Showing posts with label Healthy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Healthy. Show all posts

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Health Savings Accounts - Investing For a Healthy Future


Most of us at one time or another have had a savings account at a bank. Health savings accounts are not that much different. A health savings account is a tax free medical saving account. Health savings accounts are always associated with high deductible health plans (HDHP). With a high deductible health plan, your annual deductibles are high but the monthly premiums are low. The health savings accounts make it possible to set money aside and then use it whenever needed for your medical expenses.

Health savings accounts are fairly new to the insurance scene. In December of 2003, President Bush signed the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act. This law was intended to help businesses save money on skyrocketing health insurance costs by allocating a greater portion of the cost to employees. In turn, an employee would pay lower monthly premiums but was responsible for much higher deductibles before health insurance coverage would kick in. In effect, you are self-insured up to your deductible for each year that you are enrolled in a HDHP. Previously, medical savings accounts were available only to small businesses and the self-employed. Health savings accounts are available to anyone under the age of 65.

The earlier medical savings accounts were tax free but did not allow for any type of investing. Not only are the HDHP health savings accounts tax-free, the assets from the accounts can be invested. This makes high deductible insurance plans an affordable and possibly lucrative option. You are allowed to set aside tax-free dollars now to guard against future health issues. If you enjoy good health and don't need to use the money, your overall financial health will improve as well!

There is also another type of savings account applicable to medical expenses. A health care flexible spending account (FSA) is somewhat like a heath savings account but there are differences. One of the biggest differences is the amount of money that can be placed in them each year. With a flexible spending account there is no cap on the amount of money that can be contributed to the account unless your employer or insurance company sets one. Flexible savings account may sound like the better deal but if you are looking for flexibility it's really not. The money you set aside in a flexible spending account can only be used for qualified medical, dental, vision or prescription expenses or any health-related expense that your health insurance policy does not cover. In addition, FSA funds must be spent each year or you forfeit any remaining balance. Thus, to maximize the tax savings benefits of a FSA, you need to be pretty accurate in determining your medical expenses from year to year.

For health savings accounts, you can contribute up to the lesser of your HDHP deductible or the amounts set by the Internal Revenue Service. For 2006, the IRS limits are $2,700 for individuals and $5,450 for family coverage. Taxpayers over 55 years old can contribute an additional catch-up amount of $700 for 2006. The money you place into a health savings account can be used for any medical expenditure and can be rolled over from year-to-year and from job-to-job. Withdrawals for non-medical purposes are taxed and carry a 10% penalty for taxpayers under age 65 years. After age 65, non-medical withdrawals are taxed without the penalty.

Health savings accounts can be a great option for some people. Coupled with the right high deductible insurance policy, a health savings plan can be the perfect medical insurance solution for those seeking lower premium costs without sacrificing adequate health insurance coverage. The fact that with a health savings account you can invest your contributions tax-free makes a health savings account an almost perfect solution. While not for everyone, if you're in good health, with a longer span of time before retirement age and do not need costly ongoing prescription medicines, a HSA may be your best choice.




Denise Durbin is the webmaster for HealthInsuranceFAQs.com Before you sign up for any insurance policy, visit http://www.HealthInsuranceFAQs.com for more tips and resources for getting the best health insurance policy.



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Friday, June 10, 2011

Staying Healthy With Natural Health Care


With the growing number of medical issues surrounding the current health care system, people are becoming increasingly frustrated with treatment results and the expense of maintaining personal health. Are you concerned about or wondering if it's possible to naturally treat health issues without killing yourself? A growing number of people are turning to alternative medicine and natural health care and doing so very successfully. Natural, everyday, common sense methods of preventing illness and maintaining optimal health do exist.

What does your body need to maintain proper health?

This is a question that continues to be asked, why, I don't know, because there are no hidden secrets about this. In fact I'm sure you probably already know the answer.

Proper diet

It is known that many health problems (heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke and others) are exasperated by improper and poor diets. We live in a fast paced world driven by extreme commercialism that bombards us with images of super sized hamburgers, fries and extra large sodas. Many of our foods come in boxes loaded with artificial ingredients and real, un-natural, man-made chemicals to help us exist in our fast paced life. The first thing we need to do in maintaining our health is to get back to a healthy natural food based diet.

Moderate exercise

Sitting on the couch watching TV or driving the car to the mailbox is not moderate exercise. Walking, bicycling, swimming, tennis, hiking, gymnastics, dancing and weight training are forms of exercise that we need in our daily lives. Achieving 30 minutes of some form of cardiovascular activity several times a week has a huge payback in maintenance of health, appearance, and well being.

Excess avoidance (drugs, alcohol, fast food, smoking)

There is no mistake that excessive use of drugs, alcohol, fast food and smoking have a detrimental effect on health. If you are using any of these substances in excess you can expect to live a much shorter and unhealthier life. Even if you use these substances in moderation you may experience a shorter and unhealthier life.

Good genetics

Now here's something you cannot control. We've all heard of the guy that smoked 2 packs of cigarettes' a day until he was 92 then got stepped on by an elephant while dancing with his 38 year old girl friend. There are those that are fortunate to be born to parents and grandparents that took care of their health. Then there are those that are born to parents/grandparents that did not enjoy healthy lifestyles. And let's face it; Mother Nature can be quite cruel at times as well. No matter what the case, your life and health can be improved by proper diet, exercise, and excess avoidance.

Other methods and forms of natural health care

While the things mentioned above are fundamentals of natural health care, there are other methods and forms of natural treatment and care that complement healthy living. We know that even healthy people are going to become ill with common ailments and diseases from time to time. However there are things that can be done to minimize the effects and duration of the inevitable cold, flu, pain, rash, and other common ailments or diseases that are sure to come from time to time.

Herbs and vitamins

Many natural herbs and vitamins can be obtained from health stores that strengthen our natural immunity to health issues. If you are experiencing a particular health issue, a trip to the health store should be considered, there will be a supplement that can help you overcome your health issue.

Holistic Medicine

Holistic medicine focuses on how the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual elements of the body are interconnected to maintain wellness (holistic health). When one part of the body or mind is not working properly, it is believed to affect the whole person. Holistic approaches focus on the whole person rather than just on the illness or part of the body that is not healthy. There are many holistic practitioners available to help you with your health and well being.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture is a treatment based on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), a system of healing that dates back thousands of years. At the core of TCM is the notion that a type of life force, or energy, known as qi (pronounced "chee") flows through energy pathways (meridians) in the body. Each meridian corresponds to one organ, or group of organs, that governs particular bodily functions. Achieving the proper flow of qi is thought to create health and wellness. Many ailments and health problems are treated with acupuncture by inserting a set of tiny needles at points along the meridians.

For those that cannot tolerate the thought of needles poking their skin, there is a form of needless acupuncture available. Check out the resource box below to get more information.

Acupressure

Acupressure is often called acupuncture without the needles. Instead of needles, acupressure involves the application of manual pressure (usually with the fingertips) to specific points on the body. Acupressure is typically used for:


Nausea and vomiting during pregnancy/ morning sickness
Motion sickness
Nausea after surgery
Nausea due to chemotherapy
Cancer-related fatigue
Headache
Menstrual cramps
Muscle tension and pain

Magnetic Health Care

Magnetics have been around for several hundred years and has found a place in natural health care. There are many products available using static magnetic fields that offer relief of pain and reduction or elimination of many health ailments. One of the most common type of magnetic health care products is the magnetic bracelet. There are other products that emit electromagnetic pulses that have greater potential of providing natural health care treatment than products offering a single static magnetic field.

Chiropractic Health care

Believe it or not Chiropractic health care is a form of natural alternative health care. Chiropractic health care is based upon the fact that all organ, tissue, and gland functions are controlled via nervous system input starting from signals in the brain cascading downward via the spinal cord and peripheral nerves. On some occasions, the spinal bones (vertebra) which protectively surround the spinal cord can misalign or subluxate creating increased pressure upon the nerve roots that pass between the vertebrae. This increased pressure strangles or pinches the nerve roots, thus decreasing the impulses to the end organs. Prolonged pressure upon these nerves causes disease states to develop, whether it be muscular or internal. Spinal adjustments are high speed, low force procedures that restore the spinal bones into their correct alignment, thus relieving stress upon the spinal nerves. Once the stress has been relieved upon the nerves, the body can naturally be restored to 100% of its healing capacity.

There has been a real shift in the way people think about their health. Rising health care costs as well as inherent risks that come with medical treatments and pharmaceutical drugs is becoming a legitimate concern. You can take charge and responsibility of your own health care and live a long and healthy life. Of course there will be times when a doctor is needed for your health care, but with self administered natural health care those times can be minimized. To your health!








Woody Longacre is a writer and publisher of articles for the Internet. This article was written for Immune Sentry, LTD. Please visit ImmuneSentry.com for information about an amazing Natural Health Care Product.


Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Get Fit and Healthy With a Home Health Monitor


Health is wealth, the old cliche goes. With environmental degradation at its peak and the number of communicable diseases on the rise, the need to care for our health has become even more important. We may have doctors almost everywhere, but caring for our health is not a task for other people - it must start from home.

This is the idea behind the different health software we find today. With the world becoming ever more chaotic, most health software takes advantage of the advances in technology so patients can have the required information at their fingertips. Whether you are suffering from diabetes, obesity or hypertension, through a home health monitor, you can now keep track of your own well being without worrying of the additional cost!

Several health software monitor a person's blood pressure, blood glucose, body cholesterol and temperature, among others. Most of these health monitor are designed for both young and old people, are very easy to use. They are geared towards a person's heightened self awareness and they hope to avoid serious diseases by taking preemptive steps. If you are experiencing hypertension and your health monitor can read your blood pressure, then you know if your lifestyle is already affecting your health and that it is time to make changes.

Other kinds of health software monitors your fitness level including your body fat, body mass index, weight and many others. They may also have the capability of tracking your progress with your diet and exercise regimen. On the other hand, some health monitor keeps a record of your medical history, as well as your family's health ailments.

There are several people who might also want to ensure that they are taking the right amount of nutrients. Some health software can help a person in monitoring his diet. This is especially important for people who are suffering from specific medical conditions such diabetes, heart diseases, kidney trouble, obesity, and hypertension. Also, people who are on strict diet such as those with ketogenic diet, Atkins diet and many others can benefit from this kind of health monitor.

In many cases, a person will have to purchase different health software in order to monitor a different component of health. With the release of Health Reviser, one doesn't need to 3 or more devices in order to perform instant health evaluation!

Now you can do assessments of your fitness level, discover hidden diseases or keep track of your health changes using just one health monitor. Whether you are a personal trainer, an athlete, a pregnant woman or a military contingent, then you would want to ensure that you are in the best of health. Get a Health Reviser to help you maintain your good health! On the other hand, if you are living a sedentary lifestyle, then you are very much prone to getting a serious disease, the Health Reviser can guide you in the necessary changes you need to do.








So what are you waiting for? Get a Health Reviser and be sure of your health today! Health monitor tool with instantaneous health evaluation, stress management, biological age test, fitness level evaluation, health software. It's like your Personal Health Monitor


Health Care Reform is Not Healthy


HEALTH CARE REFORM IS NOT HEALTHY!

LET'S CALL IT WHAT IT Is - HEALTH INSURANCE MONEY ALLOCATION AND RE-DISTRICTING

Health insurance premiums are driven by the success or failure of actual health recovery maintenance and the costs required to deliver of service. Harris L. Coulter, Ph.D., of Washington, DC, and editor of the 8th edition of the HPUS,is an internationally renowned medical historian and author of over 30 books and essays, which include: THE DIVIDED LEGACY, a four volume epochal history of medicine, which covers its origins to present day.

"Society today is paying a heavy price in disease and death for the monopoly granted the medical profession in the 1920's. In fact, the situation peculiarly resembles that of the 1830s when physicians relied on bloodletting, mercurial medicines, and quinine, even though knowing them to be intrinsically harmful. And precisely the same arguments were made in defense of these medicines as are employed today, namely, that the benefits outweigh the risks. In truth, the benefits accrue to the physician, while the patient runs the risks."-Harris Coulter, Ph.D., (Divided Legacy Vol 3)

There is no question we need reform in the areas of disease elimination improvements in Health, better delivery of health care when it is needed and health insurance parity. Personally, am all for reform, but let those reforms ring with the clarity of Truth and illuminate our way through the fog obfuscation.

Overall chemo-therapy and radiation are documented to be an absolute failure in the so-called war against cancer. The long-term survival rate of cancer patients using orthodox therapies remains abysmal and the statistical reportage is obfuscated.

Refer to: New England Journal of Medicine, "Progress Against Cancer," May 8, 1986 by John C. Bailar, III and Elaine M. Smith, and a ten-year follow-up "The War on Cancer" which appeared in Lancet, May 18th, 1996, by Michael B. Spoorn. Therein is published in leading medical journals, but they remain as the only therapies and pharmaceutical companies enjoy federal mandate.

Stated simply you cannot poison a sick person well.

HEALTH CARE REFORM is a meme used to numb the mind and sway political process but has little or nothing to do with health and certainly is neither, reform in the ways the public perceives, nor what they dearly need.

Merely by changing who and how much they profit for health services is only a small fraction of the underlying problem and ultimately it's you who pay. Current Congressional debates will not offer true reform of our systemic disease CARE, but strengthen insurance profits and control.

The fruit of the healthcare tree, while certainly abundant, is altogether rotten, because the roots are corrupted by disease. If the Food and Drug Administration which regulates both FOOD and drugs while having far reaching powers that are beyond the Constitution of the United States of America, is powerless to effectuate the genuine change required to modify the so-called health industry.

Nor can the FDA provide the reforms by its far reaching power and control, then how can we expect it to come from mandates from an under educated over lobbied congress?

Give credit where due, the FDA has been effective in causing millions of tones of ground meat and spinach. A little too late perhaps as the FDA has done nothing to stop chemical companies from pouring oceans of deadly toxic, and known carcinogens on our crops.

"Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans" ~ Jacques Cousteau

HOW CAN YOU HAVE HEALTH IF WE DON'T HAVE CLEAN WATER AND AIR?

We must stop poisoning our earth with unnecessary toxic chemicals, which leaches out the elements and minerals building blocks of the cells of our bodies, and support and teach the farmers on bio-dynamic farming.

Why is there no respect for and replication of how the Hunzas and several other tribes on earth, wholive to be well over 120, and disease free.

These tribes drink the water which comes off of the slow grinding of the glacier across mountain terrain and gives minute quantities of every element and every mineral. Their cells have

access to all the natural building blocks of life and therefore remain impervious to invasion and disease.

Health and Old Age Places with High Longevity: Hunza Pakistan the area of Hunza in Pakistan which has a high level of longevity. A Guide to Shangri-La: The Leading Longevity Sites on Earth

For Americans and the world at large where the crop land is awash in chemicals the minerals and elements are leached out of the soil and the roots of our food crops are have no way to chelate them so that we can digest them into our bodies.

What follows is a well known symptom called pica, and we are constantly looking for something to eat to satisfy the hunger of the cells and this leads to obesity and disease on a national scale.

There are solutions, but the FOOD administration, has done nothing to listen to, study, implement, nor promote the use of Bio-Dynamic Farming, which is proven to produce greater volumes of crops far healthier and do not poison our water aquifers.

One fairly recent proactive move; the FDA and the FTC have enforced the little known Federal Law under USC Title 21 Part 56, INFORMED CONSENT. This activity is evidenced by the too frequent drug commercials and advertisements. To name one example the anti depressant drug, ABILIFY, is known to cause death and suicide.

To our detriment and demise, the FDA has a tunnel vision partisan perspective and always reactive, rarely proactive when a patient actually dies from using an FDA approved drug, they routinely avoid any blame and state "there is no conclusive evidence to prove it was because of the drug." No drug company is ever charged with a crime and no executives, nor doctors, are criminally charged for manufacturing, nor for prescribing the drugs.

WHY? Because the drugs are FDA approved so it would mean they are culpable.

However, when a substance derived and used by another Healing Art, i.e. Homeopathy, is found to be highly effective in combating and eliminating a disease such as cancer, or reversing the side effects of AIDS, a stroke, or Cystic Fibrosis, to name a few, the FDA routinely states there is no scientific evidence to support the claims moves swiftly to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.

We must continue to strengthen the education of the public on sound fundamentals of health maintenance.

We must allow for access and coverage to all branches of the Healing Arts. This is known as the ECLECTIC. The allopathic cartel are not the arbiters of truth, nor have they proven to be honorable stewards, nor have they provided viable solutions where other forms of healing arts have been successful, in some cases thousands of years.

THE PROBLEM

The problem is that over the past 67 years, a Federal Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, created in 1938 as an agency to ensure that Food, Drugs and Cosmetics moving in interstate commerce, were pure, unadulterated, contained what was stated on the label and safe for human consumption.

Over the years the FDA has undergone a metamorphosis and has become a threat to the civil liberties and public health of Americans, as well as added incredibly to the cost of the products it regulates.

The FDA has a long history of using the resources of the agency to conduct Gestapo type raids on medical clinics, terrorizing patients, staff and practitioners, seizing quantities of vitamins, manuals and harmless natural products, issues completely inaccurate, indeed, deliberately mendacious publicity releases slandering practitioners, nutritional products and innovative drugs and has so far departed from the purposes for which it was created as to become a menace to both the public's health and their civil liberties.

Under 80 or more years of Allopathic domination, the standardized American health care system is unable to:

(1)Control the resurgence of Tuberculosis in the country;

(2)Control the rising rate of Cancer deaths;

(3)Control the rising rate of coronary artery deaths;

(4)Lower the infant mortality rate;

(5)Find an effective cure for AIDS.

There are available answers to all these deficiencies, but none of them are embraced in Allopathic Doctrine.

The question presented is, if there is any legal control over this vast agency and any way citizens can take legal action to cause the agency to be brought under control and be forced to comport itself in accordance with the intent of Congress in creating it, and the additional question of whether or not citizens who have been harassed by its Ultra Vires activities may sue for damages or other relief.

If such legal action is possible, is such legal action the best, or the sole means which can or should be employed to bring the agency under control.

A further question may be what or who is responsible for the agency getting out of control and what, if anything, can be done to ensure that the agency does not get out of control in the future and once again become a menace to society.

ANALYSIS

The agency in question, the Food and Drug Administration, is an out of control bureaucracy, undertaking to perform some proper regulatory functions but devoting many of its resources to illicit functions not contained in its enabling legislation and not permissible under the constitution.

The agency [which was] directed by Commissioner David Kessler, M.D, JD, who assumed the position after the enforced resignation of Joe Young, PhD, has done little to change its behavior except put on a fresh face from time to time.

An investigation revealed widespread corruption with many officials, taking large bribes, not to mention every member of Congress who are heavily lobbied by industries it was supposed to regulate, and the entire agency was demoralized and ineffective.

The agency has openly and notoriously formed "partnership" with private trade associations and special interest groups for the purpose of aiding and abetting non-price predation in the health care market.

The agency has lawful jurisdiction over some Foods, Drugs and medical devices which are in interstate commerce and has no jurisdiction over the practice of medicine or other healing professions.

Despite this rather clear distinction, the agency repeatedly attempts to interfere with health care practitioners by means of its enforcement powers and by liaison with state regulatory agencies, and by conducting Gestapo type raids on the offices and clinics of health care practitioners who practice in Schools of Practice other than the Allopathic School and by attempting to suppress the use of techniques of healing and of products for use in health care which are not within its regulatory jurisdiction.

THE BUREAUCRATIC ANTI-COMPETITIVE CAMPAIGN

WHICH POSSIBLY INADVERTENTLY or INTENTIONALLY CREATES GENOCIDE

This claim is born of deliberate suppression of health technologies which are non-toxic, effective and inexpensive; to name only a few in critical areas, these include:

I. CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES

EDTA Chelation - Adrenal Cortical Extract

II. STROKE PREVENTION AND REHABILITATION

Oxidative Therapies / Hyperbaric Chamber / Ozone

EDTA Chelation

Human Growth Hormone

III. CANCER AND AIDS

IAT, Laetrile, L-Arginine, Black & Yellow Salves, Gerson Therapy, 714-X, Homeotherapeutics, Krebiozen, Essiac, Immunostim, anti-neoplastin, Hoxey, Glixoxide, Revicci Therapies and many others, too numerous to mention here.

THE STATE AND FEDERAL AGENCIES INVOLVED IN ANTICOMPETITIVE ACTIVITY

California (most active)

Department of Consumer Affairs

State Board of Medicine

State Board of Dental examiners

State Board of Osteopathic Examiners

State Board of Chiropractic Examiners

Acupuncture Committee

Food and Drug Branch

Attorney General's Office

San Diego City Attorney's Office

Other States (Generic)

State Board of Medical Examiners

State Board of Dental Examiners

Attorney General's Office

Private Organizations Involved

Pharmaceutical Advertising Council

National Council Against Health Fraud (and affiliated organizations)

National Federation of State Boards of Medical Examiners

Administrative Agencies

NCI - National Cancer Institute

CDC - Centers for Disease Control

FDA - Food and Drug Administration

NIH - National Institutes of Health

Private Organizations

American Heart Association

American Cancer Society

Memorial Sloan Kettering Institute

Mayo Clinic

American College of Allergy

Roswell, et al

In HEALTH UNITED STATES, an annual publication by the federal government, our national death rate from cancer is approximately 2,500,000 people per year and the rate is rising. Assuming a cost of $80,000 to $160,000 per person over the last 20 years, that figure represents $200,000,000 to $370,000,000 per year and 50,000,000 lives, or $4 TRILLION to $7.5 TRILLION dollars funneled from our collective economy into the hands of the medical pharmaceutical cartel. Is it any wonder, then, why we cannot find a cure?

In addition One of the first targeted, the FDA, or "Big Medicine," since the early 1900's, in this country was Dr. Royal Raymond Rife. His powerful evolutionary microscope, capable of shattering cancer cells and viruses with radio frequency vibrations, was destroyed and his books burned by federal authorities and he was imprisoned.

Some other embattled pioneers include, but are certainly not limited to: The healing arts of Ethno botany, Naturopathy Chiropractic and Acupuncture and Chelation, which all met intense resistance and violent opposition by federally protected orthodoxy.

Dietmar Schildwaechter, Ph.D., MD, was invaded in his home office in a militant style by state and federal authorities in the late 1980's for introducing a cure for squamous cell cancer, which was proven in a 20-year study in Germany.

Andrew Ivy, MD, a pillar of the A.M.A., who came back from Germany after participating as a panelist in the Nuremberg war crime trials with a cure for cancer called Krebiozen, had his career shattered.

Bruce Halstead, MD;

Warren Levin, MD;

Vincent Speckhart, MD;

Royal Raymond Rife, MD

Wilhelm Reich, MD;

Jossef Issels, MD; and Max Gerson, MD;

Joseph Gold, MD,

Emmanuel Revici, MD;

Stanislaw Burzynski, MD;

James Privitera, MD;

Ed McCabe, author of Oxygen Therapies, jailed for 547 days; a best selling author.

Hulda Clark, ND;

There too many more which are not listed here. These gifted pioneers brought relief to a suffering humanity and were ruthlessly attacked by medical authorities and scientific dogma. Each paid a high price but distinguished themselves by their courage and resolves to stand up for their convictions, even in the face of overwhelming opposition, loss of license and jail. For a closer look at the inner workings, read: THE CANCER INDUSTRY: the Classic Expose 'on the Cancer Establishment, by Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D.

The FDA regularly approves dangerous, often lethal pharmaceuticals. The side effects of these potentially deadly, or harm causing pharmaceutical drugs can only be fully discovered by wide-spread use. This is despite the average $250-500,000,000 and 15 years to bring these drugs to market, including phase trial tests, trying to prove the elusive "efficacy" requirement of the F.D. &C. Act.

Typically, after one of their highly publicized "wonder" drugs fails, causes death or serious side effects, no FDA official nor PAC member company president, research assistant, corporate official, company doctor, nor testing lab will be subjected to raid, investigation, indictment or jail term.

To the trauma and suffering to the patients and their families and the productive work force, it comes with a hefty price tag.

Both Gaston Naessens and Dietmar Schildwaechter, Ph.D., MD, spent the last 40 years perfecting independent blood tests, which are able to pre diagnose any type of cancer and immune disorders up to two years prior to their onset, with a 1% margin of error. The industrial average false/negative ratio remains extremely high by comparison, yet these new tests are ignored or met with resistance.

THE RELEVANT SERVICE MARKET AND SUBSTITUTABLE ECONOMIC COMPETITORS

The Eclectic Practice of Medicine*

In 1906, Dr. Rolla Thomas completely revised the 1866 teaching manual by John Milton Scudder, and revised it yet again in 1907. This was the culmination of a thirty-year frenzy of published creativity at the Eclectic Medical Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was the main teaching text at that school until the1930s...the college closed in 1939.

"...it were better for the doctor if he can forget that his patient has typhoid fever, pneumonia, dysentery, or whatever he may have, and study the conditions that are present. This may be wrongs of the circulation, of the nervous system, of the secretions, of digestion, of assimilation, or wrongs of the blood, but whatever the basal lesion, it must be overcome if the patient is to be benefited by medication."

THE MONOPOLIZATION OF MEDICINE

The health care industry during the Progressive Era is well documented in academic studies and can reasonably be accepted as a given here without describing in great detail how or why it occurred. However, it was funded largely by the Rockefeller and Carnegie fortunes and was done to guarantee a dominant place in health care for the products of the petrochemical industry.

The Allopathic School of Medical Practice was picked to become the dominant survivor of the monopolization because it was:

(1) Numerically the largest,

(2) Had no well established system of doctrines which made it antagonistic to the use of a system of therapeutics based on petrochemical therapeutics,

(3) Was represented by a fairly well organized and active Trade Association which was receptive to a take over by the funders,

(4) Urgently needed a large infusion of cash and political influence to stop the growing public acceptance of its economic rivals and competitors,

(5) Had little to offer its members without such an infusion of cash and political influence,

(6) Were headed by a staff which welcomed any help - motivated by absolutely no idealism and almost entirely by avarice, the staff of the AMA was easy to enlist in the monopolization and proved extremely efficient - particularly Morris Fishbein, whose role was pivotal and whose service spanned several decades of the monopolization.

One of the chief monopolization strategies was through take over of medical education and the schools or universities which offered this. There were several hundred which offered a two year course in Allopathic Medicine and granted the M.D. degree, which was the sole credential necessary for practice at that time.

Competitive medical universities operated by Homeopathic and Eclectic interests were fewer, but at least 75 existed - some well established and endowed.

The monopolist could have selected any of these; they were all easy targets, but the Allopathic School of Practice had a void in its therapeutic system which made it ideal for the monopolist and the Homeopathic and Eclectic Schools had therapeutic systems which offered little room for the

incorporation of petrochemical technology.

Many Americans, at least those who could afford to do so, went abroad for their medical education, initially to England or Scotland but eventually to Germany where State supported Universities had better facilities and foreign students who could and would pay tuition to augment the salaries of the faculty were welcomed to the extent that lectures were offered in English as well as German to facilitate and accommodate these foreign scholars.

To a man, the initial faculty of John's Hopkins, the first of the Medical Universities to be established and funded by the monopolists were graduates of German Universities and brought to the University both the medical and the political orientations gained as students at German universities, which they passed on to the students of John's Hopkins, most of whom went out to become the faculties of other American medical colleges and further incorporate both the medical and the political orientations of German universities into the graduates of American Medical Universities funded by the monopolists. Those orientations remain a part of Allopathic medicine in the United States today.

This is primarily important in considering the role of the Allopathic School in genocidal activity, which the German medical profession entered into without protest between 1934 and 1945 under the National Socialist Regime in Germany.

Federal control started in earnest around 1938 with the Pure Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and this became what it is today in 1962 with the Kefauffer Amendments to that Act, which amendments included for the first time, an efficacy requirement which gave the FDA far more power to control both drugs and information about drugs.

The Federal Act was not intended to give the agency any control over the practice of medicine or other health care professions and both its language and many decisions of Federal Courts make that clear. Nevertheless, the agency has made and continues to make increasing excursions into attempts to control the practice of medicine.

Since 1910, a combination of some practitioners and some manufacturers of goods involved in this market has attempted to attain a monopoly in the market to the exclusion of substitutable economic competitors.

Some of the goods in this market, particularly those consisting of synthetic petrochemical pharmaceuticals, are preferentially used by the practitioners involved in the monopolization to the virtual exclusion of other goods.

However, a large amount of the goods involved may be purchased and used by consumers without the recommendation or authorization of health care practitioners and the consumer is free to consult such practitioners or not as he or she sees fit, in most circumstances.

Licensure of health care practitioners is a function of State governments, all of which have a system of examination and licensure of some health care practitioners. There is some variation from state to state in which practitioners are licensed and which are not licensed.

There is universal licensure of physicians and surgeons, osteopathic physicians and surgeons, dentists, chiropractic physicians and there is considerable variation as to the licensure of naturopathic physicians and Oriental medical practitioners (acupuncturists) on a state by state basis.

Despite the state by state variation, all of these practitioners practice in a virtually uniform fashion all have trade associations and specialty societies which are national in scope and all receive fairly standardized training.

Licensure for physicians and surgeons was initially begun around 1890 on a state by state basis at the instigation of the American Medical Association, which is the trade association for the Allopathic School of Medical Practice.

When the process was begun, State Legislatures typically created three separate State Boards of Medical examiners, to examine and license medical practitioners of the Allopathic, Homeopathic and Eclectic Schools of Medical Practice; in many states the Osteopathic School was also given a Board of Examiners.

Initially, the licenses granted to these practitioners was to treat any human disease, disorder or condition by drugs, surgery or any other means and all persons not so licensed were forbidden to undertake such activities for compensation.

Shortly thereafter, other health care practitioners were also given licenses which carried out certain exceptions to the universal licensure of physicians, such as Dentists, Podiatrists, Pharmacists, Nurses, Midwives, Physiotherapists and eventually, Acupuncturists.

The campaign for licensure carried out by the AMA was for the purpose of attaining for its members an exclusive license to practice health care for compensation and to exclude all substitutable economic competitors from the market.

This was not accomplished as State Legislators usually saw fit to license their economic competitors as well in order to maintain competition in the Relevant Service Market.

The campaign to attain exclusive licensure not having succeeded, the AMA next attempted to bring about a merger between the competitive schools of medical practice; that campaign is ongoing and has succeeded in some states to a degree, although all states continue to license health care practitioners who are substitutable economic competitors to allopathic physicians and have clearly articulated policies encouraging competition between different sorts of health care providers, set forth in state legislation.

The AMA and its component state medical societies, nevertheless, continued with unrelenting efforts to monopolize health care and have been convicted of Antitrust violations repeatedly.

The Federal Trade Commission brought an enforcement action against the AMA and its component societies resulting in information concerning anticompetitive misconduct and subsequently a private enforcement action by 4 chiropractors resulted in further permanent injunctions against anticompetitive misconduct.

The later action, Wilk, et al. v. AMA was based upon a campaign conducted by the AMA through its Department of Investigation and Council Against Quackery "to first contain then eliminate Chiropractic".

During the litigation, the Department of Investigation and the Council Against Quackery were hurriedly disbanded by the AMA and files of these organizations were handed over to a private organization which, funded by the Pharmaceutical Advertising Council, continues the anticompetitive campaigns as an ostensible private organization, which is actually an AMA front organization. Its anticompetitive activities have intensified since the injunctions against the AMA were issued and affirmed.

A large part of the plan of monopolization has been and continues to be the suppression of information about health care providers and modalities which are competitive with those of AMA members.

The AMA initially formed a sub rosa organization, the "Health Information Control Council" which had members from several bureaucratic regulatory agencies as members. This was also broken up during the Wilk litigation.

As a part of the Wilk litigation, the Court held that calling a licensed competitor a Quack would constitute an antitrust offense; since that time the AMA front organization has substituted the word "fraud" for "quack" in its anticompetitive campaigns which increasingly are undertaken with State and Federal bureaucrats into whose "hidden agendas" the achievement of monopoly by the AMA and standardization of therapeutics fit extremely well.

During the past 25 years, most of the monopoly activity of this AMA front organization has been with bureaucrats and third party payees, such as Blue Cross and Blue Shield, which are both private insurers and pay agents for governmental programs such as Medicare.

In these situations, these "insurance companies" do not function in their traditional roles as casualty insurers, but rather as cost-plus contract pay agents and, in this role, their activities neatly interface with both the AMA's monopolization efforts and the "hidden bureaucratic agendas" of regulatory agencies.

It is this combination of the AMA, acting through a front organization, the "insurance" companies who are not insuring but acting as cost-plus contract pay agents and the regulatory agencies involved in a "hidden agenda" which in combination, are bringing about and attempting to bring about the monopoly in health care which the AMA has been engaged in creating since 1890.

This combination has already succeeded in dangerously decreasing the quality of goods and services and astronomically increasing their price in the Relevant Service and Goods Market.

This has been accomplished by bureaucratic activity which is directly violative of the clearly articulated policies of the States and has as its purpose both increasing such costs and decreasing the quality of goods and services, and although it is state action, it is not such state action as is protected from Antitrust scrutiny by the State Action Exemption to the Antitrust Laws.

RESOURCE READING

A FEW OF THE MANY AVAILABLE

Thoma Szasz, Ph.D.

Books by Harris Coulter

[1994] Empiricism vs. Rationalism in Medicine by Harris L. Coulter, Ph.D.

Childhood Vaccinations and Juvenile-Onset (Type-1) Diabetes by Harris Coulter, Ph.D

Vaccination and Social Violence by Harris Coulter, Ph.D

Vaccination and Violent Crime by Harris Coulter, Ph.D

Critique of government funded studies--Harris Coulter Ph.D.

SIDS and Seizures by Harris L. Coulter, PhD

Do Vaccines Cause Cot Deaths?---Harris L. Coulter (1996)

An Italian Study Finding Biochemical Markers of Vaccine Damage 1996, Harris L. Coulter, Ph.D.

Books

1972, Homeopathic Medicine

1975, Divided Legacy (Volume I): The Patterns Emerge: Hippocrates to Paracelsus

1977, Divided Legacy (Volume II): The Origins of Modern Western Medicine: J. B. Van Helmont to Claude Bernard

1981, Homeopathic Science and Modern Medicine

1982, Divided Legacy (Volume III): The Conflict Between Homeopathy and the American Medical Association: Science and Ethics in American Medicine 1800-1910

1986, A Shot in the Dark, ISBN 089529463x ---Harris Coulter & Barbara Loe Fisher

1987, AIDS & Syphilis -- The Hidden Link

1990, Vaccination, Social Violence and Criminality ISBN 1556430841---Harris Coulter

Medical historian Harris Coulter presents evidence to show that disabilities caused by vaccines are often "disguised" under different names: autism, dyslexia, learning disability, epilepsy, mental retardation, hyperactivity & minimal brain dysfunction. Up to 25% of American schoolchildren suffer from "development disabilities". A classic.

'...It is the thesis of this remarkable book that early vaccinations can result in mild cases of sub-clinical encephalitis which, in turn, may well be responsible -- at least in part -- for the increase in autism, hyperactivity, dyslexia, sociopathy, and developmental disabilities, a rise that roughly coincides with the initiation of infant vaccinations. Coulter suggests further linkages to the increase in adolescent crime and suicide, and the decline in SAT scores.' Stanley Kripner, AHP, January 1993.

1990, The Controlled Clinical Trial: an Analysis

1994, Divided Legacy (Volume IV): Twentieth-Century Medicine, The Bacteriological Era"








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