This week's #freedomfriday is brought to you by @eaglespirit, @naturalmedicine and @freedomtribe - and the topic is very close to my own heart and very presence here on Steemit in my role in celebrating and promoting natural medicine on the Steem blockchain. If you'd like to write about 'Freedom of Natural Medicine', you've got until Sunday night. Read the guidelines for the post here.

Make sure you use #freedomfriday, #freedomtribe and #naturalmedicine as your tags so we can find and support you! There's 5 SBD of Steem Basic Income on offer as well - woot!!!

As usual I try to take an Australian perspetive on these kind of questions, so my concern is with the Australian government reduction of private health insurance rebates for natural therapies or 'complementary' therapies as they are known here. From 1 April 2019, those with private health care (over 50 percent of the population) will no longer be able to claim extras for these kind of therapies, such as aromatherapy, Bowen therapy, Buteyko, Feldenkrais, Herbalism, Homeopathy, Iridology, Kinesiology, Naturopathy, Pilates, Reflexology, Rolfing, Shiatsu, Tai Chi and Yoga. These extras, held by over half of the Australian population, would remove huge costs from the health system, a primary motivator for the decision.

This followed a review which found no clear evidence to support the efficacy of listed natural therapies, undertaken by the National Health and Medical Research Council. Yet NO published scientific papers on Naturopathy and Herbal Medicine were actually considered in this review.

This decision will limit the freedom of choice for those whose lives are dependent on natural therapy modalities when the public health system and conventional medicines doesn't serve them. It means that people who seek out alternative - or complementary - medicines for things like migraines or allergies, stress management or acute care for things like anxiety or IBS - and that's 2 out of every 3 Australians - may not be able to do so, or afford it.

Personally, I don't have private health insurance, as I don't feel I need it and would rather support the public health system, but we're lucky enough to have a choice in Australia and a pretty good health care system too. We have freedom of choice, depending on our situation. I can afford occasional visits to the naturopath and believe that it evens out for me with the cost of health care, but what I don't like is that by removing these rebates, it's going to reduce the legitimacy of them as well as have other knock on effects such as the availability of complementary therapies and associated costs, as well as setting the precedent for banning natural medicines entirely in support of the drug companies that are probably rubbing their hands in glee.

Some argue that low health literacy in Australia makes it easy for what they call “pseudoscientific practitioners” to practice quackery and harmful treatments yet what concerns me is that what they are calling 'anti-scientific' are often herbs that do have proven efficacy across time - naturopathy, for example, has a huge scientific background. It also belies the fact that many natural medicine modalities have thousands of years of study backing them up, despite there not being so called 'legitimate' research. Wouldn't it be better to raise health literacy than control it in this way? By removing their inclusion in health rebates it just serves to reduce their legitimacy in a population that needs natural therapy far more than it needs so called 'legitimate' remedies funded by big pharma.

Many legitimate health businesses are going to to suffer because of this, and it seems that if this happens, we're going to have less freedom to pick and choose what health care is best for our bodies and minds. It seems counter intuitive in an age where natural medicines are gaining in popularity. It just seems to funnel us down the road of mainstream medicine which is often underresourced and does not suit every person. I for one am going to be really pissed off when I can't visit my naturopath coz it's shut down or the price is prohibitive and I go to the doctor who yet again rushes me through an appointment because he has too many on his list that afternoon and writes me a script for anti-depressants and tells me to go for a walk and eat healthy, like I don't know that already.

I'm lucky I have the Natural Medicine tribe and a bank of wisdom here to help me out, so that's not going to happen - it's the point of the thing that bothers me.

Please can I ask you to sign this petition which is appealing this decision?

The petition is put forth by 'Your Health, Your Choice who outline their concerns:

• Private Health Insurance rebates for natural therapies to be cut April 2019.
• Labor will introduce a GST TAX on natural medicine and therapies.
• Anti-complementary medicine lobby groups continue attempts to influence > - health policy.
• Positive evidence ignored in Government-funded research.
• Educational courses are being shut down and practitioners unable to access ingredients.

How might your freedom of choice be limited when it comes to natural medicines?

Are there bans on particular practices near you?

Do you believe it's our choice when it comes to our health?

Are you an Australian health care provider that might be affected by this decision?

Please feel free to write about this topic - we'd love to hear from you, and don't forget there is 5 SBD in Steem Basic Income for the best posts! @senorcoconut was first off the mark with his great post here on Freedom of Natural Birth - check it out!

I'd really like to big up @eaglespirit for this fantastic initiative, and all the people who've written under this #freedomfriday tag. Freedom is important to fight for - you never know how much you loved it until it's taken away from you.

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Have you heard of @naturalmedicine? You can join the fun on Discord here!