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National Health Care Proposal

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All -

Globalwoundcare sent me his proposal for my review and comment. His proposal is a very novel concept, but it was eight typed pages long. Knowing how busy our President is, I believe it had to be simplified and abbreviated so our President's could grasp Globalwoundcare's concept.

Here is a cut an paste on what I plan to send to Obama on all of our behalf's. Before I do, I wanted to give you all a chance to comment on the proposal. As our website says "together we are better!"

Key Issues:

1. Overwhelming and accelerating cost of health care
2. Availability of affordable health care for every American

Proposal:

1. Any person wishing to keep his private insurance can do so
2. Provide accessible health care for everyone
3. Combine Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans and private health care under one organization, called the Health Care Corp
4. Form a Health Care Corp similar to the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines
5. Health Corp would be funded by the Federal Government
6. Each community will qualify for a health care clinic/hospital with state of the art medical equipment
7. No one of need for a specialized test should be denied that test for longer than one week; that is, if an MRI is required and the local facilities don’t have adequate equipment they should be transferred to a facility that does have such equipment. For example, Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati, the Mayo Clinic, the Natural Institutes of Health.
8. Reinstitute the draft giving all people inside our borders the choice to serve in the Health Care Corp or a military branch for a minimum of two years after high school graduation
9. High School drop-outs are required to serve their country for three years
10. Every American resident will receive one year of free education for each year of service to our country

Other thoughts:

1. Government separates Church and State
2. Our government should equally separate Health Care and individual choice
3. Private Health Care and the Health Care Corps will compete just like Medicare, Medicaid, the VA and other government programs

I really like it the way it is . . . . short, concise and simple to understand. If any of you have additional substantive comments, please let me know!

Thanks and God Bless,
Jim

Explore topics in this discussion:

Surgery Warfarin Paralysis Diabetes

11 replies

The big thing to maintain with any plan is individual choice. I understand that currently what is being proposed by the government would limit or restrict personal choice, at least choice with regard to alternative health care options. They are talking about doing a lot to even regulate nutritional products, which is bad news, since there are many views of healthy nutrition beyond the one advocated by the majority, and the majority view is one which breeds lots of health problems, overweight, diabetes, heart problems, etc. Something is not working with the traditional system.

Another example is collodial silver, which is a naturopathic remedy that has been used for years, and it is apparently more effective than antibiotics. It is something which is not harmful, at least in normal usage doses and if made as a high quality product. Yet the government has threatened to remove it as an option available to the public. There is a big concern over the Swine Flu, and this naturopathic remedy apparently works well against it, and works quickly. But it is not licensed as a drug. And it is very inexpensive to make, and is not something that can be patented, so there is no money out there to do the necessary double-blind studies, etc, and no money out there to support expensive applications for approval.

And there are getting to be a lot more FDA and FTA crackdowns, and putting people in jail, for working with and distributing of technologies that work at least as well as those in traditional medicine, but which are just outside the traditional drug company influenced perspective. Even doctors, who have seen the benefits of these technologies, are restricted in what they can do or say or try with their patients. And individuals with SCI and non-standard health problems are ones who suffer because things which seem to help, and clearly are not harmful, are not available for helping them, and the problem seems to be getting worse in North America. Once something shows up as something which has potential for helping, it takes years, and lots of expensive studies, before anything can be considered. And because there is little or no money to be made in the technologies, and if they work they could cut into drug company profits, there is no money for research to prove that they are helpful [to the satisfaction of the various regulators (many of whom come from drug company realms, or were trained in that enviromnent)]

What they need to do is clearly make it legal for individuals to use these technologies, etc, if they are non-harmful. And when they compare success and results, what need to consider is that the medical profession, and their drugs, are one of the leading causes of death in North America, far more than the worst of the alternative therapies, which often are begun as last ditch effort, too late to make a significant change in the problem.

Learning 1, First let me say that Jsanders199 ability to take my proposal and organize it so well, is extremely impressive. The changes he made were insightful.

2nd let me say that the proposal we are instigating is aimed at opening the health care system, not restricting it. I do support the FDA, but it has become a financial burden for any drug to be approved.

I use a non approved drug every day in my practice. I inform my patients that the drug is not FDA approved and most likely never will be. My patients trust me to know if it will cause them harm and to use this drug judiciously.

This particular drug is made from some old time remedies and has no big drug company putting up money for testing with the FDA. It most likely will never go through the FDA testing arena.

I use some drugs for other than their intended or approved usage. Again, my patients trust me to "do no harm". I explain why I am using the drug and what I expect the drug to do to help what I am treating.

I read ever day about the effectiveness of vitamins. At one time vitamins E was used for wound healing. Now we only use vitamin E to control the scar after the wound is closed. Vitamin E actually can inhibit wound healing.

Wound care, as is all medicine is evolving rapidly. The powers to be (the government, Medicare, Medicaid...) are always lagging behind. It is just the way it is. If the government restricts medicines, vitamins, or other health developments, it will slow down progress. This is a double bladed sword. If medicines are allowed to be sold to the public untested, we will have return of events that catastrophically instigated the formation of the FDA. We don't want that.

We do however want to make the doors to the FDA open easier and put some of the cost on evaluating these drugs on the FDA. The FDA can recoup their cost by applying a tax to the approved drug. Not as a profit, but as remuneration for the cost to test the new drug.

We are a country of independent capitalistic individuals that are being controlled by a minority that seem to have their own agenda. We resent it. I am proud to be an American. I love my country. I am proud that we can complain about our government, work to change it and not worry about being accused of treason or persecuted. This health care dilemma is an issue that is long over due for resolution. Health care is not a privilege, it is a right we all deserve!

I agree that janders199 has done a great job of summarizing a better approach to the system.

Globalwoundcare, It is great to hear that you are willing to and do step outside the normal FDA approved items, drugs and treatments when it seems appropriate. I wish more doctors would do that, and would educate themsleves on available alternatives which are not harmful, and which might help. I suspect that a big part of the relucance is the lack of knowledge. Alternative treatments, natural combinations, vitamins, etc, are simply not part of their training. And what training is there in these alterntives, if there is any, is often limited and out of date.

You mentioned vitamins. There are a lot of them on the market, and many studies show different factors seem to help different problems. Yet if we could ever get back to a health balanced diet, eating foods that would have our internal blood chemistry operating right, we'd be better off in many cases than having a number of isolated vitamins, like pills, to deal with different situations. A whole food approach, making sure the food includes a proper balance, seems to provide the essentials without needing most of the isolated vitamins, etc.

You have mentioned wound care in several posts, and it seems to be a specialty area of yours. Laurence Johnson, in his online book on alternative therapies for physical disabilty, including SCI (at http://www.healingtherapies.info/diapulse.htm), mentions some studies done using the Diapulse, which is apparenlty an older type of a pulsed magnetic therapy machine used by some hospitals for wound care. Have you had any dealings with, or tried, any type of the pulsed magnetic therapy in your patient treatment? It sounds like it might help some people.

Also, FDA approval in most cases simply deals with safety and claims that can be made based on studies preformed. I understand that they nerver really "approve" of any drugs or treatment methods. And many of the things they approve have significant problems.

I wish you the best with your proposal. I'm not optimistic, especially with how things have begun to move from the individual having options, and looming activity that could restrict our rights to choose how we want to manage or own personal health. I'm sure you've seen as much, if not more, than I have.

All -

Thanks for your comments. I learned today that the NYTimes will publish my OPED. When they do, I will get back on this network so you can all read it . . . on-line if nothing else.

I promised GlobalWoundCare that if I get a chance to meet with officials who really want to solve this problem that I would invite him to be by my side . . . as we all know, it was his proposal, not mine . . . I just have a gift of simplicity, which is what I did with his proposal.

As for alternative medicnes, I take Cayenne Pepper every day and it seems to be working miracles for me. I no longer need blood pressure medications! Google Cayenne Pepper and you will have numerous websites to check it out.

I also take Vitamin B-Complex and Omega 3 daily. Not so sure they are helping me honestly, but until someone proves me wrong, like they did with Vitamin E, I will continue taking them.

God love you all, and God Bless you all, together we are better!

Jim

Jsanders, putting our thoughts in front of the right people is a VERY LARGE STEP!! You are so right, together we are better.

On the subject of vitamins and alternative medicines, you have to be careful. Some supplements have adverse reactions with certain prescription drugs. Not all physicians are aware of all these detremental interactions. Whenever you get a new prescription, check with your pharmacist for dangerous interactions.

Another warning about supplements, I don't remember which one, but it can interact negatively with anesthesia. This could be bad during emergency surgery. I will try and find out which one it is and post it.

Learning 1, diapulse is new to me. I followed your web connection. Thank you, I wlll look into it.

Remember when doctors make choices, knowledge is important, so is experience. The problem is further aggravated by laws and lawyers. When a doctor steps out of the box, he is on his own and will most likely lose in a court of law if something goes wrong.

If something can be done to help the situation with insurance, and maintain flexibility and options at the same time, it would be a step forward. I wish you the best with the proposal.

Globalwoundcare - Your warning about vitamins is a good one, which I forgot to mention. Most vitamins by themselves are not an issue, though any suggestion of mega-doses has to be closely watched. And interactions with drugs can cause problems, even just vitamins in foods (which makes some of the drugs scary). For example, Vitamin K, which is in some leafy vegetables, grapefruit, etc, affects warfarin / cuomadin, which is a common blood thinnner. Something which could cause problems for emergency surgery, which is a natural suppliment but not really a vitamin, is nattokinase, some form of an extract from natto, a Japanese food (which is apparently an "acquired" taste), since it acts to break down blood clots. I'm sure there are many others like these. Even very balanced whole food can cause reactions with some drugs.

I was trying to follow up on the vitamin that interacts with anesthesia and I found that there are many interactions that I was not aware. I am in the process of looking up all the vitamins I use personally and in my practice. I recommend each of you do the same. I just did a search asking for interaction of prescription drugs and vitamins.

I have been watching the news discuss the different types of health care proposals out there. None of the ones I have seen have overly impressed me.

I still like the proposal I put forth and was summerized by Jsanders.

I have also seen how the new projected health care plans are anticipating financial support. In the proposal I put forth, I recommended that we put the burden on purchases. Every purchase, in the united states would have a 1% sales tax that would go directly to the Health Corp.

I would like to hear the feelings of this forum regarding this tax. Should medicine, food or anything be exempt from this tax?

I admit that the 1% sales tax will be a burden to every consumer, and more so to those who are successful and spend more. But the burden to the individual will be a major win for the majority. Do not misunderstand I am not intentionaly supporting socialism, except in the case of health care.

Health care must be made available to everyone in our country. The expense should not be seen as a burden, but as a honor to help others.

When I hear politicians and the news complain about the high cost of health care, but rationalize the trillions spent on the military and the trillion spent to help out the major financial institutions, I get really pissed off. Forgive my language.

I am a travel consultant I provide travel and hospitality travel for persons with paralysis. In addition, an advocate for awareness for travel and hospitality.....email address: news.travel@yahoo.com......communityrsrce@yahoo.com.

Diapulse is still very much around, and still works extremely well, and inexpensively, for wound healing, soft tissue injury, circulatory problems and many other uses. Once upon a time, it was used by many MD's, and Hospitals, for a variety of ailments, with no contraindications or side effects. The very nature of the modality, is to increase blood circulation, without tissue damage or thermal effects, to the treated area. Diapulse has, on many occasions, prevented amputations in Diabetic patients. Every Doctor, Hospital, Wound Center and Skilled Nursing Facility that works with wounds and neuropathy, especially with Diabetic patients, should have at least one unit.

Kim,
Here's the latest . . . .the Rifton Walker is yours . . . . just assure me that I can get a tax deduction . . . . if so, I will even pay for the shipping. Just let me know.
As always,
Jiim

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