Cathy Bliss
1175 Corte de Cera
Chula Vista, CA 91910

Dear Mr. President,

Natural Solutions Foundation, the nation’s premiere “net roots” Health Freedom association alerted me to the threats to Health Freedom hidden in H.R. 1 EH, the economic stimulus law and also found in the pending Food Safety Agency bill, H.R. 875 (and its Senate companion bill).

“Health Freedom” was one of the “Top Ten” social issues on Change.org and was included in the President’s Briefing Book on the official Change.gov web site. Please consider thoughtfully that Health Freedom be taken seriously and that Health Fascism – as exemplified by the hidden provisions of the “stimulus” bill and the potential harm of the Food Agency bill – be stopped NOW.

We are concerned that language in the “stimulus” bill will restrict our health care choices, our medical privacy, and course of treatment or therapy that may benefit. We are concerned with what the new Federal bureaucratic overlords of “Health Care” will authorize for us, at our age, and at our financial ‘worth’ to society.

One commentator sited specific page numbers (refer to H.R. 1 EH, pdf version) as examples:

“The bill’s health rules will affect “every individual in the United States” (445, 454, 479). Your medical treatments will be tracked electronically by a federal system…. But the bill goes further. One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions (442, 446). These provisions in the stimulus bill are virtually identical to what Daschle prescribed in his 2008 book, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.” According to Daschle, doctors have to give up autonomy and “learn to operate less like solo practitioners…” (Bloomberg, February 9, 2009)

So what is an unprecedented Congressional grant of power over health care to the bureaucracy doing in an economic “stimulus” bill? And why does Congress think a new bureaucracy should make life-and-death health care choices for us?

We are further concerned that H.R. 875 will be applied to organic and small family farms and ranches, as well as natural and organic food products, including Dietary Supplements, in ways that will greatly harm these areas of the economy. They are not part of the food safety problem which is essentially a problem of big agriculture businesses.

President Obama, this imposition of what could be termed Medical Fascism on the People is NOT real Change. Sneaking it into the “stimulus” bill is just plain old “politics as usual.” Creating a new bureaucracy, even if called “Food Safety” is not helpful if the new bureau will hurt family farms and ranches, natural and organic products.

Please use your authority as President to make it clear that these new powers granted by Congress will not be used to restrict Healthcare Freedom of Choice and local food production.

I petition you to clearly instruct the Federal agencies, including the FDA and other agencies involved in restricting healthcare freedom of choice to reverse all policies that restrict access to natural, alternative and complementary healthcare modalities and natural or organic food products.

I request that you formally adopt the Definition of Health Freedom from Change.org and your Briefing Book, “Health Freedom means the right to control what happens to your body, choosing your own health path, making your own health choices as you see fit.” as the definition to be used by all Federal agencies.

You need to regulate the regulators – we call upon you to instruct the bureaucracy to respect the rights of doctors and patients, to ensure that the United States fully respects the World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki – http://www.wma.net/e/policy/pdf/17c.pdf – and does not impose on our Citizens restrictions against health care choice, especially when those choices involve nutrients and natural remedies.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter. “Health Freedom is Our First Freedom!”

Sincerely

Cathy Bliss