Health Care Reform 2009 - What the Congressional "Call to Action" is Not Telling Us
Focusing attention on prevention and wellness is a wonderful thought.
However, Senator Baucus, in his "Call to Action" is missing several important points.
E.
FOCUSING ON PREVENTION AND WELLNESS Chronic diseases - such as stroke, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes - are the most prevalent and preventable of all health problems and also the most costly.
Nearly half (45 percent) of Americans suffer from one or more chronic conditions,54 and chronic disease accounts for 70 percent of all deaths (more than 1.
7 million people).
55 In addition, increased rates of obesity and chronic disease are the primary cause of disability and diminished quality of life.
" To wit, the harmful impact, personally and economically, of chronic diseases is well known and certainly, prevention by altering unhealthy life styles would be a worthy educational campaign.
However, the immediate concern is better management of chronic diseases, which currently is fragmented with poor or no follow-up.
First, Senator Baucus and his ghostwriters need to have a better understanding of the definition of chronic illness.
For example, stroke is not a chronic disease per say; it is an event of rupture or blockage of a blood vessel in the brain that causes severe disability requiring long-term rehabilitation.
On the other hand, high blood pressure is a chronic disease that leads to stroke and the process of keeping one's blood pressures under control will prevent stroke in many cases.
Second, the term "heart disease" also needs further clarification because there are many different types of heart problems, some of which are life-style related and some of which are hereditary.
For example, we know that there is a link between excessive amounts of low-density lipoproteins found in the average American diet and coronary insufficiency (blockage of the coronary arteries leading to heart attacks).
One serious problem we face today is that pharmaceutical companies who market statins, with the approval of corrupt FDA officials, are trying to convince us that we all need to take statins to prevent heart attacks and strokes.
Statins are a group of drugs like Crestor that reduce the amount of cholesterol in the blood and have known side effects causing muscle weakness, kidney damage and liver failure.
Therefore, if we have an unchecked corrupt government bureaucracy that will allow the Statin makers to recommend that doctors prescribe such drugs indiscriminately based on one manufacturer-financed study, then how will Congress be able to affect any reforms? Hence government is part of the problem.
Third, cancer prevention is something that our body of knowledge in health care is ill equipped to handle.
Most of the ideas are purely theoretical.
We have some notions that stress management, diet and smoking cessation are contributing factors to prevention, but there are also environmental pollutants and hereditary factors over which we have no control.
However, the most effective tools that we have in fighting this dreaded disease is early detection through periodic screening exams.
We also need to take a serious look at the chemical ingredients in our foods, the pesticides on domestic produce and foreign imports, carcinogens like chlorine in our water supplies and high voltage electromagnetic fields, to name a few.
Fourth, I am not sure that diabetes is actually preventable because it is purely genetic.
In any case there are two basic types: juvenile onset and adult onset.
The former has no prevention and the young patients must rely on meticulous management to avoid complications.
The latter is also not preventable per say, but we can forestall its onset with diet and exercise.
In other words, we each have a certain amount of insulin production over a lifetime.
The more carbohydrates we consume the faster we use up our insulin supply.
Once it is depleted, we become diabetic.
The amount of insulin we can produce over time is hereditary, so different people run out of at different ages and some die at a ripe old age before that problem occurs.
In conclusion, prevention and wellness are issues that go beyond health care and if the government were to focus on it properly, there has to be reforms in environmental protection, education, commercial food preparation and FDA drug approval criteria.
Government has to stop being part of the problem with its corrupt special interest favoring policies and, in addition, get the hospitals and nursing facilities to stop killing 200,000 people per year.
However, Senator Baucus, in his "Call to Action" is missing several important points.
E.
FOCUSING ON PREVENTION AND WELLNESS Chronic diseases - such as stroke, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes - are the most prevalent and preventable of all health problems and also the most costly.
Nearly half (45 percent) of Americans suffer from one or more chronic conditions,54 and chronic disease accounts for 70 percent of all deaths (more than 1.
7 million people).
55 In addition, increased rates of obesity and chronic disease are the primary cause of disability and diminished quality of life.
" To wit, the harmful impact, personally and economically, of chronic diseases is well known and certainly, prevention by altering unhealthy life styles would be a worthy educational campaign.
However, the immediate concern is better management of chronic diseases, which currently is fragmented with poor or no follow-up.
First, Senator Baucus and his ghostwriters need to have a better understanding of the definition of chronic illness.
For example, stroke is not a chronic disease per say; it is an event of rupture or blockage of a blood vessel in the brain that causes severe disability requiring long-term rehabilitation.
On the other hand, high blood pressure is a chronic disease that leads to stroke and the process of keeping one's blood pressures under control will prevent stroke in many cases.
Second, the term "heart disease" also needs further clarification because there are many different types of heart problems, some of which are life-style related and some of which are hereditary.
For example, we know that there is a link between excessive amounts of low-density lipoproteins found in the average American diet and coronary insufficiency (blockage of the coronary arteries leading to heart attacks).
One serious problem we face today is that pharmaceutical companies who market statins, with the approval of corrupt FDA officials, are trying to convince us that we all need to take statins to prevent heart attacks and strokes.
Statins are a group of drugs like Crestor that reduce the amount of cholesterol in the blood and have known side effects causing muscle weakness, kidney damage and liver failure.
Therefore, if we have an unchecked corrupt government bureaucracy that will allow the Statin makers to recommend that doctors prescribe such drugs indiscriminately based on one manufacturer-financed study, then how will Congress be able to affect any reforms? Hence government is part of the problem.
Third, cancer prevention is something that our body of knowledge in health care is ill equipped to handle.
Most of the ideas are purely theoretical.
We have some notions that stress management, diet and smoking cessation are contributing factors to prevention, but there are also environmental pollutants and hereditary factors over which we have no control.
However, the most effective tools that we have in fighting this dreaded disease is early detection through periodic screening exams.
We also need to take a serious look at the chemical ingredients in our foods, the pesticides on domestic produce and foreign imports, carcinogens like chlorine in our water supplies and high voltage electromagnetic fields, to name a few.
Fourth, I am not sure that diabetes is actually preventable because it is purely genetic.
In any case there are two basic types: juvenile onset and adult onset.
The former has no prevention and the young patients must rely on meticulous management to avoid complications.
The latter is also not preventable per say, but we can forestall its onset with diet and exercise.
In other words, we each have a certain amount of insulin production over a lifetime.
The more carbohydrates we consume the faster we use up our insulin supply.
Once it is depleted, we become diabetic.
The amount of insulin we can produce over time is hereditary, so different people run out of at different ages and some die at a ripe old age before that problem occurs.
In conclusion, prevention and wellness are issues that go beyond health care and if the government were to focus on it properly, there has to be reforms in environmental protection, education, commercial food preparation and FDA drug approval criteria.
Government has to stop being part of the problem with its corrupt special interest favoring policies and, in addition, get the hospitals and nursing facilities to stop killing 200,000 people per year.
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