{"id":8993,"date":"2012-05-31T11:59:33","date_gmt":"2012-05-31T15:59:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/?p=8993"},"modified":"2012-05-31T18:10:11","modified_gmt":"2012-05-31T22:10:11","slug":"baby-steps-for-naturopathic-doctors-in-new-hampshire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2012\/05\/31\/baby-steps-for-naturopathic-doctors-in-new-hampshire\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Steps For Naturopathic Doctors In New Hampshire"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_8999\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2012\/05\/bindaas-madhavi.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-8999\" title=\"bindaas madhavi\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2012\/05\/bindaas-madhavi-300x204.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"204\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2012\/05\/bindaas-madhavi-300x204.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2012\/05\/bindaas-madhavi.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Bindaas Madhavi<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\"> <\/p><\/div>\n<p>Although<a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2012\/05\/30\/8962\/\" target=\"_blank\"> Naturopathic Doctors<\/a> (NDs) undergo virtually the same training as medical doctors, their services have not been covered by insurance companies in the state of New Hampshire.<\/p>\n<p>Two and a half years ago, ND Bert Mathieson was frustrated by what struck him as \u201cdiscrimination flat out.\u201d He got a sponsor for a bill that would change N.H. law. HB351 would require insurers in the state to reimburse naturopathic doctors, who emphasize illness prevention and lifestyle guidance rather than pharmaceutical or surgical procedures in their practice. Mathieson\u2019s initial success \u2014 getting a sponsor \u2014 came after another ND\u2019s failed attempt to work directly with insurance agencies 12 years ago, and 12 successive years of discontent among New Hampshire\u2019s tight-knit Naturopathic community.<\/p>\n<p><div class=\"related-content alignright\"><h4 class=\"related-header\">Related<\/h4><div class=\"links\"><h5>Posts<\/h5><ul><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2012\/05\/30\/8962\/\">House Bill On Naturopathic Insurance Reimbursement: A Preview<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2012\/05\/22\/how-much-is-n-h-paying-for-the-freedom-to-take-risks\/\">How Much Is N.H. Paying For The Freedom To Take\u00a0Risks?<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2012\/05\/24\/health-risks-update\/\">Health Risks Update<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"topics\"><h5>Topics<\/h5><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2011\/10\/1058204843_32496fe28c-60x60.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/topic\/new-hampshire-economy\/\">Your Guide To New Hampshire\u2019s Economy<\/a><\/p><p class=\"topic\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/topic\/department-of-health-and-human-services\/\">Department of Health and Human Services<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>Today, naturopathy looks appealing to politicians for two reasons. First, states like New Hampshire are struggling with a shortage of primary care doctors \u2014 a service NDs are certified to perform. Second, about 75% of health care spending nation-wide goes to treating chronic diseases, particularly those caused by diet and stress, such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes. According to Laurilee Schoenbeck, an ND who led efforts to pass a similar bill in VT, these are the very diseases naturapaths excel at treating and preventing.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nThe bill, as it was passed by the state Senate, would have required that both individual and group plans be covered for naturopathic services, so anyone with private insurance in New Hampshire who was interested in Naturopathic medicine would have access to it. That version of the bill didn\u2019t make it out of Tuesday\u2019s committee of conference. The new version, agreed upon by the committee of conference, no longer requires coverage for group plans \u2013 the kind of plans used by the overwhelming majority of N.H.\u2019s privately insured residents. Now, only the 2.7% of N.H. residents with private individual insurance plans will have certain access to naturopathic care.<\/p>\n<p>Although the adoption of the Senate\u2019s bill was not expected to raise insurance premiums \u2014 in fact, studies of other states with similar legislation have shown significant health care savings \u2014 the exclusion of group plans was made because \u201cserious concerns that mandating reimbursement for the group market will increase health insurance premiums for small businesses,\u201d according to Rep. John Hunt, R-Rindge who spoke to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thelobbynh.com\/news\/962455-382\/house-senate-compromise-over-mandate-issue-for.html\" target=\"_blank\">The Lobby<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>A frustrated Bert Mathieson reacted: \u201cyou say mandate and everyone goes running for cover.\u201d Mathieson continued, \u201cI think there\u2019s pressure from multiple fronts. I think people are trying to protect their turf medically \u2014 there are incredibly powerful lobbies; and I think there is pressure from insurance companies that for some reason just don\u2019t even want to look at the data, they just react\u2026. You know, any law is a mandate. It\u2019s just a smokescreen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Naturopathic doctor and immediate past president of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nhand.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">NH Association of Naturopathic Doctors<\/a> Jaclyn Chasse agreed, if less vehemently: \u201cthe compromise that was made is really unfortunate\u2026 since so much data demonstrates cost savings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The new version of the bill should pass in the House and Senate, and end up on Governor Lynch\u2019s desk shortly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Although Naturopathic Doctors (NDs) undergo virtually the same training as medical doctors, their services have not been covered by insurance companies in the state of New Hampshire. Two and a half years ago, ND Bert Mathieson was frustrated by what struck him as \u201cdiscrimination flat out.\u201d He got a sponsor for a bill that would [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":8999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[474,53,1],"tags":[28,556,560,318],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8993"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}