The Medical Freedom Channel

“The following are policy recommendations of the Consensus Group. These recommendations and the principles upon which they are based can provide a powerful guide for the policymaking process in achieving important goals of healthcare reform. They are not intended to provide a complete blueprint for reform, and reasonable men and women may differ over the details of how they should be implemented. We believe that following these recommendations will lead to a system in which costs will be restrained, private insurance coverage will expand rather than continue to contract, and quality will be enhanced primarily through additional competition and better consumer incentives.” [editor’s note: For part one see our MFC archives from last week’s issues - SAT] (04/01/2001)

http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=701

“The United States does not have a properly functioning market for healthcare, and the financing system needs to be reformed. The market is distorted by a tax policy that is mistargeted, miscalibrated, and open-ended. This tax policy provides generous benefits to those who have higher incomes and receive health insurance through the workplace. Yet it offers little or no assistance to those at the lower end of the income scale. Particularly at a disadvantage in the current system are those who fall through the cracks between this tax subsidy and Medicaid. Reforming the tax treatment of health insurance is essential to creating a more efficient and equitable market for medical services and health insurance in the United States. Correcting the tax distortion would lower the costs of health insurance coverage in both the public and private sectors and thereby allow broader access to quality healthcare.” [editor’s note: This is now seven years old, and still just as valid, attacking the “hidden” subsidy that mitigates against real market-based healthcare; part two will be linked next week - SAT] (03/01/02001)

http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=728

[Note: This evaluation of medical coverage mandates was written nearly five years ago. It still addresses the issues being raised by Hillary, Obama & Co. today … and the answer is also still the same: “NO MANDATES … NO WAY!” - SAT] “[T]rue universal coverage is a fantasy. It will never be achieved, no matter what we do. There will always be some portion of the population … who will be unwilling or unable to enroll in any kind of insurance program. … [To] discuss how such a mandate would be enforced. I assume they would not imprison people who fail to comply. Would they fine them? How much? … They also don’t say what is it that will be mandated — basic coverage, comprehensive coverage, catastrophic coverage? Will it be first-dollar HMO coverage, or PPO coverage with cost-sharing? Will chiropractors be covered? Naturopaths? Social workers? All drugs or just a few?” (08/07/2003)

http://tinyurl.com/4fo6kr

“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!” (07/15/2004)

http://www.naturalnews.com/001352.html

“In arguing for universal healthcare, proponents often unquestioningly present a forced choice between employer-provided or government-provided insurance. Completely absent from their analysis is what should be an obvious alternative: We each buy our own insurance. There is no raging debate over whether employers or government should provide our food and shelter. It is accepted that we provide them for ourselves as best we can, from our after-tax income. For the chronically vulnerable, we provide a safety net. Why should healthcare be different? In fact, how we now think of healthcare insurance is an accident of history.” [editor’s note: A perspective from a while back on this debate, as well as a good history lesson on how we got here; the only thing left out is the transition from third-party to direct contact, which will probably leave some bodies by the wayside unless fully accounted for - SAT] (01/030/2004)

http://tinyurl.com/2lxda5

“Hospitals are still the heart of the health care industry, consuming a third of the $2 trillion U.S. health care bill. Some are very good. But many are not, brimming with infectious bugs, systemic error and negative hospitality. And because the hospital industry does all it can to thwart competition, many communities are stuck with the hospitals they have. One in 200 patients who spends a night or more in a hospital will die from medical error. One in 16 will pick up an infection. Deaths from preventable hospital infections each year exceed 100,000, more than those from AIDS, breast cancer and auto accidents combined. The presidential candidates are grappling over the plight of the uninsured, yet you’re five times more likely to die from visiting a hospital than from not having health insurance, according to the not-for-profit Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths. Patients have a choice, but it’s not widespread yet. It’s called the specialty hospital, a center that focuses on the care of a particular body part such as the heart, spine or joints, or on a specific disease such as cancer.” (03/10/08)

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/0310/086_print.html

“It only took 5,000 years to catch on in the West, but now that it’s gaining momentum, Qigong is here to stay and spreading like wildfire throughout medical and rehabilitation communities alike. Qigong (pronounced chee-gong) consists of gentle movements and various meditations designed to massage internal organs, balance and strengthen the body’s energies, relax the mind and improve the body’s circulation. Qigong techniques ignite the body’s natural wellbeing and healing ability. Qigong (meaning ‘working with’, or ‘moving’ exercises) has been practiced for centuries in China and is based on ancient therapeutic exercises that were developed for health and well-being.” (02/13/08)

http://tinyurl.com/3a8b5a

Abstract: “By shaking down tobacco companies a few years ago, state government made a devil’s bargain. They made portions of their budgets dependent upon the sale of products that those governments claim people should not be purchasing.” Published by Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs. [Adobe Acrobat .pdf file] (published 11/01/03)

http://heartland.temp.siteexecutive.com/pdf/13816.pdf

“Much of the current debate about healthcare is between those who want the government to wipe all insurance companies out of existence and those who instead want the government to force everyone to buy regulated private insurance. Both sides ignore the fundamental context for any discussion of healthcare in America: individual rights and personal choice. Individuals have the right to incorporate and invest in businesses that provide an important service, like health insurance. Individuals and businesses have the right to make provisions for their medical expenses by seeking the insurance firms that best meet their needs — or not. That is the essential point to remember: governments should never be allowed to destroy such rights — as irrelevant details in the face of the application of naked government power.” [editor’s note: While the title may hold some real truths, it does seem to minimize the fact that the current health insurance industry is anything BUT a free market, but is instead just another government-regulated (and protected) cartel of special interests! - SAT] (02/04/08)

http://www.afcm.org/freemarketnotenemy.html

The New York Times last week published an incredibly dismissive page-one story about fibromyalgia, questioning whether it is a ‘real’ disease. The hook for the story are the advertisements for Lyrica, the first medicine approved to treat the pain condition: In November, Pfizer began a television ad campaign for Lyrica that features a middle-aged woman who appears to be reading from her diary. ‘Today I struggled with my fibromyalgia; I had pain all over,’ she says, before turning to the camera and adding, ‘Fibromyalgia is a real, widespread pain condition.’ Author Alex Berenson writes that doctors who specialize in treating fibromyalgia welcome Lyrica — and the other fibromyalgia drugs likely to receive FDA approval this year — because they will encourage doctors to address a disease that is undertreated and whose sufferers are not always believed. ‘What’s going to happen with fibromyalgia is going to be the exact thing that happened to depression with Prozac,’ said Dr. Dan Clauw, a professor of medicine at the University of Michigan who has consulted with Pfizer, Lilly and Forest. ‘These are legitimate problems that need treatments.’” (01/24/08)

http://tinyurl.com/2cqrqa