Healthcare
is overpriced and underperforming. Patients refuse to understand that health
insurance is a “cash flow” mechanism that prompts insurance providers to
increase your premiums if your expenses are too high. It’s like a loan where
lenders eventually want their money back from you or somebody else.
Healthcare’s
golden era has passed. This golden era began after the civil war in response to
the barbaric use of amputations. Part of the fix came from reducing bullet
sizes and the rest came from advances in surgical restoration.
From the
1880s to the 1940s, the practice of medicine was well trained and well
regarded. No cures were found for cancer or heart disease, but doctors were
building their capability to understand these diseases and improving techniques
for everything else. The doctors trained in this period were able to diagnose
illness without expensive testing.
This
golden era brought antibiotics in 1945 and ended premature death for millions
who had died from small pox and similar diseases. Polio vaccine was introduced
in the 1950s. The golden age ended in the 1960s with the creation of Medicare
and Vatican II. After that, US healthcare followed the money.
Big Pharma
didn’t find any cures for major diseases over the past 70 years, but spend
their time on medications that treated symptoms. Later they invented pills that
promised to reduce weight when simply eating less had always been the answer.
When they had a drug that helped with a fatal disease, they spiked the price.
So much of what they tried has failed.
The
practice of Medicine changed to be more Big Pharma and expensive test equipment
friendly. Doctors branched into
specialties and reliance on expensive equipment replaced their ability to
accurately diagnose illness. Unlike auto mechanics, when things failed there
were no guarantees, they charged more to fix it. One problem with medicine is
that, unlike automobile transmissions, all patients are unique.
We spent
decades watching cancer patients die from radiation sickness. Now, at least,
doctors are attempting to localize the radiation to improve the patient’s
chances. There are side effects from
drugs including pain pill addiction. Viruses do mutate to resist drugs like
bugs who build resistance to pesticides.
Medicine
is largely “trial and error’. It has
always been and continues to be a guessing game. It’s just more expensive now. Patients can
and should try things to improve their “preventive” conditions. Simply taking
Magnesium can curb hunger and allow weight loss. The cause of allergic
reactions can be determined by the patient by fasting and then eating each food
and condiment to see what causes the allergic reaction.
Norb
Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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