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Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding Proverbs 4:7.
After listening to the strenuous arguments surrounding the current health care debate, I have come to the conclusion that neither side, those purposing the reforms that are being characterized as a "government takeover of health care", nor those that seem to want to leave the system pretty much the way that it is are really getting to the heart of the issue. Suffice it to say I have listened intently to both sides, those called the liberals as well as those that are called the conservatives. I have listened to radio talk show hosts from the conservative side like Shawn Hannity, and Michael Savage, I have also listened to and watched those more on the "liberal" side like Chris Matthews and Rachel Maddow from MSNBC to mention a few.
I have listened to president Obama; I have listened to democratic Congressmen and Senators, and Republican Congressman and Senators. While the debate rages about how to pay for the costs of health care, how to get all Americans covered, a "government option" etc., no one seems to be giving more than a passing consideration to asking why are the health care costs so high in the first place. To be fair I have heard the President and his administration talk about putting more emphasis on the prevention of disease…yet this should be the front and center part of the debate—this is the crucial part of the entire idea concerning health care reform. Consider the fact that the main reason so many people are losing health insurance is the cost, and another main reason so many people don't have health insurance is the cost. Medical issues are the # 1 cause of bankruptcies in the U.S.; additionally all of us pay for the uninsured when they visit the emergency room, because they can't be turned away. The main issue, and all sides seem to agree, is that the incredible costs affiliated with health care is simply unsustainable, and the cost are projected to continue to increase!
So How Much Is The Cost
Preventable illness makes up approximately 80% of the burden of illness and 90% of all healthcare costs, preventable illnesses account for eight of the nine leading categories of death. The United States spends more on health care than any other industrialized nation in the world and yet, in many respects, the citizens of the U.S. are not the healthiest. Our healthcare system here in the U.S. is the most expensive of systems, out costing by over half the health care expenditures of any other country. A Case In Point I was reading through an article written by a man that works as a sales manager in the pharmaceutical industry. In his article he pointed out some of the statistics for the cost involved in treating diabetes.
Of course he is defending the industry that he works for, yet it is enlightening to gaze upon the referenced statistics. He writes: "How is it the fault of insurance or drug companies that obesity and related conditions (diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke) are at historic highs, and growing at epidemic rates? America's diet and commitment to exercise is equally weak, yet over the past century, U.S. life expectancy has nearly doubled from 47 to 78 years. This improvement is largely the result of innovations by the US healthcare industry; innovations that have continued in the face of increased government interference and reduced patient trust, compliance and cooperation." He then uses diabetes to reveal just how much this disease alone costs. He writes, "Consider just one mostly avoidable disease facing Americans today–but one growing at epidemic rates: diabetes…The failure of diabetics to either modify their life styles or comply with proven treatment regimens costs the US billions of dollars.
Consider the following statistics from the American Diabetes Association website: "The total annual economic cost of diabetes in 2007 was estimated at $174 billion. Medical expenditures totaled $116 billion comprised of $27 billion for diabetes care, $58 billion for chronic diabetes-related complications, and $31 billion for excess general medical costs. Indirect costs resulting from increased absenteeism, reduced productivity, disease-related unemployment disability, and loss of productive capacity due to early mortality totaled $58 billion. This is an increase of $42 billion since 2002.
The 2007 per capita annual costs of health care for people with diabetes is $11,744 a year, of which $6,649 (57 percent) is attributed to diabetes. One out of every five health care dollars is spent caring for someone with diagnosed diabetes, while one in ten health care dollars is attributed to diabetes…. The overwhelming majority (>90 percent) of diabetics suffer from the acquired form of the disease, type 2… In the past, this disease struck people in their 30s and 40s. Now it is not unusual for endocrinologists to see pre-diabetes in teens. Pharmaceutical companies have spent billions in dollars and man hours developing innovations to improve diabetics' ability to deal with their disease. These innovations, coupled with life-style changes, provide the opportunity for diabetics to lead nearly symptom-free lives." See N.J Voices.com Guest Article By Michael Pestorius Sept 11.2009
For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it. Proverbs 8:11
The Health In Health Care
Those who have been in natural medicine for awhile know very well that diabetes can be reversed in 30 days with the right program. Of course there have to be changes in lifestyle, and these changes have to be permanent. But consider the alternative…being on insulin permanently! Therefore the health in the health care debate should look more and more to natural health and wellness, and reduce the emphasis and dependence on so much drug medication and drug education. Health writer Mike Adams wrote a devastating article with regard to this issue, an article that could even be seen as an answer to the article by the pharmaceutical rep above, who argued later in his article that his industry provides a good service. Mike Adams in his Article, If Prescription Drugs Are So Good, Where Are All the Healthy Drug Takers? notes: "When observing the state of modern medicine and the unprecedented influence of pharmaceuticals, an interesting paradox arises.
The drug companies claim that pharmaceuticals can do wonders for people: lower their cholesterol, end clinical depression, reverse osteoporosis, eliminate allergies, calm your children and many other similar promises. But if prescription drugs are so good for people, where are all the healthy medicated customers? There aren't any to speak of. There's nobody taking twelve prescriptions who has a clean bill of health. In fact, the more prescriptions a person takes, the worse their overall health. And if you approach the healthiest people you can find in a local fitness center and ask what prescription drugs they're taking in order to be so healthy, they'll give you a rather confused look: they don't take prescription drugs!" Adams accurately educates his readers on the reality that although a drug may be approved by the FDA after a clinical trial, notwithstanding the fact that some people may have died as a direct result of the drug in the clinical trial, if the majority of the people live, and the drug is seen to be effective for the abnormality or disease that it was created to deal with; then it is allowed on the market with the philosophy that its benefits outweighs its risks. Adams points out that "During development, prescription drugs are designed to target a single measurable marker, such as cholesterol levels or bone density… Indeed, the drug may effectively impact that one marker. But here's where the problem starts: every drug has a systemic effect, and these systemic effects are not accurately measured (or admitted) in clinical trials.
For example, statin drugs do, in fact, lower bad cholesterol levels. But they do this by compromising the ability of the liver to create all types of cholesterol, including the "good" cholesterol and important hormones that the body manufactures from cholesterol. Statins… throw off the body's healthy physiology in a hundred other ways such as blocking your sex drive. Clinical trials don't pay much attention to these other effects; they're just looking to prove one particular thing and get FDA approval to market the drug as a miracle cholesterol fighter… And when clinical trial participants start showing these severe effects, they are typically "dismissed" from the trial in order to ensure that trial results look positive. In this way, extremely toxic drugs are actually approved by the FDA as "safe."' Adams, citing the Journal of the American Medical Association, points out that prescription drugs are killing an amazing 100,000 Americans each year and injuring more than two million more!
Additionally about 40,000 or so who are killed each year by over-the-counter pain medications. Adams, in astonishment, writes, "it's like having twenty-five 9/11 attacks each year, but instead of terrorists flying the airplanes, it's pharmaceutical company CEOs. There are more deaths and injuries caused each year by pharmaceuticals than in any U.S. war or conflict since World War II. And yet pharmaceuticals continue to be marketed as miracle drugs that can help people be healthy." Finally Adams points out the incredible amounts of profits that are made, which no doubt contributes to the skyrocketing health care cost. He says, " It's profitable for the drug companies who mark them up as much as 500,000% over the cost of the raw ingredients, it's profitable for retailers like Walgreens who mark them up even further (and whose business relies primarily on drug profits), it's profitable for newspapers and magazines who gladly cash checks for millions of dollars in drug advertising, and it's even profitable for doctors who receive all sorts of free vacations, "consulting fees," and other not-so-subtle bribes in exchange for writing prescriptions for brand-name drugs.
"The system is extremely profitable to everyone… everyone except you, that is. You suffer devastating health consequences when you participate. You get stuck with the medical debt. Your insurance rates go sky-high. And to add insult to injury, you're sicker now than before you started taking the drugs… We have an unprecedented problem on our hands that's sickening an entire generation and creating stratospheric long-term health care cost for the next round of working taxpayers unlucky enough to stumble onto all this. But don't worry: when everybody's sicker than ever, the drug companies will promise they have the next big cure. All you have to do is pop daily pills at $200 each, and all your health problems will be solved!" See Natural News.com Article If Prescription Drugs Are So Good, Where Are All the Healthy Drug Takers? Mike Adams
The Real Problem And A Biblical Principle
And now also the ax is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Matthew 3:10.
When John the Baptist came as the forerunner of Christ he was advocating reform. In this reform he understood that the system needed to be reformed at its very root. Thus he declared "the axe is laid unto the root of the trees". In a similar fashion the crux of the health care problem is that the entire system of modern medicine, the way that it is practiced today, is doomed to be unsustainable and to fail…period. Medical doctors, starting in school, are not taught to heal, but rather to treat disease with drugs, or surgery.
Drugs and surgery should only be used in trauma cases, emergency cases when necessary, or as a last ditch effort, they should not however be employed as they are currently being employed, and it is evident that the current way of practicing medicine cannot be sustained. The entire system from medical education, culture, hospital treatments etc., is designed to encourage a system of medicine and treatment that on a whole is inferior when it comes to treating chronic disease when compared to natural medicine. As pointed out earlier in the diabetes example; the costs increased from 2002 to 2007 by 42 billion dollars, even in light of all of the drug "advancements". This is because they are operating from a system that, at its core, cannot heal disease, but rather creates a biological terrain within the body that actually encourages disease due to the toxicity of the various drug medications—thus the various side effects.
1918- Influenza And Natural Remedies
Health writer, Kim Evans, in an outstanding article points out that, "At least twenty million people died in the 1918 influenza epidemic and Eleanora McBean, Ph.D., N.D. tells us something pretty interesting about it. Drug-oriented medical doctors and hospitals, she tells us, "were losing 33% of their flu cases," while "non-medical hospitals such as Battle Creek, Kellogg and MacFadden's Health Restorium were getting almost 100% healings."…But, do you know how they were achieving an almost 100% recovery rate at Battle Creek, a facility run by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg? She then points out some very simple and effective remedies as pointed out by Dr. Kellogg himself. She writes: "First, the patients were doing water enemas twice a day to clean their bowels…. until all of the filth was removed. The enemas started at the beginning of the disease and continued until complete recovery. "Second, the patients were drinking three or four quarts of water or fruit juice each day to promote elimination through the kidneys and skin.
A glass was taken each half hour, when awake. Fiber, such as bran, was mixed into foods including oatmeal and rice to promote bowel movements and the elimination of the problem. "Short hot baths and hot blanket packs were used to ease fevers and help with pain in the back and legs. A hot blanket pack entailed wrapping a person in a "hot as they could stand," wrung-out wet blanket for twelve to fifteen minutes. A wool blanket covered the outside of the wet blanket, and heads and faces were kept cool. If the pulse was rapid, an ice pack was held over the heart. For very high fevers, the hot blanket packs were used only for four or five minutes. Cold compresses were used for headaches. For high fevers, a cold compress was used immediately after a short hot blanket pack to bring down the fever." See Natural News.com Article Influenza: A Treatment That Worked; September 09, 2009 by: Kim Evans How simple and effective a treatment protocol this was, and the evidence was that there was nearly a 100% percent success rate as compared to a less than 70% percent success rate in the drug oriented hospitals.
— He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man Psalms 104:14 —
Free Market Solutions Or Government Solutions For Health Care
Finally as I listen to the two sides debate about health care I hear one side strenuous encourage the free market solution, and yet many of the very ones that promote the free market solution don't really believe in a free market solution… here's why…because many of them have voted for are taken positions against natural practitioners and have helped create an atmosphere where natural therapies and remedies have been relegated to the level of quackery. Not only that, many of those that articulate free market solutions have encouraged or did nothing to prevent organizations like the AMA, the FDA and others to influence the states to shut down and harass natural health practitioners.
Very few people know that the AMA attempted to eliminate the Chiropractic profession, basically attempting to relegate them to the status of quacks. However the Chiropractors fought back and won their case in court, and today they are recognized as legitimate doctors. If they really believed in free market solutions they would not attempt to say prevent (or stand by and do nothing) an herbalist from providing his clients (he can't call them his patients) a herbal supplement and instructing them how to use it to help say regulate his blood sugar. They may talk about the need to strictly regulate the herbalist because of safety and possible side-effects of the herb; however, given the fact that over 140,000 Americans die each year from prescription and over the counter pain medications, and 2 million are injured, it seems more time needs to be spent policing the allopathic. So when I hear the talk about health care freedom, I regard it as an illusion of the grandest proportions.
Consider this…if an American citizen that has been diagnosed with say cancer chose to have it treated by a natural practitioner; be it a naturopath, herbalist, homeopath etc., he or she cannot do so without the natural practitioner being at risk of being thrown in jail. That American citizen will have to leave his country and go down to maybe Mexico where many natural practitioners have fled to start cancer clinics that practice natural methods. Additionally, even if the person sought a medical doctor who happened to also use natural remedies and that doctor used anything but radiation, chemotherapy, or surgery to treat the cancer then he risks losing his medical license.
I wonder why there is no outcry about such great restrictions on the right to choose here in America. Could not those who are organizing to oppose the current health care measures also push for real health care choice? Finally, with regard to government run health care, of course the less the government is involved it seems to me the better.
However, the same type of influence can be, has been, and is exercised by huge insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and medical organizations that seem to welcome government involvement with regard to restrictions and regulations when it can benefit them in an effort to corner and control an entire industry. And until this system is changed at the root, until competition from natural practitioners that use other modalities that are less expensive, less dangerous, and equally or more effective than the ones currently in use; then there is no hope for health care in America. The price, even if shifted to the government or to the tax payer will continue to rise and eventually the entire system will collapse under the weight of its on debt.
Keith M Henry is the Director of phase 3ministries, based in Orlando FL. He is medical missionary herbalist, and Naturopath . Download your free copy of his report, Emergency Herbal Medicine, HERE. It may very well save your life.
These statements have not been approved by the Federal Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, prevent, treat or cure any disease. Always consult a competent health professional if you are having problems.
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