A Sick Health care system and America's Hidden Health Nightmare for its Sick Poor

August 3, 2009

Good Day Brothers and Sisters,

Its Monday, 3rd August 2009

A Sick Health Care System

By Ben Kim, D.C.

URL http://drbenkim. com/articles/ sick-health- care-system. htm

One of the main goals that I have for this web site is to encourage

our readers to learn how to be their own best doctors.

Please don't misunderstand me;

I think that there are some wonderfully caring and

competent doctors in our world.

But there are also many doctors who don't have each of their patients'

best interests at or even near the top of their list of priorities.

Over the years, it's become clear to me that a big part of the problem

with our health care system is the system itself;

our current health care system doesn't encourage doctors to

teach their patients to prevent disease and address health conditions

with simple food and lifestyle choices.

Take, for example, the health care system here in Canada.

I often hear leaders of other countries, most notably, the United States,

tout the universal health care system in Canada as being the ideal system -

one in which every man, woman, and child has access to free health care.

While on the surface the Canadian system appears to be an effective one,

as far as I can tell, it is just as sick as other health care systems

throughout the world.

To be more specific, medical doctors here in Ontario, Canada,

are paid an average of $27 Canadian dollars per routine office visit.

Initial visits that involve a thorough physical examination are usually

billed at $60 Canadian dollars per visit.

Put another way, for routine office visits, medical doctors here in Ontario

have no financial motivation to take their time and consider their

patients' food and lifestyle choices.

If a patient comes in with a chief complaint of a chronic headache,

the doctor could spend an hour gathering critical information on a

patient's diet and lifestyle, and then go on to address any changes

that could be made to address the chronic headache.

Alternatively, the doctor could spend five minutes going through the motions

- pulse, blood pressure, pupillary reflexes, and other quick screening

measures to make the patient feel like he or she has been adequately

examined by an expert - and then write out a prescription for a pain killer.

Either way, the doctor gets paid $27.

So which route do you think most doctors take?

There's another reason why many doctors have a tendency to deal with

most cases with a prescription for a drug:

the pharmaceutical industry makes it well worth their while to do so.

Here's how a pharmaceutical sales representative

recently summarized his work for me:

"I take the doctor out to dinner at a fancy restaurant,

all expenses paid. As dinner winds down, I ask the doctor

to recommend my company's brand for certain health conditions

among his patients. Sometimes, the doctor will say that his office

needs new equipment. I say how much? The doctor says $5,000.

I say fine, but only if you write 100 scripts (prescriptions)

for a specific drug made by our company each month.

The doctor agrees, and we get him his new $5,000 machine."

Out of curiosity, I asked the pharmaceutical sales rep how he and his

company can be sure that the doctor will follow through on his word

to write out 100 prescriptions of their drug each month.

Can't the doctor just take his $5,000 machine and not follow

through on his promise?

"No, all pharmaceutical companies pay big money to a huge,

global corporation called IMS that tracks this type of data,"

was the rep's instant reply.

For a fee, IMS can provide date-specific data to pharmaceutical companies

that breaks down exactly how many prescriptions of each drug that each

licensed doctor has handed out and how many of them have been fulfilled

at licensed pharmacies.

In other words, the managers who work for pharmaceutical companies

who approve $5,000 gifts have a sure-fire way of verifying

that their gifts are properly reciprocated.

And I think that we can all safely assume that this regular exchange of gifts

does not amount to a net profit of zero dollars for the pharmaceutical industry.

Just in case you don't want to make this assumption, consider that the

IMS reports that in 2005, global pharmaceutical sales amounted to

602 billion dollars; mucho dinero, n'est pas?

So let's pretend for a moment that you're a doctor who now has to write

100 prescriptions per month for a specific drug that helps to regulate

blood glucose.

When a patient walks into your office and shows a mild to moderately

elevated fasting blood glucose level, would you take a half hour to an hour

to explain what he or she can do with food and lifestyle choices to have a

great shot at lowering blood glucose to a healthy level?

Or would you write a quick prescription for a blood glucose-regulating

drug to bring your target for the month down to 99 prescriptions?

This is one of the most powerful ways in which big pharmaceutical

companies have helped to create a sick health care system;

they provide strong financial incentives for doctors to choose drugs

over health education for patients.

The bottom line: putting your health entirely in another person's hands,

namely, your doctor's, is never as good a choice as learning

how to be your own best doctor.

Learn how to choose nutrient-dense foods.

Learn about the critical roles that fresh air, clean water, some exposure

to sunlight, physical activity, and proper physical and emotional rest play

in determining your health state.

Learn how negative emotions can cause physical damage to your cells.

Most importantly, apply all of this knowledge to your everyday life

as soon as possible; be your own best doctor.

India gives me the shudders ....

Take charge all of you out there,

Be safe,

and Now a look at what a

Whistleblower Tells of America's Hidden Health Nightmare for its Sick Poor

Sunday 26 July 2009

by: Paul Harris | Visit article original @ The Observer The Remote Area Medical clinic in Wise, Virginia provided free medical care.

(Photo: Getty Images)

When an insurance firm boss saw a field hospital for the poor in Virginia,

he knew he had to speak out. Here, he tells Paul Harris of his fears f or Obama's bid to bring about radical change. Wendell Potter can remember exactly when he took the first steps on his journey to becoming a whistleblower and turning against one of the most powerful industries in America. It was July 2007 and Potter, a senior executive at giant US healthcare firm Cigna, was visiting relatives in the poverty-ridden mountain districts of northeast Tennessee. He saw an advert in a local paper for a touring free medical clinic at a fairground just across the state border in Wise County, Virginia. Potter, who had worked at Cigna for 15 years, decided to check it out.

What he saw appalled him ...

Read here at - http://www.truthout .org/072609R? n

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --Your comments and feedbacks always welcome .. Rahul, at Cybugle as well as at bruntno1 ------------ --------- --------- ---------

--------- --

Working for God on earth does not pay much, but His Retirement plan is out of this world.

Help someone have a nice day,

visit www.thehungersite. com

With best wishes,

Love you all

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~

Feel free to forward this post in its entirety

without changing the credits

~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~