wonder along with the inevitable frustration, and then let it go and move on to the next beautiful disaster. It really is a study in grace, and I hope to achieve even a fraction of it before I leave this field of endeavor.

We have met the enemy, and he is us . . .

Where's the "health" in health care reform?

By Sara Thyr, ND


Photo by D Sharon Pruitt via Flickr under the Creative Commons License.

Back in August, I read an op-ed in The Washington Post by Kathleen Sebelias, our new Secretary of Health and Human Services. It brought this issue that has been nagging in the back of my head to the fore. She really believes that Obama’s plan will improve the health of Americans. But that is impossible. That is not at all what it is designed to do. It appears to me more likely to increase the number of people who have health insurance, which has not been correlated with Americans being free of symptoms and disease.

The problem with that is that in my experience, the insurance companies have no interest in health. Their focus is by and large money.

If you want to improve the health of Americans, you must begin to look more deeply at what is causing them to be ill. Look at what they are eating, what their stress is, what their daily habits are, and assess their exposure to toxins. If we spent even a fraction of the money that currently goes to insurance companies (who’s kneejerk habit is to reject claims, not promote health) on taking the time to actually figure out the underlying causes of symptoms, we would be at least heading in the right direction.

At some point, Americans must realize that they will pay for their own health. Whether or not they want to filter that money through the pockets of insurance executives and the yachts of the owners of big pharma is up to them. But pay they will. I figure they might as well actually get healthy in the process. Something others seem less interested in.

What makes me think Americans are ready to pay for your own healthcare? They already are.

On the board of directors for the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians, we have been having the conversation about DSHEA and the supplement industry in general. Even in the currently unregulated state, it is a multi-billion dollar/year industry. I want my patients to have high quality supplements. But I also want them to have access. The real point is that people are ready to implement changes that are not advocated by their insurer. Not only ready, but happy to pay for it themselves. This is because they want to be well. Not just insured. But actually feel good, live longer, sleep soundly.

If you want to improve the health of people in America, you must work with the people who care most about their health. The two most important groups are the people themselves and the physicians who are caring for them.

When insurers control the amount of time physicians spend, as well as the practice of medicine, the care given is not better. And with all of the overhead and CEO bonuses, it is not cheaper. Mostly, the people are not more well. Most physicians do care about their patients, but have such contraint on their time, they move towards the habitual “here’s your prescription.” The drug may have serious side effects, and rarely does it get to the root of the problem.

Without getting to the root of the problem and supporting the human body, true health is outside our grasp.

If your car’s tired are going flat, is it really ideal to just keep adding air? Sure, that might work to get you to the grocery store and back. But what you really need to do is find the hole. Don’t call your car insurance company. Take it down to the shop and get it fixed. Or buy new tires. Don’t expect someone else to pay for it. They’re your tires.

We spend more than any other nation on health care. If access and money would make us well, we would not rank 25th in the world for infant morbidity and mortality. We would not be lagging behind other nations in overall wellness. Nations who spend a mere fraction of what we do on health care.

As my friend Bill Benda, MD says, this current plan will be short lived. Until we look at increasing health, not increasing insurance coverage, we will be drinking the same old wine out of a new bottle. The public will not tolerate this for very long. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Are you well or are you not well? Believe me, you care more than anyone about your health issues, not matter how simple or serious.