Hearing the term health freedom brings about a lot of different thoughts. After all, we live in a free country, so shouldn’t freedom cover everything? As we know, the push for socialized medicine and even the way that many insurance companies operate in paying for medical care reveals that in some ways, we only have limited choices when it comes to our health instead of true freedom.
Some people want information about alternative treatments for cancer for example, but many of these treatment options are tied up in regulatory red tape. It’s not all bad news however, because more and more people are advocating for health freedom to ensure that we still have access to a variety of medical professionals, medications, and even treatment options. Here are some thoughts on medical freedom.
Health Freedom is Freedom
Health freedom is the right of all people to have access to safe, effective, life-sustaining treatments including natural and non-traditional options. People have the right to choose dietary supplements if they want and even holistic, non-drug health care. Some argue that people should have the right to choose alternative medical treatments for cancer, even for children. In fact, some people go get treatments in other countries just to have access to these options. Having the freedom to pursue the best options for the individual puts the power in the hands of the people, and that’s a good thing.
Health Freedom is About Choice and Access
The push for access to alternative natural medicine has been largely positive, but there is still a long way to go. Health freedom is about choice and access. Some areas want to ban certain vitamins or want to restrict their sale. While there has been little regulation in the supplement industry historically, banning it altogether isn’t the best option either.
Some people want to try microdoses of mushrooms to treat their anxiety, but it’s hard to find. Where are mushrooms legal? Who can dispense them in the right amounts? So much of this information is hard to find. Advocating for health freedom is simply having the choice and access to these alternatives in the same ways that someone could get Prozac or other mainstream medications.
Health freedom includes both patients and providers being given the option to learn more about all the options, natural and otherwise, so they can make an informed choice. Care providers should understand even natural modalities to treat someone with an autoimmune disease, for instance, instead of starting them on strong immune blockers.
People don’t want to be forced into one disease management plan. Instead, they want to know all of the options, associated risks, and benefits that each one offers. This gives real choice. When you advocate for health freedom, this is what you are cheering on and doing. You are empowering medical professionals and patients with information and choices.
Help People Make Empowering Decisions for Their Own Lives
The best way to protect health freedom is to help more people be healthier. The healthcare system is all about disease management. Getting people to better health takes a more proactive approach, and it can take more time to get the results you want. It’s the difference between someone making lifestyle changes that lower their blood pressure versus getting medication to do it for them. While a lifestyle change takes more self-awareness, and self-control, and is more disruptive to your life, it also yields better long-term results. The focus is on removing the habits that cause the disease instead of just putting a Band-Aid on it and hoping the Band-Aid won’t ever fall off. But the beauty of true health freedom is that you can choose the pill if you want, and that’s okay.
Health Freedom Impacts Everyone
The truth is that health freedom impacts everyone. It can impact people financially as well as physically. Having options for alternative antimicrobials instead of antibiotics that you’re allergic to is one example of the power of health freedom. Having the option to use IV vitamins that cost a fraction of the amount of others IV drug infusions for autoimmune disease is another example. We can all work together to advocate for health freedom to ensure that we continue to have access to all the options to get what’s best for us.