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Friends and Supporters of Naturopathic Health Care for New Jersey Residents:
Please share a few moments of your time to write a letter to your State Assemblyperson or Senator in support of licensure of Naturopathic Physicians in New Jersey.
The letter below may be used or adapted for this purpose.
If you are a patient, you may wish to personalize the sample letter with references to "my naturopathic physician".
If you are a student, parent, or out-of-state ND, you may wish to personalize the letter in a manner that reflects your interest in achieving licensure from your personal frame of reference.
Thank you for your assistance!
Dear Senator/ State Assemblyperson ________________,
I support the efforts of the New Jersey Association of Naturopathic Physicians (NJANP) to achieve licensure for Naturopathic Physicians in the 200_ legislative session. I would appreciate your support of this effort to increase health care access and affordability.
Managed care in the United States is excellent for treating acute situations, but sorely lacking in ability to effectively treat and prevent chronic illness. The majority of managed healthcare resources are currently spent to treat preventable crises associated with chronic illness such as heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, digestive disorders, and cancer. Many cases of chronic illness can be safely prevented, managed, and even reversed without the use of drugs or surgery.
Naturopathic Medicine strives to find the cause of illness, instead of just treating symptoms. Emphasis is on personalized health care and prevention of chronic illness. This focus on prevention saves long-term health care costs by preventing crisis illness and reducing medication and hospitalization.
Naturopathic physicians are skilled primary care providers who offer valuable holistic health care options to patients. These doctors are trained at fully accredited four-year medical colleges as primary care physicians who specialize in natural medicine.
The public has a right to access this alternative health care option in a safe and reliable setting. Lack of licensure for ND's in New Jersey takes away this right in three ways:
1) We cannot differentiate properly trained physicians from lesser-trained individuals (for example, unlicensed naturopaths obtaining degrees from non-accredited institutions, such as correspondence courses).
2) Naturopathic physicians practicing in New Jersey cannot bill insurance without licensure, which limits public access to this form of holistic health care.
3) Naturopathic physicians cannot practice fully without licensure, limiting them to serving the community as educators and counselors. Under the current law, ND’s cannot perform physical examination or laboratory testing, and may not diagnose diseases or administer treatment. This severely limits their ability to effectively manage their patient’s care.
According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, up 62% of Americans use alternative medicine in addressing their health care needs. It is therefore critical that New Jersey join the 13 other states currently licensing naturopathic physicians in order to offer consumers the qualified, competent, and safe health care choices they deserve.
We hope to have your support, and thank you for sharing your valuable time to learn more about naturopathic medicine.
Sincerely,
(Your Name)
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