Universal Health Care should include wellness

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

I am a firm believer in intergrative medicine (also called holistic medicine). In this type of medical practice, the MD looks at your general health, your health history, family health history, etc, and uses this to give you a diet to follow. The MD may also suggest supplements (vitamins and herbs) to help keep you healthy. If you have an acute or chronic illness, the doctor may start treatment not with drugs from the drug companies, but with other cutting edge therapies, including IVs of vitamins, herbs, etc, always keeping in mind that drugs will be used if other things don't work.

Why do I bring this up? Because at Healing Night meeting this week, the doctor who gave the talk mentioned the fact the most MDs have traditionally been taught not to use vitamin/diets for therapy and for wellness. They are sometimes even told that vitamins are "dangerous", and tend to ignore important research that has been done on vitamins and their role in health (example: a recent JAMA article on Vitamin D).

Why are so many MDs against using vitamins, etc? Because they are indoctrinated to a great extent by the drug companies. As the doctor said at the meeting, the drug companies don't get big bucks if the MDs prescribe Vitamin D cream to help with psoriosis, or use a Vitamin C IV for Hepatitus C.

My only concern about universal health care is that the drug companies might use it to shut out holistic medical practitioners and make the sale of vitamins illegal so that everyone has to rely on their drugs, even when they aren't as effective as using supplements and vitamin therapy.

[JDPriestly]

1. Take Vitamin B if your hands and feet tingle.

My European doctor advised me I had a vitamin B shortage during my first pregnancy. I have been taking vitamin B ever since and wouldn't go without it.

[AllegroRondo]

2. Medicine is big business

and they make more money by treating diseases and symptoms than they do by preventing them.

[burythehatchet]

3. My incremental plan for universal coverage

would BEGIN with basic preventive care for all at no cost to the patient. Then, disease management and catastrophic illnes would remain private until the country sees the benefits of single payer. Then we go full on.

[The Whiskey Priest]

4. The only downside to your suggestion

Is that 80% of health care cost is incurred by 20% of the population and a great proportion of that 20% is for the chronically ill, with the most expensive being end-of-life health services.

I would slightly reverse your suggestion and start with catastrophic and chronic illness as universal coverage. The rationale being that we get that under control, through government intervention, it will lead to reduction in other cost.

Universal care would act as a moderating force upon the health care service market place.

I would suggest leaving all elective care to private insurance.

[burythehatchet]

5. I understand your point

The key is that preventive care would drastically cut down the expenses associated with critical care. That was the basic foundation when the first HMO was started in California by Kaiser. Unfortunately, corporations took that model and screwed it over by layering a 35% expense avove the actual cost of care. The concept is flawless, when you compare the 35% expense ration with the 2% expense ratio that a socialized plan would incur.

I should have been clearer in my intent by saying that Catastrophic illness and chronic disease SHOULD, in fact, be nationalized as well. Its the middle tier of care that (only in the beginning) could remain private. By taking the catastrophic component out of the actuarial models, the cost of buying insurance should go way down, assuming the corporation doesn't find a way to screw us there as well. Regulation.

[ck4829]

6. Yes. That would be nice to have.

[OzarkDem]

7. Evidence based medicine is the best way

MD's are against using mega doses of vitamins because not enough research has been done on them. Some recent research on mega doses of vitamins and hebal supplements has actually raised some concern and shown harm.

If holistic medical practictioners want their products approved, they need to get busy and do the research needed to prove they're effective and do no harm.

[RoyGBiv]

8. Small point ...

This is not a commentary on your overall point here, and I am certainly no doctor or any other sort of medical professional, so I have no idea what doctors are told. I think you're basically right.

However...

My doctor has at times warned me of relying too heavily on vitamin *supplements* and mass dosing them generally. Now, at the same time, he did indicate a proper diet for me that was naturally high in the vitamins I needed. IOW, he wasn't talking about how vitamins in and of themselves could be dangerous, nor was he suggesting they weren't important. He was telling me natural viatmins from a healthy diet is better for me than relying heavily on vitamin supplements.