The Gem State Patriot Proudly Endorses Dr. Jason West as he Announces his Candidacy for Representative of Dist. 28 seat B.
This past week we were fortunate enough to interview a true citizen legislator, Dr. Jason West of Pocatello. Dr. West runs an Integrative Medical Clinic in Pocatello going back 100 years and follows in the steps of his father, grandfather and great grandfather bringing a concept in medical care you cannot find every place as his clinic attracts clients from around the world. He and the alternative medicine professionals that work with him to treat the whole person with a result oriented perspective is the future of medicine if we want to obtain better results and lower the costs of medical care in this country.
Dr. West told us about a fight for his livelihood as a medical professional last year in his confrontation with our state legislature. Some of you may recall House Bill 181 which if passed would have limited natural medicine throughout the state of Idaho. Dr. West organized a rally at the Lincoln Auditorium against Bill 181, and it was defeated bringing a victory for medical freedom in Idaho.
Dr. West went on to discuss the problems with this bill and the legislator in his district that was promoting it, Representative Kelly Packer. He said he was surprised when he received correspondence from an Idaho politician trying to alter, coerce or intimidate Idaho citizens. Not only to threaten naturopathic practices, but also threaten the scope of his chiropractic physicians. Although outraged by this message Dr. West decided to continue treating patients at his practice, believing that this may just have been an empty threat rendered in the heat of conflict.
At the beginning of the next legislative session in January 2016, Dr. West received a letter from the Chiropractic Board warning that “Based upon the testimony of some chiropractors” the rule regarding chiropractic scope of practice for clinical nutrition was now under revision.
In February 2016 the Idaho Medical Board told Dr. West’s medical director, Dr. Mark Vance a licensed MD, that he could no longer “affiliate” (The actual word used by the Idaho Medical Board attorney) with chiropractors. He was told he could not work with or for chiropractic physicians or he would face sanctions against his licensure. His Attorney was essentially told that “they” were selectively applying a section of the medical act BUT that same application did not apply to hospitals and urgent care clinics or group medical practice. In other words they were going to use (Selective Enforcement). He said this is exactly opposite to the American Medical Associations stated position that health care providers SHOULD work together for the benefit of their patients. Dr. West said that one reason why he has people from all over the world coming to his clinic is because it is their goal to provide the best of both worlds for his patients. Dr. Vance provided medical services, and he along with other associates provide alternative medicine services integrating these healthcare providers and uniting them to get the best outcomes for his patients.
Dr. West suspected discrimination and anti-trust violations when the Idaho Medical Board said that Dr. Vance could no longer affiliate with his clinic and reached out to his good friend, George McAndrews, a prominent national attorney. In the past Mr. McAndrews sued the American Medical Association for conspiracy against chiropractors in violation of anti-trust laws. After a fourteen year battle, he won a permanent injunction against the AMA. Dr. West then requested a formal investigation by the Federal Trade Commission for violation of the permanent injunction order. In the meantime, Dr. Vance fearing for his license and livelihood felt he had no other choice but to resign from the West Clinic on February 21st of this year. Providers and patients alike are becoming victims to a system in which their freedom to choose and medical preferences are being limited by the Medical Mafia who sit on the unelected State Medical Boards.
At the West Clinic they take pride in their team of integrated health professionals which bring a great benefit to their patients. With the combined efforts of chiropractors who also have doctorates in naturopathic medicine, a nurse practitioner and a medical doctor they have been achieving phenomenal patient outcomes. That’s what medicine is supposed to be all about, outcomes and positive results. This is one of the reasons that our hospitals have been moving in this direction for the past few years.
Idaho’s State Medical Board and some of our legislators are working to the detriment of Idaho’s citizens to keep the treatment of patients limited to allopathic medical doctors and limit their choices in medicine. Why should our legislators have the right to restrict your choice in the doctors we choose to treat us or medicine we choose to use? We have written in previous articles about how Idaho’s healthcare is controlled by the medical mafia, and how they in turn control our legislators with campaign contributions to get the same crony’s reelected every two years. The persecution of non-allopathic medical professionals needs to stop. Your Health Care is Under Attack and it’s time the citizens of Idaho stood up and said No More.
Dr. West has decided that his only alternative to change the system is to enter the legislative race for Representative of the 28th District seat B and oppose Kelly Packer who is a known corporate crony (over 90% of her campaign donations come from corporations and Political Action Committees). Just take a look at her record. She voted to raise your taxes. She voted to regulate bake sales which would have meant you would have to register your home kitchens with the state officials if you wanted to supply cakes and cookies for events. She was the lead sponsor of House Bill 152, a bill to license sign language interpreters which thankfully was vetoed by Governor Otter. Mrs. Packer also voted for the implementation of Obamacare with the State Healthcare Exchange and said “I’d do it again if I could”. She supported House Bill 312, you must remember 312 where they increased the gas taxes and vehicle registration fees, but killed the part of the bill that would have eliminated the grocery tax and lowered income taxes. She also supported House Bill 546 which has resulted in giving millions of taxpayer dollars to politically connected big business at the expense of smaller entrepreneurs and established Idaho businesses. This bill is now being challenged in a court case on constitutional grounds.
As if this is not enough of an indictment of Mrs. Packer’s liberal voting record we took a look at her Idaho Freedom Foundation record for the past two sessions and found her record absolutely abysmal. Representative Packer was the subject of an article in our April 1st edition where we talked about Mrs. Packer’s formal letter pledging to vote against any funding that comes before the Health and Welfare committee until a waiver program for medical gap coverage is presented to the full house for a vote. Once again Rep. Packer has shown the she is not qualified to do her job as she resorts to a hissy fit of non-voting instead of trying to actually solve the problem of healthcare for 78,000 Idahoans. She is, however; perfectly willing to attack people like Dr. Jason West and others in the medical community that are the solution to our problem by taking away privileges that are necessary to provide top notch health care to patients. We think it’s time to send Packer packing in the May 17th primary as she is more of a detriment to the citizens of Idaho than a problem solver. We are confident that Dr. West will use all of his chiropractic skills to stiffen the spines of those republican legislators who have strayed from their conservative values.
You can visit Jason West’s campaign website at www.votejasonwest.com.
