Commission Recommends Federal Health Programs Cover More Alternative Medicine Treatments
The White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine has recommended that the Bush administration consider expanding federal funding of alternative therapies and creating a national office to study such treatments, the AP/St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The commission was established by former President Clinton and spent two years and $2 million devising a national policy on alternative treatments. Last week, the commission sent its recommendations to HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson, who will decide which recommendations, if any, the administration should consider (AP/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 3/16). The panel's recommendations include:
- Medicare and other federal health programs should consider paying for "safe and effective" alternative therapies and should begin demonstration projects to determine the best therapies.
- HHS should consider beginning a national program to teach and promote nutrition, stress management, exercise and proven alternative therapies to schoolchildren.
- HHS should consider increasing its research of alternative therapies and establishing a national office to coordinate such research.
- Congress should consider requiring dietary supplement makers to register with the FDA to ensure that consumers are aware of potential side effects.
- Congress should consider providing more funding to the FTC to "better target" false or misleading advertising of alternative therapies and should consider teaching consumers "how to evaluate claims found on the Internet and elsewhere."
