Wednesday, October 19, 2011

The collapse of Big Pharmaceuticals.

If you have a television you are likely aware of the political upheaval in Congress regarding health care reform.  The arguments against the Health Care reform bill as passed was the size and scope of the reform. That and the fact that certain aspects of the bill are meant to force the insurance industry to behave and actually do what 'you' have paid them to do.  In short the health care reform bill makes the insurance industry behave while prohibiting them from discriminating against 'any' health care provider and also eliminates their ability to drop anyone from coverage if they fall ill and actually need that coverage they've paid for. In essence the insurance industry has been behaving fraudulently by taking 'your' money for coverage they never intended to provide.  The health care reform bill prohibits this conduct. Sadly...that will mean the end of 100 million dollar bonuses and out of bounds profits. 

This is the last thing their 'share holders' want.  The insurance industry has repeatedly expressed concern for the needs of their share holders rather than their clients who pay them for coverage. Who are the share holders?  Could it be the pharmaceutical industry?   Such a relationship would create a virtual monopoly over the entire health care industry. Especially since the insurance industry has virtually no regulation to speak of due to its exemption to the anti-trust laws. So if the share holders are calling the shots, and those same share holders happen to be the pharmaceutical industry; what direction to you think health care would take?  

Considering that health care reform effort has been an ongoing since 1909 the size and scope of the current bill should be no surprise.  In fact, it is the primary catalyst for the current political grid-lock in Washington i.e. special interests who have controlled 'your' health care system do not like it. In fact it has been nearly a century since the last real change to our health care system took effect.  That change was to make Cocaine and Opium illegal forcing the Pharmaceutical industry to subjugate doctors of medicine and use them as a tool to further their profit margins.

   As a result of this unfortunate development we have been forced to accept whatever health care methods were deemed 'acceptable' by a board of directors rather than a doctors experience and expertise.  The pharmaceutical industry has become so wealthy and powerful that they no longer bother to hide the fact that they control congress like a puppet master controls a marionette. A position they have enjoyed for far too long and are about to lose and they know it. 

 The nation has had enough of their bad behavior.  This is not to say that wealth is bad, it is not.  However, wealth should be the reward for hard work and good behavior rather than restricted to only those who have taken advantage of their position and rigged the system to benefit only themselves, leaving the rest of the nation to salvage a living out of what they leave in their wake.  The world is about to reject corporate influence on their health care.

  Dr. B

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Wellness and Economics

During the past year I've noticed a tremendous surge of stress in my patients. The stress they are living with in many cases has an economic focus.  Some people are losing their homes, some are losing their job and losing their home some are getting divorced due to economic hardships and the list goes on.  Yeah, Yeah, yeah doc, what does this topic have to do with wellness?  Everything!!!  The wellness lifestyle includes a sense of personal well being.  Knowing that you will always have a roof over your head, a pillow on a nice warm fluffy bed with warm blankets to keep you warm at night.  Having the knowledge that you will be able to feed your kids or look after them when they need you the most.  Having the time to dedicate to your kids instead of having to make time in between your many jobs that you have to keep in order to keep them housed, fed and clothed. 

 Yes, economics plays a role in wellness.  In our current climate uncertainty reigns.  It seems that every evening we are hearing more double talk by our politicians who seem more and more detached from the realities we as a living breathing nation have to live day in and day out.  Frustration with the system, not believing that voting makes any difference and wondering if we should bother voting at all if nothing changes even when we do vote...the essence of apathy.  If you want to live a wellness lifestyle then you will have to be willing to make the changes necessary to make that possible.  How?? ACT!! Do something about our current situation. 

 The difference between apathy and hope is the will to act regardless of the outcome.  If we do not get the outcome we want the first time...try again and keep trying until you get what you want.  The difference is determined by your will to make a difference. Are you willing to accept the way things are or are you going take a stand and kick in the door and make your voice heard above the din of political noise?  A wellness mindset includes the will to take a step, to act and to keep taking steps to make changes where one can. Take what you have and do what you can.  If that means picking up a phone and expressing your dismay ato a local politician or hopping in the car and driving to Wall Street to join the protests there...do something and be heard.  This nation is as weak or as strong as the loudest and most obnoxious voice. 

I served in the military not to change the navy but to change me. I wanted to look back on my life and tell my kids that I did some bad assed things in my hey day.  OK..so that is a personal ego trip...so what.  The fact is I faced a challenge and it in effect changed how I saw the world in which I lived. It gave me an attitude and showed me how to use that attitude.  Our challenges today are no different than the challenges our nation faced before. This can be our moment to act and say to our kids and gransdchildren..."Yeah...We took the nation away from a bunch of dirt bags, kicked butt...and gave you back a future."


What are you willing to do?



 

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Playing God...a symptom of out of control egotism

Several years ago I read an article in National Geographic titled "The Downside of Upright" written by an Md whose name I do not remember. Its tone struck me as extremely egotistical.  The article was about how our current physical habit of walking 'upright' had contributed to our 'flaws' as a species.  Flaws?  Yes, that was his word for how our species had 'adapted' to walking on two legs.  The outrageous lack of humility before nature was highly offensive and based more on opinion than actual knowledge or thought. Of course that is MY opinion.  Here is a man, a product of nature or a creation of God, dissing the very intelligence that made his existence possible.

 One of his suggestions was that our upright walking 'habit' was bad for our discs. That we as a species suffer from abnormal disc degeneration as a result of our walking upright. Nothing was mentioned about the fact that our 'social' habits have more to do with that particular problem. What habits?  Sitting is extremely bad for our species because sitting compresses our discs for hours at a time and our discs are not being pumped as a result.  Not only this but when we drive we are in a seated position and the micro trauma of the motion of the car wears at our discs and muscle tissue even more.  So our species, as a result of our social habits of late, does have a problem with premature disc degeneration, caused by our social habits not our structure. 

 He suggests also that our Pelvis is all wrong.  That giving birth was more of a hardship now that we walk upright. In his example a picture of a skeleton with the head of a baby inside the pelvis was an example of how we have devolved and now 'need' medical intervention with child birth.  What he failed to mention is that the skeletal structure of a fetus is designed by 'nature' to fold over itself to make it fit through the birth canal more efficiently.  The picture he used to illustrate his argument was the skull of a toddler not the skull of a new born. So the visual effect was to suggest he was correct.  He also seemed to forget the fact that when a child passes through the birth canal the amniotic fluid that fills our lungs while a fetus is squeezed out which also releases a hormone that enables the lungs to inflate with air...more efficiently.  So there is an actual physiological need to pass through the canal and actual purpose for the 'hardship'.  He also forgot to mention that most of the difficulties encountered with child birth are caused by the fact that the mother was most often on her back during the process which made birthing more difficult. The thought process behind a woman lying on her back is solely for the convenience of the assisting doctor...nothing to do whatsoever with making child birth more efficient or comfortable.  Of course this makes it much more dramatic for television moms to scream, push...and sweat..their way through a soap opera birth scene. 

In fact we are designed to give birth in the upright position, go figure.  Not only does the tissue of the birth canal stretch..more easily gravity plays a role in aiding the process. Hmmmm sounds like intelligent design to me.  The article was a nauseating example of intellectually induced egotism.  No doubt the man was intelligent but the use he put that intellect to was not only self serving but highly ignorant.We are a highly specialized living, breathing entity with the God given brain power to figure out the problems of the world..and also the capacity to screw things up.  However, we usually screw things up when we put ego before intellect.

 Enuf Said

 Dr. B