Discrimination against well-trained naturopathic doctors is rampant. We need your help to stop it. State-based Action Alert!
Recently an association of four-year trained naturopathic doctors (NDs) in Oregon brought a class action lawsuit against an insurance provider. They allege that the insurance company conducted unlawful and discriminatory practices by arbitrarily denying payments for primary care services provided by NDs.
Following the passage of Obamacare, insurance providers are required to cover one annual physical per year, but some companies are not reimbursing NDs for these services because NDs aren’t being recognized by insurance providers as primary care doctors. The lawsuit also alleges that Obamacare actually prohibits insurance companies from discriminating against practitioners who are practicing within the scope of their licenses—and Oregon NDs are licensed to practice primary care, prescribe medicines, and order tests for their patients.
As is the case with integrative physicians, the medical establishment has a history of hostilitytoward even four-year trained naturopathic doctors—particularly the American Medical Association (AMA), which has sought to expand its monopoly over the practice of medicine by pushing out NDs and even trying to forbid them to use the word doctor. One way this has been accomplished is through getting state laws enacted which limit licensure and scope of practice for NDs. The official rationale is patient safety, but this is a sham—patients are utterly safe! This is about market share, plain and simple.