The 83rd regular session of the Texas Legislature adjourned on May 27th, 2013. An additional 30 day session was convened by the Governor. According to the Texas constitution, only those specific issues which the Governor wants addressed can be considered during this special session. None of these issues have to do with our interests.
The results of the 83rd regular legislative session can best be described as mixed. On the positive side, only two bills, SB 460 and HB 3793, were passed that posed a threat to health freedom (these two bills were addressed in our last health freedom alert). No scope of practice legislation was even filed by any special interest group.
The latter can be attributed largely to the current fiscal environment, i.e., the members of the legislature on both sides of the aisle recognize that any bill which creates a new fiscal obligation for the state will not pass, so there’s no use in even filing it.
However, in the specific case of bills of interest to us, over the last several legislative sessions we have created a very effective network of relationships among key members of the legislature. These members recognize that any bill which restricts our freedom of choice will result in massive opposition by us, so they avoid that by discouraging the filing of restrictive scope of practice legislation. That is a tribute to your ongoing involvement with and interest in protecting your health freedom. Please give yourself a well deserved pat on the back for staying engaged.
Also, thanks to the effort and support of our friend Rep. David Simpson, we were able to get House Joint Resolution (HJR) 125, our proposed health freedom constitutional amendment, filed. Many thanks to Rep. Simpson for agreeing to author HJR 125. It is an important first step in our two pronged effort to put into place a truly durable protection of our right to choose the health care treatment of our choice.
Why do we characterize this effort as “two pronged”? We have extensively studied the health freedom legislative efforts in other states. Although several groups in those states have succeeded in getting health freedom legislation passed, the common denominator is there is nothing to preclude an economically motivated special interest group from coming in the very next legislative session and trying to undo those efforts. Without a truly durable solution, one which precludes such groups from even filing such a bill, we must always be on alert.
The most effective way of implementing such a strategy is to pass both a constitutional amendment guaranteeing our access to all available health care remedies and therapies, and so-called “implementing legislation,” which modifies existing health care law to comply with the constitutional amendment. Due to the constraints of time, we were only able to file the constitutional amendment this session. It is our intention to file both pieces of legislation next session.
This brings up an equally important point: the only way in which we will successfully implement this, or any other, strategy is to procure the services of a proven effective lobbyist. And that can only occur if we raise the money to pay them. Our Coalition is incorporated as a 501(c)(4) non-profit lobbying organization. Donations are not tax deductible.
But think about it for a minute: what would happen if your right of access to (or, if you are a practitioner, your right to practice) the health care treatment of your choice were taken away? Is it worth $10 a month to protect that right? Is it worth spreading this message to your family and friends? Only you can decide, and that decision will have a powerful effect on our efforts going forward.
If we can’t raise the money to fund lobbying support, then by default we can only play defense. While that will certainly allow us to protect ourselves against restrictive scope of practice bills, it does nothing to change the status quo. Do we really want to continue that status quo, which includes the Texas Medical Board filing over 2,300 letters of complaint against unlicensed practitioners annually? Only you, by your action, can decide.

Thanks for your support of Texas Health Freedom,

The Executive Committee
Texas Health Freedom Coalition

APOLOGIZE SENATOR SCHWERTNER

HJR 125 Flyer

Colleagues and Friends of Texas Health Freedom,

After consulting extensively with health care experts, key Texas legislators and their staffs, and health care policy experts from around the country, with your help we now have an extraordinary opportunity to take an important, new first step to permanently alter the health care landscape in Texas.  This course of action is not being taken lightly, or without great forethought. 

As most of you know, over the last three legislative sessions the Texas Health Freedom Coalition has exerted an enormous amount of effort to pass health freedom legislation in the form of a so-called “safe harbor” exemption bill in Texas.  Our best opportunity was during the 2011 legislative session, when we had companion bills heard by both the House Public Health and Senate Health and Human Services Committees. 

However, in each session the determined opposition of the Texas health care trade unions (i.e., the Texas Medical Association (recognized as the most powerful medical association in the country), the Texas Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and the Texas Association of Massage Therapists) was enough to defeat the bills.  As a result, after the 2011 legislative session we were told emphatically by influential legislators that this type of legislation would not pass in this state.  Therefore, we embarked on a new strategy.

All of us recognize that the US health care system is a house of cards, inappropriately influenced by economic special interests and teetering precariously due to its enormous cost and marginal results.  The challenge for agents of change like us is to identify which card to pull from the house’s base to allow meaningful change to take place.

The common denominator in each state is the overt and inappropriate influence of the health care trade unions, to the detriment of the unlicensed health care community.  For example, here in Texas, there were over 1,500 complaints filed in 2012 with the Texas Medical Board (TMB) against (in the words of the TMB) “nonlicensed practitioners” for violations of the state medical practice laws.  The combination of the overly broad scope of those laws (jealously protected by the Texas Medical Association), and the aggressive stance taken by the TMB, keeps the unlicensed health care community under constant threat and compromises the ability of our fellow Texans to access the health care treatment of their choice.

Were we to somehow negate the trade unions’ influence, we could achieve all the other objectives the health freedom movement seeks to achieve.

The leaders of the Texas Health Freedom Coalition believe it is unconstitutional for health care trade unions to use the legislative system to confer economic advantage on their members at the expense of others, thus depriving our fellow Texans access to the full range of health care choices.  Therefore, we believe the remedy should be sought at the state constitutional level.

Accordingly, our friend Texas Rep. David Simpson (R-Longview) has just authored and filed House Joint Resolution (HJR) 125, an amendment to the Texas Constitution that, if enacted into law, would guarantee each Texan the individual right to access whatever health care treatment they choose, and would protect the rights of practitioners to offer those treatments and modalities. 

The import of this bill cannot be understated.  It places the mechanism of choice in health care back where it belongs, in the hands of the individual citizen. 

For those who raise the warning flag of safety, we would point out that, currently, the most heavily licensed occupation in the country, physician, is directly or indirectly responsible for over three quarters of a million US deaths annually (see the research paper “Death by Medicine” in the Pages section to your left).  The fact is, licensing does very little to “protect the public” (as its advocates inaccurately assert), but in fact primarily protects only the practitioner, from prosecution and litigation in the event of an adverse health event for the patient, and confers an unfair and undeserved monopoly on the trade unions.

How You Can Help

-        Go to www.texashealthfreedom.com.  On the left side of the page, find the “Who Represents Me?” section.  Fill in your address info and click “Submit.”

-        The first name under “Texas State Representative” (NOT Member of Congress!) is your state House member.  Find her/his capitol office address.  Then write her/him a short handwritten note (these are the most effective) that uses the following format:

“Rep. John Smith

PO Box XXX

Austin Texas, 78XXX

Dear Rep. Smith,

I am your constituent and I want you to vote “yes” to pass House Joint Resolution (HJR) 125.  Texas citizens deserve to have their right of health care choice protected in our constitution.

Sincerely,

John Jones

Your address, city, state and zip code”

-        If you are a registered voter, state “I am your constituent and a registered voter” in your note and include a copy of your current voter registration card with the note.

-        After you mail your note, e-mail our Coalition at texascam@earthlink.net with the following information:

-        -  Your name and (if you are a health care practitioner) your professional title.

-        -  The date you sent your note.

-        -  The state representative you sent it to.

-        -  Whether you are registered voter.

Time is short, so please complete your action by March 22^nd.  If your state representative requests them, we have both a point paper and white paper on HJR 125 available in .pdf format in the Pages section to your left.  Please contact us via e-mail at texascam@earthlink.net, or by phone at 210-372-0557, with questions or if you need additional support for your legislator contact.

Please take action today.  Your help is urgently needed and greatly appreciated!

Sincerely,

The Executive Committee of the Texas Health Freedom Coalition

Diane Miller Interview