The health care debate in Washington, D.C., provides an opportunity for the complementary and alternative medicine community to make itself heard and, as massage therapists and bodyworkers, you can help influence the debate by advocating for inclusive language when it comes to the development of policy. You can view a sample letter, which you may want to personalize and send to your legislators so that the profession is adequately represented in the debate.

Personalized letters receive more attention, so you may want to adapt this sample letter to fit your situation and experience, such as mentioning the preventive effects of massage you’ve seen at work in your own practice.

To identify your Congressional representatives, please visit http://www.votesmart.org/ and enter your zip code. Keep in mind some representatives accept input only through online forms, so you may need to cut and paste the contents of the sample letter into a your representatives’ designated contact forms online.