Senate bill offers hope for health autonomy

An important bill that expands access to natural health medicines and practitioners has been reintroduced. It needs our support. Action Alert!

For years now, ANH-USA has supported the Health Savings Act. The current bill, S. 12, is sponsored by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and allows Health Savings Account (HSA) funds to go toward dietary supplements without having to get a doctor’s prescription; the same would apply to Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs). The bill does this by expanding the term “medical care” to include vitamins, minerals, herbs, homeopathic remedies, and other natural health products, and would allow spending up to $1,000 each year. Similar legislation was introduced in 2011, 2013, and 2017.

Importantly, the bill also includes health coaches and nutrition services as allowable expenses for HSAs and FSAs. This provision was not included in earlier versions of the bill. If passed, this bill will improve access to wellness and nutrition services for millions of people by allowing them to use pre-tax dollars for these expenses.

HSAs allow consumers to pay for current health care expenses and save for future expenses. They offer a number of advantages. First, HSA contributions are tax-deductible. Second, the interest earned on money in the account is tax-free. Third, tax-free withdrawals can be made for qualified medical expenses. HSAs are also a good way to put money aside for health expenses later in life, when these costs may increase.

Keep in mind that HSAs have contribution limits. In 2019, the limit for an individual account is $3,500; for a family HSA, the limit is $7,000.

By making health coaches, nutrition services, and dietary supplements more affordable, this bill increases consumer choice and empowers individuals to take a proactive approach to their health.

Now, we must send a strong message of support to our elected officials to get momentum behind this important bill!

Action Alert! Write to your senators and urge them to support S.12. Please send your message immediately.

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By ANH-USA

What We Believe and What We Do

The Alliance for Natural Health USA (ANH-USA) is committed to sustainable health, the recognition that true health requires a proactive and preventive approach that focuses on a nutrient-rich diet, proper supplementation, and limiting our exposure to toxic substances. A system that is single-mindedly focused on “treating” sick people with expensive drugs, rather than maintaining healthy people, is neither practical nor economically sustainable.

ANH-USA is part of an international organization dedicated to promoting natural and sustainable health—and, in particular, consumer freedom of choice in healthcare—through good science and good law:

  • Since our founding in 1992, we have worked to shift the conventional medical paradigm from an exclusive focus on surgery, drugs, and other conventional techniques to an integrative approach incorporating functional foods, dietary supplements, and lifestyle changes. We believe this is the way to improve health and extend lives while reducing the costs of healthcare back to a sustainable level.
  • Sustainable health also applies the environmental ethic of conservation to our bodies. It urges us to live as nature intended us to live. Diet, nutritional supplements, exercise, and the avoidance of toxins are especially important tools in building and maintaining health.
  • Sustainable health is also about financial sustainability. Ever higher healthcare costs lead directly to higher unemployment and lower standards of living, both of which lead to more illness.
  • Today, preventive medicine is too often defined as taking more and more drugs at an earlier and earlier age, even in childhood. The concept of sustainable health is real preventive medicine and will dramatically reduce healthcare costs.

To this end, ANH-USA actively engages in legal initiatives, standing against forces that would limit your access to safe and effective dietary supplements, complementary therapies, and integrative medicines. We lobby Congress and state legislatures, act as a government watchdog, file comments on proposed rulemakings, and educate the public, the media, and other decision-makers.

Our most important tools:

  • A strong grassroots member base that is ready to act on a minute’s notice. ANH-USA is fortunate to have a dynamic, fast growing member base that collectively presents a unified front and demands their collective voice be heard. Thank you, members!
  • Effective lobbying. ANH-USA monitors legislation and regulatory activity on the state, federal, and international levels daily. Staying apprised of the domestic and global pulse on integrative medicine assists greatly in developing policy to advance integrative medicine.
  • Litigation. The court system has a role in protecting integrative medicine and a consumers’ right to choose. When it is required, ANH intervenes, through legal action, to protect the rights of the public.
  • Strategic coalitions. Collaboration is the most effective means to further a cause. ANH-USA has been highly effective in building long-term relationships with outside groups, members on the Hill, medical societies, and consumers from all walks of life.
  • Timely education campaigns. The timely launch of public educational campaigns is key to increasing support and recognition of key issues while furthering our overall cause.

Working closely with the media. Media can be a friend or a foe and whichever it may be, media is imperative to quickly disseminate a message. ANH-USA works collaboratively with the media to increase coverage of important natural health-related issues.

(Source: anh-usa.org; February 14, 2019; https://tinyurl.com/y39yommg)
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