Regulation for Alternative Medicine

Many of the alternative therapies available have been used all over the world for thousands of years but in the Western World conventional medicine is prized above everything else. In recent years alternative medicine has become more mainstream and many medical practitioners are incorporating some treatments into their practises. Medical insurance companies also offer some treatments as part of their health cover.

There has been great criticism that alternative medicine is not regulated in the same way as conventional medicine is. This went part way to being rectified on the 19th January with the launch of the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC). The aim of the CNHC is to enhance public protection in complementary and natural healthcare. According to its website:

'The CNHC has been developed with the help of complementary healthcare practitioners and with support from the Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health. The Department of Health has consistently supported the CNHC throughout its start-up period and is committed to establishing the CNHC as the national voluntary regulator in the complementary health care field.'

It is important to note that membership of the CNHC is voluntary so there will still be many thousands of practitioners who can still work without being involved in any regulatory body.

The medical health insurance industry takes a fairly traditional view of complementary health practices and this is reflected in their policies. All four of the top UK medical health insurance companies offer some forms of complementary health care in some of their policies, usually at the higher end of the premium scales. The treatments usually offered are: Acupuncture, physio therapy, homeopathy, chiropractic and osteopathy. These treatments are well established and highly regulated already and, apart from physio therapy, are not generally available on the NHS.

So what happens if you are an advocate of the less well known and less regulated forms of treatment and you want the security of knowing you will be able to afford treatment should you need it?

Freedom Healthnet Ltd offers you a very practical solution. Its private health insurance policy gives you cash should you become ill. It is up to you how you spend it. You could choose to be treated on the NHS and use the cash for curative or preventative alternative therapies. If alternative treatments are important to you then this could very well be the best health insurance policy for you.