Letter to: White House Office of Health Reform

January 2009
The White House Office of Health Reform
Attn: Sen. Tom Daschle & Deputy Director Jeanne Lambrew
c/o Center for American Progress
1333 H St. N.W. 10th FloorWashington, D.C. 20005

Re: The Indispensable Role of Natural Health

Dear Sen. Daschle and Deputy Director Lambrew:

I am a citizen for health care reform. Like you, I consider health care reform one of the most important issues we've faced in a generation. As someone dedicated to natural health practicesand principles, I urge you to include natural holistic health care strategists on your team that will determine the future of health - and the health of our future.

For instance, it's important for you to know the following:

1) The well-respected Lewin Group conducted not one, but four evidence-based studies proving that responsible use of dietary nutritional supplements will save our health care systembillions of dollars.

2) To be more effective, our system must include an essential principle of natural health care, i.e. health is not a commodity.

3) Natural holistic health practices, although complementary withallopathic medical interventions, deserve different regulatory and legal policies than patented medicine.

4) True dis-ease and disease prevention involves not just early detection. It also requires policies and strategies that support self-care education, that leverage our innate healing resource and that respect individual choice. See the Guiding Principles from the 2002 White House Commission report on Complementary & Alternative Medical Practice.

These are just a few of the strategies and policies that the natural health community has been promoting for decades. It's time to bring the wisdom of natural health care forward. We'recitizens for health reform, and we look forward to working with you.

Thank you.

Kindest regards,