Health insurance - a contradiction in terms… One would have to be brain-dead (or else a politician) to not be
aware of the skyrocketing cost of health care in this country.
But the big question is: WHY is it happening?
I've spent a lot of time (30 years or so) thinking about this.
And of course, there is no single, simple answer. Like
everything that has to do with health care nowadays, there are a
million different reasons for why everything costs so much -
especially if you ask someone in the medical field: Liability
premiums, new-fangled technology, over-priced drugs, and on and
on and on. It's confusing, and that's just the way the "powers
that be" in the medical establishment want it…
What I have concluded, however, is this: The less free-market
competition is a factor in the health-care universe, the higher
prices soar. And what's the nemesis of price-lowering
competition in the medical world? Insurance companies. By
forming ever-larger alliances of individual doctors, medical
practices, clinics, hospitals or groups of hospitals, insurance
companies exert ever more control over not only how medicine is
practiced, but how much it costs, too.
And by fixing the prices paid out to doctors for services -
instead of allowing the natural supply-and-demand of the
marketplace to regulate costs - insurance companies ensure
themselves of two things: A predictable outlay of cash for
medical treatment (the services only they can authorize, by the
way) and a handsomely profitable influx of monies paid by
consumers powerless to shop around for a better deal.
Why are we powerless? Because increasingly, we've been
brainwashed into viewing our healthcare (and thence, health
insurance) as an entitlement - of our jobs, of our citizenship,
of our birth - and not just another commodity to be shopped
around, evaluated, chosen, purchased, and then held up to the
scrutiny of our dollars.
But this wasn't always the case. It was not so long ago that
there was NO SUCH THING as health insurance. People went to the
doctor and paid for services rendered, just like going to the
car shop. And prices were reasonable - they had to be, or we'd
take our business elsewhere. Gone are those days. Don't believe
me? Try going to any doctor (other than a plastic surgeon or
veterinarian) nowadays and offer to pay cash for treatment.
You'll get a blank stare, or the 3rd degree about why you want
to keep your identity a secret…
In the past, I've ranted long and loud about the HMO monopolies,
drug-company price gouging, and tax-funded bureaucratic
boondoggles. And as the baby-boomers age; as medical technology
gets more and more expensive; as mainstream medicine becomes
ever more drug-centric; and as we keep getting fatter, sicker,
and more accustomed to the entitlement mentality our
insurance-based healthcare system breeds, it's only going to get
worse…
Unless we start voting for a return to the simple, original
American system in which your dollars hold sway over the
number-crunching conglomerates who fleece you as they dictate
what you can and can't have in the way of pill-and-scalpel
mainstream treatments…
All the while spending millions of your own dollars concealing
the safer, simpler, and more affordable natural alternatives
that would no doubt thrive in the true free market our health
care system USED to be. ****************************
An ongoing radiological experiment - and we're the guinea
pigs…
Want to know what my favorite medical journal (The Lancet)
recently printed about the dangers of cell phones? Here's the
quote, as written in those pages by a prominent British
psychiatrist:
"If cell phones were a kind of food, they simply would not be
licensed."
But everyone's got a cell phone nowadays, don't they? To the
young generation, they're a fashion essential. And even to the
30-somethings and baby boomers, the go-anywhere telephone is
starting to seem like a necessity in this day and age…
We buy cell phones for their convenience, for accessibility, and
even for safety reasons, right? After all, when we accidentally
drive off the road in a rainstorm 10 miles from nowhere, isn't
it nice to be able to summon help right away? When we get
mugged, don't we want the cops on the way as soon as possible?
Of course we do. But like so many other things that were
developed, rubber-stamped, and rushed to market as a boon to
public safety (mercury fillings, fluoridated water), cell phones
have downsides - some of them disastrous…
For instance, a substantial body of research (poorly publicized
though it may be) has shown that cell phone use can damage areas
of the brain associated with memory, learning, and motor
function - and may even trigger Alzheimer's disease. One
European study concluded that the microwaves emitted by mobile
phones might cause leakage in the blood/brain barrier, which can
lead to radically premature senility! Yet another body of
research showed that radio signals from cell phones killed
high-level brain cells in laboratory animals.
As if this isn't bad enough, recent European research shows that
the next generation of ultra-powerful cellular communication
technology can cause actual physical symptoms among those
exposed to its radiation - things like headache, nausea, and
tingling sensations. ***********************
That can't be good, can it?
The bottom line is this: Like so many other technological
"advancements" in our modern lives, we really have no idea of
the long-term effects of cellular communication technology on
our health. And although it's nice to have the talk-anywhere
convenience of a phone in our pocket, we must allow for the
possibility that such accessibility might come at a steep
price…
One we may not even know we've paid until it's too late.
Look, I know you're not going to give up your precious cell
phone, but keep the exposure to a minimum. And get one with a
vibrating ringer so you won't drive the rest of us crazy -
especially at dinner.
"Celling" it to you straight,
William Campbell Douglass II, MD |
