| But if our health care system is really so good, why do 50 million Americans have no health insurance? Why are hospitals literally dumping uninsured patients on the street, abandoning the sick to protect profits while our politicians actually negotiate on behalf of Big Pharma to make sure Americans keep paying the highest prices in the world for medications? (Click here to see our CounterThink cartoon on President Bush's price negotiations with drug companies.)
What's wrong with America's health care system? |
| In SiCKO, what Moore does very effectively is tells this story to a mass audience, weaving together the emotionally-charged stories of American citizens who lost husbands, daughters and other family members to preventable disease, all thanks to intentional, well-planned payment denials by health insurance companies. |
| In one segment in the film, he features archival footage of former President Nixon, who strongly approves of a new 1970's health care concept called the "HMO" where the more patients are denied health care services, the more money the hospitals and health insurance companies rake in!
In contrast to all this, Moore shows us the universal health care systems in countries like Canada, the UK, France and even Cuba... all countries where health care is free to everyone. |
| Other critics of Moore are either the greedy, corrupt corporations impacted by his film (drug companies, health insurance providers, hospitals and so on) or juvenile stay-at-home back-seat Internet critics who don't like Moore for the simple fact that he dares to stand up and say "The Emperor Has No Clothes!" Nearly all the criticism leveled against Moore is without substance. People attack Moore personally, but they won't dare debate what he's presenting in the movie. Why? Because Michael Moore is right. America's health care system is an embarrassment to the nation, and to the world. |
| I have no need for a doctor, or a pharmaceutical, or a health insurance policy. I don't get annual physical exams, and I have zero risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes or other common health conditions. (I posted my health statistics at www.HealthRanger.org if you want to see my blood workup.)
At the same time, I realize that not everybody is in such a fortunate health position. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 You make sure that health insurance has to cover Viagra even if it's being prescribed to sex offenders, which is exactly what's going on in this country. That's a good example of how insane our health insurance industry and health care coverage really is. We're using taxpayer dollars to pay for Viagra for people who have been convicted of sex crimes.
Health care reform goes far beyond crunching numbers
Now, I repeat my first statement here, which is that you can't have an honest debate about health care reform unless you address the issue of health. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 Eliminate the need for expensive health insurance policies that mostly rip off patients by denying coverage for services that they promised to cover.
Save your liver, kidneys and brain from the massive inundation of toxic chemicals used in conventional medicine treatments.
Promote the proliferation and success of naturopathic health practitioners and companies who care about health, the planet and our collective future. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 Launching a national health insurance program that covers everyone and relies on a system of government-issued vouchers that citizens can spend with health insurance companies.
These radical reforms are necessary because the future gap between what the government owes and what it stands to receive in revenues is already monstrously large, and it's growing by the minute. This gap, called the Gokhale and Smetters measure, currently stands at an astonishing $65.9 trillion. (Yes, with a "T".) As Kotlikoff explains, "This figure is more than five times U.S. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 Diabetes prevention and natural treatments
Cancer prevention and natural treatments
Prenatal nutrition, infant nutrition and childrens' nutrition
Modern health care system, health insurance and health care reform
The FDA and FDA reform
Dangerous prescription drugs, drug warnings, drug fatalities, advertising, etc.
Junk food marketing, sodas, marketing to children, etc.
We're also open to other topic suggestions, so if you have a special area of passion or expertise, feel free to apply and let us know what area you'd like to cover. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 Even if we switch to free health insurance for everyone, the whole system is still based on toxic treatments that cure nothing! |
Tori Hudson, N.D.
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 A public hungry for choices in their health care, an increased awareness about the role of diet and lifestyle in cancer and chronic disease, the aging of the baby boomer generation, and the failures of certain aspects of modern conventional medicine and the health insurance industry to deal with people and their health problems respectfully, carefully, fairly, and effectively have been responsible for this resurgence. Conventional medicine has brought great insights, successes, and miracles of what human intelligence can accomplish. |
Charles Barber
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 The first psychiatric benefit in a health insurance plan, incidentally, was implemented on September i, 1951, by Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California. Services were provided at a small inpatient hospital and outpatient clinic in San Francisco. One of the chief architects of the plan happened to be the psychologist Timothy Leary, of—much later—LSD and "Turn On, Tune In, and Drop Out" fame.)15
"Managed-care plans along with employers have been reluctant to pay the cost of ongoing psychotherapy," said physician-author Timothy B. McCall in his commentary on National Public Radio's Marketplace. |
| An analysis of data on patients insured by private health insurance companies found that 42 percent of users were not given any clearly identified mental-health or even off-label indication when they were prescribed antidepressants. In other words, the doctor gave no psychiatric reason for writing the prescription. |
| A study of antidepressant use in private health insurance plans found that a majority of those prescribed antidepressants received no psychiatric diagnosis or any mental health care beyond the prescription of the drug.1 We know, first of all, that she is female: twice as many psychiatric drugs are prescribed for women as men.2 Remarkably, in 2002, more than one in three doctor's office visits by women involved the prescription of an antidepressant, either for a new prescription or the maintenance of an existing one. |
| As recently as 1940, there was virtually no government safety net. health insurance was uncommon, and pensions barely existed.64 Most people rented, and most houses were heated by wood and coal. More than half of households lacked a refrigerator and about a third didn't have running water. Nearly half the labor force worked in farm, factory, mining, or construction jobs. |
Dr. Edward F. Group III, DC, ND, DACBN
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| T ra
Alternative health insurance Services _ www.alternativeinsurance.com o
1 (800) 331-2713
Citizens for Health www.citizens.org 1 (612) 879-7589
Health Freedom Foundation www.healthfreedom.net 1 (800)230-2762
Heat Therapy (Far Infrared)
Also known as Far Infrared Therapy (FIR), heat therapy helps dissolve toxins in the blood so you can sweat them out.
Far Infrared Sauna www.ghchealth.com/health-accessories
TheraSauna™ Dry Infrared Health Sauna www.therasauna. |
| Alternative health insurance Services www.alternativeinsurance.com :
Alternative Health News Online™ www.altmedicine.com :
American Academy of Biological Dentistry www.biologicaldentistry.org
American Association for Health ¦ Freedom www.freedom.net '¦
American Association of Naturopathic Physicians www.naturopathic.org
American Herbal Products Association www.ahpa.org
American Holistic Medical Association www.holisticmedicine.org :
Annie Armen Live™ www.anniearmenlive.org j
AromaTherapy.com www.aromatherapy.com :
Asset Protection.com (Rob Lambert) www.assetprotection. |
Donna Jackson Nakazawa
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 Joy was taking more and more sick days, unable to manage the joint aches and weakness, though she had to force herself to go into work as often as she could because she needed the health insurance. She was retested for autoantibodies but results remained inconclusive. She had been struggling to manage symptoms without any diagnosis for a year and a half and she was steadily deteriorating. The Advil wasn't helping. Because her symptoms were intensifying, her rheumatologist started her on a nonsteroidal antiinflammatory medicine, Relafen, used often in treating arthritis. |
Craig Pepin-Donat
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 Unfortunately, most health insurance companies do not pay for preventive "alternative" therapies, so people must spend their hard-earned money to take advantage of integrative medicine. Still, tens of millions of people do every year.
Since most of us must use physicians within specific networks, integrative and alternative medicine focused more on prevention is often not an option. But "we the people" must be finding value in these alternative medical treatments or we wouldn't be spending $31 billion a year out of our own pockets. |
| According to a 2006 Kaiser Family Foundation study, the average American family pays $11,500 a year in health insurance. Across the country, healthcare insurance rates are going up 10 to 30 percent a year, far outstripping wage increases. It's outrageous. We are all paying more and getting less.
However, there is a model that works. It is called integrative medicine and it is practiced nationwide by a large network of talented health care professionals. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 Big Pharma is making billions of dollars selling dangerous drugs to people who largely don't need them. health insurance companies are raking in billions more by denying payment for medical procedures. Lawmakers are on the food chain too, addicted to health care industry money for their reelection campaigns. The corporations in power today are allied against any switch to universal health care because it would take the profit out of the system and deliver quality health care services on the cheap.
Think about it: Americans pay the most, by far, for health care. |
Bottom Line Health
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| What's troubling is that a significant percentage of these people have health insurance.
As the cost of medical care continues to rise, consumers are bearing a greater share of their medical expenses. The additional cost comes in many forms, including higher deductibles and copayments, separate deductibles for hospital admissions, and the move from fixed-fee co-payments to percentage-based "coinsurance." In some cases, health plans are widening the limits on coverage for certain treatments. |
Rhonda D. Orin
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 Everyone knows, or is starting to realize, that the health insurance and managed care system is out of whack. Health plans are supposed to pay your bills and to ease your mind when you have medical needs. Policies are supposed to be easy to understand. Denials, when they happen, are supposed to be in English. When people have complaints or questions, they are supposed to be able to contact their health plans and get some kind of result.
None of this is happening. |
| REPPED: I think that I decided to write this book the day I received the following denial of coverage from my health insurance company:
This service is not eligible for reimbursement as separate procedure since it is considered part of a more global procedure and is therefore considered an inclusive procedure.
Now, they weren't going to pay me. I figured that out. But when it came to this so-called "explanation" for their decision, I read it over and over. . . then burst out laughing.
You see, I am a lawyer, with a speciality in suing insurance companies. |
John J. Ratey, MD
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 More and more companies are encouraging their employees to take advantage of in-house gyms or health club memberships, and some health insurance companies reimburse clients for club fees. Their generosity is informed by studies showing that exercise reduces stress and makes for more productive employees. In 2004 researchers at Leeds Metropolitan University in England found that workers who used their company's gym were more productive and felt better able to handle their workloads. |
| The results should be taught in medical school and driven home with health insurance companies and posted on the bulletin boards of every nursing home in the country, where nearly a fifth of the residents have depression. If everyone knew that exercise worked as well as Zoloft, I think we could put a real dent in the disease.
Reading between the lines of the SMILE study gets at the complex issues that have kept exercise from being accepted as a medical treatment. |
Benjamin H. Natelson, M.D.
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 If he or she does not answer your questions or meet your needs, most health insurance carriers will allow you to look for another doctor who will. Physicians sometimes forget that you are paying them to help you. You have
YUUK MMNUMb AKt KtAL a right to get your money's worth; if you find that you are not, you should take your business elsewhere.
Find a Doctor Who Gives You Enough Time
Other factors may influence your feelings about being on the same page with a specialist, and these factors may also affect the outcome of your relationship with him or her. |
Rhonda D. Orin
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| The name doesn't have anything to do with health insurance but, unfortunately, the substance does.
ERISA was developed to govern benefit plans that are set up by private employers for their employees. It applied only to private employers, not to employers such as federal, state, and local governments, and religious institutions. The principal focus of ERISA was financial plans, such as employee retirement plans. The overriding goal appeared to be making sure that funds set aside in these financial plans were protected from misuse by the employers, and were managed properly. |
| Start Laughing—or You'll Start Crying
So you've decided to take charge of your health insurance problems. You've looked over your plan and found that you really can't tell whether it covers something you happen to care about. You've decided to telephone your insurer and ask for an explanation, instead of just sighing and sticking the plan back under the TV. What do you do first? Get a cup of coffee.
I'm serious. And don't stop there. Before you dial, you should also do the following. Put together some reading material, or paperwork, or whatever you care to do. Make a trip to the bathroom. |
| At times you may need to hire one of these specialists, especially if you are too sick to cope with the mechanics of health insurance, or if you are confronted with a particularly confusing insurance situation. But, most of the time, you should be able to save your money. Just buy some file folders and a notebook, and follow the advice in Making Them Pay.
A special feature of Making Them Pay is that it reveals what rights you have outside of your health plan. |
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