Blog

The Michigan Sunshine Health Freedom contacts are working closely with the Michigan Natural Health Coalition and they are together actively seeking a sponsor for a Natural Health Freedom Bill in Michigan. The bill has been drafted and potential sponsors are being identified. They are raising ongoing funds for their lobbyist, Judy Augenstein, who continues to work very diligently for them. They are also asking people who know legislators to help out with legislative relationships. They are making great progress and are now on Facebook!

The impetus for their active mobilization was in 2010, learning that a restrictive licensing bill was being planned that would make it impossible for traditional naturopaths to practice their profession or use the term “naturopathic doctor” or their degree initials “N.D.”. The bill would have negatively impacted many other natural health practitioners. The group has gotten a new website and Board of Directors and plans to move swiftly to stop negative bills, and to introduce a safe harbor exemption bill that would protect consumer access to unlicensed practitioners such as herbalists, traditional naturopaths, homeopaths, Reiki practitioners and a host of others. Michigan is the home of Reik iInternational (www.reiki.org) and its founder and Director, William Lee Rand, Reiki Master.

In 2006, Michigan introduced a health freedom bill, HF 5918, to protect consumer access to practitioners that provide complementary and alternative health care, both licensed and unlicensed practitioners, but the bill did not proceed. In addition in 2006, Michigan passed a Dietitian bill that was not ideal for health freedom after Michigan Health Freedom Coalition membersworked hard to amend the bill without success.