Yoga Lowers Health Care Costs

Many people think that yoga is something that people do for spiritual enlightenment. Or they think it is soft and gentle seated meditation to soothing music and incense. Then there are others who believe it is for the super flexible. The truth is that yoga is a discipline that allows the body to heal itself and keep fit. In turn you will spend less for medical care.

The poses are usually sequenced in a way that your body can get deeper into the joints and muscles and ligaments. You use gravity to help as you stretch and bend your body between the poses. A regular practice of 3 to 4 times a week for an hour each time will help you build strength, flexibility, focus, and stamina. Even the most basic poses will give you as much work as you find with some of the more expensive gym equipment.

Your medical care costs are a direct result of the amount of care that you need. If you exercise at all on a regular basis you will find an increase in your health. You will have lower blood pressure and cholesterol. I've even heard of people who have been able to ward off diabetes doing a regular fitness routine.

What makes yoga different than all the other fitness programs out there? Yoga is an ancient tradition of poses for the body. It is not designed to build bulky muscles or flat abs. These things can be obtained. But the main objective of the poses in yoga is to bring your body back to its original state. All of our lives our bodies are acted upon by external forces. Gravity, sitting for long periods, carrying heavy things, or lifting heavy loads can all have an impact on the structure of our bodies. The lunges and transitions between these poses have an effect of stretching and lengthening the spine. Once the spine has been lengthen, the poses work on developing the supportive muscles around the skeleton. While you improve your posture, you strengthen the muscles to maintain the good posture that yoga provides for you.

When breathing exercises are attached to the movements you can get a bigger cardiovascular workout as well. It is not as cardiovascular as things like running or swimming or cycling. But it will help to improve endurance for all of those things. Deep, slow, and smooth breathing techniques also help develop calm and stress free minds in difficult situations. The practice of yoga will improve your health in many ways. Anyone can do it at any age. It is not competitive. It is time for your body to heal itself and get back to its natural state of being.

Healthcare Supply Chain Management Is a New Focus for Cost Reduction

In the national argument regarding how to make the US healthcare more effective, one cogent sector seemingly in need of reformation is overlooked - healthcare supplies and materials. Whether the items are dental implants, pacemakers, braces or costly drugs and medications, healthcare institutions and medical facilities have long bought whatever medical practitioners and doctors desired with little or no discussion whatsoever among the two parties involved regarding the expenses.

Researchers and experts are all going at it to try and unravel the hampered supply relationships that significantly contribute to the skyrocketing digits in the cost of healthcare supplies, burdening medical facilities and tediously formulating efforts of broadening coverage among the uninsured or under-insured.

Supplies play a crucial function and have become a growing component of healthcare budgets. Stated by statistical reports from the Association for Healthcare Resource and Materials Management, the cost of supplies have jumped almost 40% between years 2003 to 2005 and now symbolizes as much as 31% of the healthcare industry's expenditures based on individual cases. This alarming rate has brought about the emanation of different solutions and options for cost effective budgeting in the healthcare division, one of which is healthcare supply chain management.

Healthcare supply chain management is the new focus for cost reduction. It pertains to the collaboration of enterprises and developments involved in generating and rendering a product or service. The process has been extensively utilized in other markets for decades. A lot of enterprises, mainly retailers and suppliers, have attributed their growth and success to effective practice and implementation of supply chain management.

However, supply chain management in the industry of healthcare seems as if it has hit a plateau. This may be partially attributed by the fact that the market of healthcare negotiates with completed products and services, according to various experts. As compared with automotive suppliers, which can be asked for a particular design or style of a specific part or component intended for a vehicle, medical organizations and facilities typically have to take what suppliers have currently stored in their inventories.

The global recession, which has struck different markets and industries including healthcare, has brought about the creation of both obstacles and opportunities for those supervising healthcare supply chains. With tight budgets, medical facilities are required to closely observe where savings can be generated. In most cases, these organizations have found financial solace with supply chains and demand has been ever increasing.

An American Universal Health Care System

Health Care System Needs Reform, Not a Government Takeover

Believe it or not, America boasts some of the world's best doctors, the most advanced health care system, and the most technically superior resources in the world, bar none. Those who travel globally and have gotten sick know that their first choice for treatment would be in the U.S. Though health care in America is, more expensive than any other country, many of the worlds wealthiest come to the U.S for surgical procedures and complex care, because it holds a worldwide reputation for the gold standard in health care.

To examine the complex health care issue, a small research study was conducted from randomly selected doctors in a best doctors database. We ask 50 top doctors, located in different states and who practice different specialty fields, " Is a universal health care plan good for America?" Forty-eight of these doctors essentially responded that it was a "bad idea" that would have negative impacts on the quality of our nation's health care.

Social Engineering Medicine

One of the greatest mis-conceptions some people have relied on with regard to the health care debate is that, given a universal health care system, every person in the U.S. would receive the highest quality health care - the kind our nation is renowned for and that we currently receive. However, unlike some public amenities, health care is not a collective public service like police and fire protection services, therefore the Government cannot provide the same quality of health care to everyone, because not all physicians are equally good orthopedic surgeons, internists, neurosurgeons, etc, in the same way that not all individuals in need of health care are equally good patients.

As an analogy - stay with me - when you design a software program, there are many elements that are coded on the back-end, and used to manipulate certain aspects of the software program, that your average "John Doe" who uses the software (the end user) does not understand or utilize, nor do they care about these elements. Certain aspects of the program are coded, so that when one uses that portion of the program, other elements of the program are manipulated and automatically follow the present or next command.

Likewise, once a universal care plan is implemented in America and its massive infrastructure is shaped, private insurance companies will slowly disappear, and as a result, eventually patients will automatically be forced to utilize the government's universal health care plan. As part of such a system, patients will be known as numbers rather than patients, because such a massive government program would provide compensation incentive based on care provided, patients would become "numbers," rather than "patients." In addition, for cost savings reasons, every bit of health information, including your own, will be analyzed, and stored by the Government. What are the consequences? If you're a senior citizen and need a knee replacement at the age of 70, the government may determine that you're to old and it's not worth the investment cost, therefore instead of surgery, you may be given medication for the rest of your life at a substantial cost savings to the government, and at a high quality of life price to you.

Solutions:

Fixing the current U.S. health care system might require that we;

1. Encourage prevention and early diagnosis of chronic conditions and management.
2. Completely reform existing government are programs, including Medicare and Medicaid.
3. Forgive medical school debt for those willing to practice primary care in under-served areas.
4. Improve access to care, provide small businesses and the self-employed with tax credits, not penalties for providing health care.
5. Encourage innovation in medical records management to reduce costs.
6. Require tort reform in medical malpractice judgments to lower the cost of providing care.
7. Keep what isn't broken-research shows 80% of Americans are happy with their current insurance, therefore, why completely dismantle it?
8. Reimburse physicians for their services.
9. Innovate a system in which Medicare fraud is dramatically decreased.

Devil In the Details

Socialized medicine means:

1. Loss of private practice options, reduced pay for physicians, overwhelming numbers of patients, and increasing burn-out may reduce the number of doctors pursuing the profession.

2. Patient confidentiality will need to be compromised, since centralized health information will be maintained by the government and it's databases.

3. Healthy people who take care of themselves will pay for the burden of those with unhealthy lifestyles, such as those who smoke, are obese, etc.

4. Patients lose the incentive to stay healthy or aren't likely to take efforts to curb their prescription drug costs because health care is free and the system can easily be abused.

5. The U.S. Government will need to call the shots about important health decisions dictating what procedures are best for you, rather than those decisions being made by your doctor(s), which will result in poor individualized patient care.

6. Tax rates will rise substantially-universal health care is not free since citizens are required to pay for it in the form of taxes.

7. Your freedom of choice will be restricted as to which doctor is best for you and your family.

8. Like all public programs, government bureaucracy, even in the form of health care, does not promote healthy competition that reduces costs based on demand. What's more, accountability is limited to the budgetary resources available to police such a system.

9. Medicare is subsidized by private insurers to the tune of billions of dollars, therefore if you take them out of the equation, add a trillion dollars or more to the current trillion dollar-plus cost estimates.

10. Currently, the government loses an estimated $ 30 billion a year due to Medicare fraud. Therefore, what makes anyone think that this same government will be able to run & operate a universal health care system that is resistant to fraud and save money while doing so?.

Are We Talking About "Health Care" Reform, Or "Sickness Care" Reform?

All the talk about "Health Care Reform" has certainly ignited a fire in countless Americans! Every national news and talk radio show is focused on this hot button topic recently.

The economic crisis is clearly the catalyst for the proposed sweeping changes in national "health" care. Scarce funds and resources, as well as a pending economic "collapse" (as some describe) are forcing us to consider how to manage health care in tough times... and in extreme circumstances.

We're hearing terms like "rationed health care", "socialized medicine", "universal insurance" and the "value of human life". It's no wonder this subject has sparked such heated dialogue.

Spending the first 23 years of my life in "socialist" Canada, and still spending much time and energy in their medical system with both of my parents, I may have a different perspective from the sensationalized one being portrayed in media.

I'm perfectly willing to admit that I don't understand all the politics and red tape involved. I simply have a memory of how things really played out in that system and countless experiences to call upon.

Growing up, I quite clearly recall paying out of pocket for many doctor's and specialist's visits, treatments and procedures, and paying a partial "co-pay" for the remaining forms of care: physical therapy, surgery, prescriptions, etc. Not exactly the picture I continue to see painted on the news.

Studying and working within the field of health and wellness for the past 18 years, I know I have a different perspective. First, I wish we'd quit calling this "health care". The subject of this conversation is "sickness care". I know I can't change that, but it annoys me! Words are important.

I have no challenge with paying for - investing in - my own health. I will gladly invest in lifestyle choices that proactively build better health. Choices like: healthier foods, high quality nutritional supplements, pure water, exercise classes, equipment and tools, Chiropractic care, massage, less toxic personal care, household and lawn care products, and so on. I don't expect a hand out for any of these things... although it would sure be nice! It's just not realistic. My health and my family's health is my responsibility.

If we continue to talk about sickness care as though it will somehow provide us with health, we'll continue on our devastating trend of unparalleled rates of chronic illness in all age groups. We're confused.

What drug, surgery, insurance plan or federal program could ever fix a problem due to a lack of fresh, healthy, whole, untainted (genetically required) real foods? Or a problem due to sedentary living and lack of regular (genetically required) movement? Or a problem due to a lack of healthy emotions like love and joy? Or a problem due to toxic thoughts and emotions like fear, worry, hate and hopelessness?

Thinking that national "health care" is responsible for our health is irresponsible on our part. It's also foolish. Their paradigm is still the sickness paradigm. Why on earth would we expect them to deliver us health?

Do I think that we should have a system to help those in need achieve better health and receive sickness care when needed? Yes. But I sure would love to see the main focus of such a program be on "health"! I'm certain we'd spend FAR less on sickness care (and "health care" as a whole) if that were the case.

I'd also love to see the pharmaceutical industry focus on health rather than profits, and drugs only be used for life-saving endeavors... but I digress!

I'm blessed to live in a country with excellent sickness care options. In the case of emergency or trauma or life-saving procedures we have the best. In the case of "health care"... not so much! Sadly though, it's all there. Everything we need in order to create ideal health is right here at our fingertips. As a culture, we just keep overlooking it and choosing sickness care, expecting health as the outcome.

Our paradigm is inaccurate.

As individuals, imagine if we all began to proactively take steps to create better health. We would no longer play the role of passive by-stander or helpless victim in this game. That's where I think our focus needs to shift - why wait around to see what's decided FOR us? Regardless of whatever decisions are made by this current administration, we can certainly become healthier one by one, family by family. Isn't this the perfect, most necessary time to take responsibility for our own health and safety?

Science has clearly shown us that it's our lifestyle choices - how we eat, how we move, how we sleep, how we respond to stress - that directly determine our level of health, function, performance and our ability to prevent and reverse chronic illness. Getting healthier means making more pure and sufficient choices while simultaneously reducing toxic and deficient choices. No one can do this for us but US.

When we shift to this responsible, proactive and accurate belief about health care, THEN we will have a truly beneficial health care reform and a profound strengthening of our economy!

Union Organizing in the Health Care Industry - New Unions and Alliances Among Rivals

Though our nation's economy has recently lost millions of jobs, the health care industry has continued to add them. Not surprisingly, unions are eager to sign up health care workers. In the last 10 years, the rate of union wins in the health care industry has grown faster than the national average. Unions are uniting to lobby for labor-friendly legislation to promote increased union membership in the health care sector.

In addition to traditional organizing, health care union organizers are using more radical corporate campaigns that target hospital donors, shareholders, community groups, and even patients. The unions push these target groups to put pressure on hospital owners to allow unions to organize their employees. Many critics have argued that some of these agreements with employers have greatly limited workers' power and emphasized the union's cooperation with management.

The following article provides an overview of the major unions involved in the health care industry, as well as strategies to ensure your organization is prepared and remains successful.

Service Employees International Union
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) began in 1921 primarily as a janitor's union and branched out to include government, security, and health care workers. By 2000, it was the largest, fastest-growing union in the United States, with much of that growth stemming from a series of strategic mergers with smaller unions. In June 2005, the SEIU and six other unions left the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) to form the Change to Win coalition. Citing the need for a renewed effort to organize workers, Change to Win purports to be focused on achieving fair wages, health care benefits, and secure retirement for all employees. The coalition also encourages workers to unionize on an industry-wide basis, consolidating smaller unions within larger unions.

SEIU Healthcare
In 2007, the SEIU announced plans to launch a new health care union to serve approximately one million members, such as nurses and service workers at hospitals and nursing homes. SEIU Healthcare combined financial and personnel resources from the 38 local SEIU Healthcare unions. Of the SEIU's 1.9 million members, 900,000 work in health care. In September 2008, the SEIU reported it would begin several high-profile projects to bring business leaders, health care providers, community organizations, and elected officials together to work on the nation's health care system. SEIU leaders were part of a May meeting held by President Obama to discuss a health care overhaul. More recently, SEIU members attended town hall meetings to speak out in support of the proposed health care reform. In August, the SEIU was part of a group-largely funded by the pharmaceutical industry's lobby-that launched $12 million in television advertisements to support Obama's health care proposal. This group, the Americans for Stable Quality Care, could spend tens of millions more this fall.

SEIU and NUHW
The SEIU attempted to consolidate three local units representing home health care workers into one unit last December, taking authority away from the local units. The SEIU accused the local unit officials of financial misconduct, and in response, the leaders of the local units criticized the SEIU's practice of centralizing power at its Washington headquarters and making corrupt deals with employers. In January, a 150,000-member SEIU local unit in Oakland was put under trusteeship by the SEIU, and the local officials of that unit were dismissed. The ousted officials formed a new union, the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW).

The NUHW announced the first workers had cast votes in favor of representation by the new union in March. A majority of 350 union-represented workers at four nursing homes in northern California managed by North American Health Care wanted to end their labor relationship with SEIU and join the NUHW. The day after this announcement, the SEIU filed unfair labor practice charges against the four nursing homes, charging that administrators of the facilities had illegally withdrawn union recognition and colluded with a competing labor union. In that same month, a National Labor Relations Board regional director ruled against the NUHW, saying that the contract between the SEIU and the hospital chain prevented the effort by a new labor union to represent 14,000 Catholic Healthcare West workers. Despite the ruling, the founding convention to formally launch the NUHW took place in April 2009. According to the NUHW, approximately 91,000 California health care workers have signed petitions filed at the labor board, stating they would like be members of the new union.

The NUHW also claims that, in response to these decertification drives, the SEIU has resorted to harassment and intimidation and tactics similar to union prevention. The SEIU argues that the new group has unfairly restrained and coerced workers, as well as complained to the National Labor Relations Board. A decisive battle between the two unions will come in 2010, when the SEIU-UHW contract with Kaiser Permanente expires and the opportunity for decertification elections reopens. Kaiser, the largest health care provider in California, has 50,000 workers that could potentially become members of NUHW.

California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee
The California Nurses Association (CNA) began as a state chapter of the American Nurses Association (ANA) in 1903. The ANA has a federated structure: Nurses do not typically join the organization directly, but instead join their respective state organization, which has membership in the ANA. After several years of believing the ANA was not providing them adequate financial support to increase collective bargaining activity in California, the CNA broke ties with the ANA in 1995 and formed its own union, becoming the first state organization to secede from the ANA. Since its break from the ANA, the CNA has acquired a reputation as one of the most aggressive labor unions in the country. In 2004, the CNA began establishing itself in other states under the name National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC). The CNA voted to seek affiliation in the AFL-CIO in 2007. CNA membership has doubled over the last seven years and represents 80,000 members from all 50 states.

UAN-NNOC
In February, CNA/NNOC, United American Nurses (UAN), and the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) announced the formation of another new union: the United American Nurses-National Nurses Organizing Committee (UAN-NNOC). With a combined membership of more than 150,000 affiliates in 19 states, it is the largest nursing union in the history of the United States.

National Federation of Nurses
The National Federation of Nurses (NFN) was officially launched in April at an event in Portland, Oregon. The NFN represents more than 70,000 nurses in six state nurses' associations, including New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. Based on a federated model (much like the ANA), the NFN recognizes the independence of each member organization. Membership is open to state nurses' associations and other labor organizations that represent RNs. The NFN is tied to the ANA, which outlines standards for nursing practices, but has historically opposed nurse unionism and includes managers in its leadership. Since nurse union leaders expect many of the 15 unions with nurse memberships to flood hospitals with authorization cards if the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) passes, they want to establish their own national union to ensure nurses are organized by nurses.

SEIU and CNA: From Violent Disputes to Cooperative Agreements
The SEIU signed a neutrality agreement in March 2008 with an Ohio Catholic hospital to organize 8,000 workers. The day before voting was scheduled to begin, members of the CNA distributed leaflets to discourage workers from joining the SEIU. After the workers received the leaflets attacking SEIU and its arrangement with management for an election, SEIU called off the vote. Then at an April 2008 conference in Detroit, SEIU staff and members protested at a banquet of CNA members, resulting in violence. The two unions have also launched raids and counter-raids across the country, and both have sent mailings to thousands of nurses (including nurses in other unions, as well as nurses whose unions are currently trying to organize) attacking each other.

After more than a year of fighting, the SEIU and CNA signed a cooperation agreement in March. They will work together to bring union representation to all non-union RNs and other health care employees, as well as improve patient care standards. The unions have also agreed to refrain from raiding each other's members and will work together toward common goals, including lobbying for congressional passage of the EFCA. SEIU and CNA will coordinate campaigns at the largest health care systems and launch an intensive national organizing campaign. Catholic hospital chains will likely be among the first targets.

In June, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the nation's largest unions (including the SEIU and the AFL-CIO) signed an agreement describing how union organizing will be conducted at Catholic health care facilities. (The document is similar to the one Catholic Healthcare Partners and Community Mercy Health Partners created last year with the SEIU before the CNA protest canceled the vote.) This agreement is significant because Catholic health care providers represent the largest employers and providers of services in many communities. The agreement provides seven guidelines for management at Catholic health care facilities and unions, making it easier organize health care workers at these facilities.

What This Means for Your Organization
Many experts agree that expanded unionization, along with the passage of the EFCA, will negatively impact our health care system. Both health care providers and industry analysts fear that unionization could mean higher costs and more restrictive work rules, adding to the soaring cost of delivering health care. Hospital and health care facilities need to be aware of these issues and how they can educate their supervisors and workers about the threat of unionization.

Communication with your employees is a critical first step. Many issues are involved in the possible unionization of a health care facility (economic factors, working conditions, quality of patient care, employee satisfaction, etc.). To prepare for possible union activity, identify issues that are relevant to your facility and address those needs publicly. Train leadership and include information about your union-free policy in the employee hiring and orientation procedures. Assess your wage and benefit structure, and be sure to promote what you offer.

You can use brochures, meetings, video, webinars, e-mail, Web sites, or eLearning tools to reach your employees. The most effective efforts include an employee feedback system that encourages two-way communication.

Obama Urges a Call For Health Care Reform and an End to "Bickering"

If you've been following the news even slightly, you have probably already heard about Obama's plan for health care reform and the debate behind it as well as the public opinion of this proposed health care reform.

Obama said in his speech Wednesday night, "We have talked this issue to death... The time for talk is winding down. The time for bickering is past."

Republican leaders would then say that the President had missed an important opportunity to build a bipartisan consensus on that speech and also missed an opportunity to provide the specifics of this plan of his that has been long awaited.

For this speech, President Obama was also joined by representatives from the American Nurses Association (ANA) who have strongly supported this bill since the get-go. During the speech that many remember clearly, Obama discussed several reform principles that were outlined such as the need for all Americans to have access to health coverage, even if they have pre-existing conditions.

This could mean big news to anyone who's ever been turned down for insurance because they had already been diagnosed with something. The idea of the plan is to provide quality health insurance to everyone. It's designed to fill in where employer health plans aren't covering or help with people who have no current health insurance for whatever reason.

Many people are still skeptical about the President's proposed health care reform and the states seem to be divided as well between those who agree with it and those who do not support it.

Some say that Obama's references towards those who oppose him are adding fuel to the fire. Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, R-Arizona says that Obama makes it more difficult to find an agreement because he calls people who oppose him "unyielding ideological" believers and claims their arguments are "bogus claims".

Many believe, like Kyl, that the President doesn't believe anyone can have a disagreement with him based on a difference of opinion and that it always has to be about ulterior motives or bogus beliefs.

One of the biggest reasons people fault the President's plan for health care reform is that there is confusion and debate about what the bill actually entails. Many feel that Obama is not being forthright with his claims such as the one that people who do not agree with the plan will have the option to keep their current coverage if they like it.

Another argument is that the current plan will offer health care benefits to illegal citizens. When the President said in his speech that this was untrue, he was called a "liar". It's apparent that the whole idea of this bill and how health care reform will potentially work has people upset.

People believe that the President's recent speech only did more to disrupt the possibility of an agreement between the two sides. Senate Minority While Jon Kyl was quoted as saying, "I thought the speech was partisan, uninformative, disingenuous and not likely to encourage those who have honest disagreements with him to be able to work toward some kind of common solution."

People who oppose the bill or still stand on the fence regarding whether or not they want to agree with it don't feel their questions and concerns are being met with proper answers. This could be a reason why this particular bill has not come to a solid conclusion.

What is Health Care Reform All About?

The issue of a national health insurance plan that would allow health insurance for everyone has been around for some time now. However, the debate has raged for so long that many felt nothing would ever be done about it. It seems Obama wants to be the President to change all of this and is plan has been the closest to ever come to almost being passed.

He has a lot of support in Congress about his plan but there are still leaders who are unsure and the American public is also unsure of what type of stand they want to take in this case. Most opponents argue that the savings, while real, will probably have a limited impact on the national deficit.

The national health insurance plan, being called Health Care for America has a goal of providing affordable health insurance to all non-elderly Americans with a combination of Medicare-like programs that are provided by the government as well as any existing health plans provided by employers.

Under this plan, every legal resident of the United States who is not covered by Medicare or an employer-plan for health care can purchase coverage from Health Care for America. The federal government will then be able to bargain for lower pricing and upgraded care to give every current enrollee better healthcare.

This will also give people who enroll in the plan affordable coverage and better care. People can sign up who were denied insurance before because of a pre-existing condition. The idea is to give health care to everyone in America.

To help pay for the plan, US employers will be required to provide a similar plan or to pay a tax to support the Health Care for America plan and to help their employees afford their own outside coverage.

So How Does it Work?

People who are self-employed would be able to purchase coverage under Health Care for America by paying just the same payroll-based tax as people who are employed by a company. You can buy into the program based on your annual income. There are also incentives to states who enroll remaining uninsured people in the program.

Non eldery people as well as children in the State Children's Health Insurance program are automatically enrolled, either individually or because of their employers. People feel that the program will help by making universal healthcare available to any legal U.S. resident without proper workplace coverage.

It will also require that employers and self-employed purchase comparable insurance or pay 6% of the payroll to fund Health Care for America. It will be required that Americans without insurance purchase private coverage of some type or buy into the Health Care for America Plan.

Some people don't like the idea of forced health insurance, however. A plus side, however, is that it will help prevent the threat of losing health coverage due to layoffs. The plan will provide comprehensive coverage that includes mental health and maternal as well as child health. Drug coverage is also provided and Medicare is modified so that it can provide for the elderly and disabled. Well child visits and preventative care is also provided at no cost to the individual.

One question that people have is about how much it will cost to have this coverage. Already many Americans face the problem of too expensive coverage or coverage that they simply can't afford at all. As proposed, the plan would be a maximum of $70 per month for individuals, $140 for a couple and $130 for single parent families. All other families would be $200 monthly maximum.

Coverage from Health Care for America would be guaranteed and continuous once enrolled. Families with this coverage would remain covered until they become covered by a qualified private health insurance plan of equal or greater value.

It's easy then to see how many people are supportive of the program and many more still are skeptical that it's "too good to be true" or that there are holes in the plan. Some feel that only time will tell if this plan will work or not. The problem for many skeptics is that if the plan is enacted and it doesn't work the way everyone is expecting, it will already be in effect and nothing can be done about it.

Others don't like the idea of a forced health care plan and still others don't think the President is being truthful in what he says the health care reform program will be like. Whichever side of the fence you're on, the time for decision making is here. Just as Obama urges people to make a decision, it's time to soon find out what will happen with health care reform and the proposed plan.

Making the Choice to Execute a Health Care Power of Attorney and Living Will

Advances in medical technology, recent court rulings and emerging political trends have brought with them a number of life-and-death choices which many have never before considered. The looming prospect of legalized physician-assisted suicide is one such choice which severely erodes the inherent value and dignity of human life. The much-publicized efforts of certain doctors to provide carbon monoxide poisoning or prescribe lethal drugs for their terminally ill patients constitute euthanasia. So may the removal of certain life-sustaining treatments from a patient who is not in a terminal condition. Euthanasia and willful suicide, in any form, are offenses against life; they must be and are rejected by the vast majority of U.S. states.

However, people faced with these difficult dilemmas should be made aware that there are morally-appropriate, life-affirming legal options available to them. One such option, for Catholics and others, can be a "health care power of attorney" and "living will." South Carolina State law allows you to appoint someone as your agent to make health care decisions for you in the event you lose the ability to decide for yourself. This appointment is executed by means of a "health care power of attorney" form, a model for which can be obtained from your attorney.

A health care power of attorney can be a morally and legally acceptable means of protecting your wishes, values and religious beliefs when faced with a serious illness or debilitating accident. Accordingly, for persons wishing to execute health care powers of attorney, see the following instructions and guidance from the authoritative teachings and traditions of various religious faiths.

The intent of the health care power of attorney law is to allow adults to delegate their God-given, legally-recognized right to make health care decisions to a designated and trusted agent. The law does not intend to encourage or discourage any particular health care treatment. Nor does it legalize or promote euthanasia, suicide or assisted suicide. The health care power of attorney law allows you, or any competent adult, to designate an "agent," such as a family member or close friend, to make health care decisions for you if you lose the ability to decide for yourself in the future. This is done by completing a health care power of attorney form.

You...

o Have the right to make all of your own health care decisions while capable of doing so. The health care power of attorney only becomes effective when and if you become incapacitated through illness or accident.

o Have the right to challenge your doctor's determination that you are not capable of making your own medical decisions.

o CAN give special instructions about your medical treatment to your agent and can forbid your agent from making certain treatment decisions. To do so, you simply need to communicate your wishes, beliefs and instructions to your agent. Instructions about any specific treatments or procedures which you desire or do not desire under special conditions can also be written in your health care power of attorney and/or provided in a separate living will.

o Can revoke your health care power of attorney or the appointment of your agent at any time while competent.

o May not designate as your agent an administrator or employee of the hospital, nursing home or mental hygiene facility to which you are admitted, unless they are related by blood, marriage or adoption. 1996

Your agent...

o Can begin making decisions for you only when your doctor determines that you are no longer able to make health care decisions for yourself.

o May make any and all health care decisions for you, including treatments for physical or mental conditions and decisions regarding life-sustaining procedures, unless you limit the power of your agent.

o Will not have authority to make decisions about the artificial provision of nutrition and hydration (nourishment and water through feeding tubes) unless he or she clearly knows that these decisions are in accord with your wishes about those measures.

o Is protected from legal liability when acting in good faith.

o Must base his or her decisions on your wishes or, if your wishes cannot be reasonably ascertained, in your "best interests." The agent's decisions will take precedence over the decisions of all other persons, regardless of family relationships.

o May have his or her decision challenged if your family, health care provider or close friend believes the agent is acting in bad faith or is not acting in accord with your wishes, including your religious/moral beliefs, or is not acting in your best interests.

CONSIDERATIONS FOR ALL PEOPLE FROM CHRISTIAN/CATHOLIC TEACHING

The following is an attempt to gather information from the doctrines of Christianity, Catholicism, and Judaism to see if there are any commonalities with regard to health care agencies and living wills. We will see that all three religions have placed a value on dying with dignity and the right of the person to direct how their dying process will occur.

A major tenet of the faith is that it is unethical to take a life. It is not the highest of all values to stay alive, but you cannot affirmatively take steps to kill someone. The church is strongly against euthanasia and suicide. But often if the patient and medical care providers permit nature to take its course without heroic intervention, the person's life may be taken by God.

This is a narrow path. Taking a life is inappropriate; on the other hand, using heroic medical measures to keep a body biologically functioning would not be appropriate either. Mere biological existence is not considered a value. It is not a sin to allow someone to die peacefully and with dignity. We see death as an evil to be transformed into a victory by faith in God. The difficulty is discussing these issues in abstraction; they must be addressed on a case-by-case basis. The Christian church's view of life-and-death issues should ideally be reflected in the living will and health-care proxy.

Roman Catholic teaching celebrates life as a gift of a loving God and respects each human life because each is created in the image and likeness of God. It is consistent with Church teaching that each person has a right to make his or her own health care decisions. Further, a person's family or trusted delegate may have to assume that responsibility for someone who has become incapable of making their decisions. Accordingly, it is morally acceptable to appoint a health care agent by executing a health care power of attorney, provided it conforms to the teachings and traditions of the Catholic faith.

While the health care power of attorney law allows us to designate someone to make health care decisions for us, we must bear in mind that life is a sacred trust over which we have been given stewardship. We have a duty to preserve it, while recognizing that we have no unlimited power over it. Therefore, the Catholic Church encourages us to keep the following considerations in mind if we decide to sign a health care power of attorney.

1. As Christians, we believe that our physical life is sacred but that our ultimate goal is everlasting life with God. We are called to accept death as a part of the human condition. Death need not be avoided at all costs.

2. Suffering is "a fact of human life, and has special significance for the Christian as an opportunity to share in Christ's redemptive suffering. Nevertheless there is nothing wrong in trying to relieve someone's suffering as long as this does not interfere with other moral and religious duties. For example, it is permissible in the case of terminal illness to use pain killers which carry the risk of shortening life, so long as the intent is to relieve pain effectively rather than to cause death."

3. Euthanasia is "an action or omission which of itself or by intention causes death, in order that all suffering may in this way be eliminated." "[Euthanasia] is an attack on human life which no one has a right to make or request."

4. "Everyone has the duty to care for his or her own health and to seek necessary medical care from others, but this does not mean that all possible remedies must be used in all circumstances. One is not obliged to use 'extraordinary' means - that is, means which offer no reasonable hope of benefit or which involve excessive hardship.

5. No health care agent may be authorized to deny personal services which every patient can rightfully expect, such as appropriate food, water, bed rest, room temperature and hygiene.

6. The patient's condition, however, may affect the moral obligation of providing food and water when they are being administered artificially. Factors that must be weighed in making this judgment include: the patient's ability to assimilate the artificially provided nutrition and hydration, the imminence of death and the risks of the procedures for the patient. While medically-administered food and water pose unique questions, especially for patients who are permanently unconscious, decisions about these measures should be guided by a presumption in favor of their use. Food and water must never be withdrawn in order to cause death. They may be withdrawn if they offer no reasonable hope of maintaining life or if they pose excessive risks or burdens.

7. Life-sustaining treatment must be maintained for a pregnant patient if continued treatment may benefit her unborn child.

Such principles and guidelines from the Christian heritage may guide Catholics and others as they strive to make responsible health care decisions and execute health care proxies. They may also guide Catholic health care facilities and providers in deciding when to accept and when to refuse to honor an agent's decision.

CONSIDERATIONS FOR ALL PEOPLE FROM JEWISH TEACHING

Jewish tradition as understood by Conservative Judaism teaches that life is a blessing and a gift from God. Each human being is valued as created b'tselem elohim, in God's image. Whatever the level of our physical and mental abilities, whatever the extent of our dependence on others, each person has intrinsic dignity and value in God's eyes. Judaism values life and respects our bodies as the creation of God. We have the responsibility to care for ourselves and seek medical treatment needed for our recovery-we owe that to ourselves, to our loved ones, and to God.

In accordance with our tradition's respect for the life God has given us and its consequent bans on murder and suicide, Judaism rejects any form of active euthanasia ("mercy killing") or assisted suicide. Within these broad guidelines, decisions may be required about which treatment would best promote recovery and would offer the greatest benefit. Accordingly, each patient may face important choices concerning what mode of treatment he or she feels would be both beneficial and tolerable.

The breadth of the Conservative movement and its intellectual vitality have produced two differing positions put forward by Rabbis Avram Israel Reisner and Elliot N. Dorff, both approved by the Conservative movement's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards. Both positions agree on the value of life and the individual's responsibility to protect his or her life and seek healing. Both agree on a large area of autonomy in which a patient can make decisions about treatment when risk or uncertainty is involved. Both would allow terminally ill patients to rule out certain treatment options (such as those with significant side effects), to forgo mechanical life support, and to choose hospice care as a treatment option.

Nevertheless, important differences between the two positions may be found regarding both theoretical commitments and practical applications. Rabbi Reisner affirms the supreme value of protecting all life. Even the most difficult life and that of the shortest duration is yet God given, purposeful, and ours to nurture and protect. All nutrition, hydration, and medication should be provided whenever these are understood to be effective measures for sustaining life. Some medical interventions, however, do not sustain life so much as they prolong the dying process. These interventions are not required. The distinction may best be judged by our intent. We may choose to avoid treatments causing us fear or entailing risk or pain, in the interest of the remaining moments of life. We may not avoid treatment in an attempt to speed an escape into death.

Rabbi Dorff finds basis in Jewish law to grant greater latitude to the patient who wishes to reject life-sustaining measures. He sees a life under the siege of a terminal illness as an impaired life. In such a circumstance, a patient might be justified in deciding that a treatment that extends life without hope for cure would not benefit him or her, and may be forgone.

Both Rabbis Dorff and Reisner agree that advance directives should only be used to indicate preferences within the range allowed by Jewish law. They disagree as to what those acceptable ranges are. In completing a health care power of attorney and living will, it is recommended that you consult with your rabbi to discuss the values and norms of Jewish ethics and halakhah. You also may wish to talk with your physician to learn about the medical significance of your choices, in particular any decisions your physician feels are likely to be faced in light of your medical circumstances. You may find it helpful to discuss these concerns with family members.

CONCLUSION

In the end, the decision to execute a health care power of attorney and living will is a uniquely individual choice. Every person has their own set of principles by which they will live, and by which they will eventually pass on. When executing these documents, it is wise to examine how these documents assimilate into your worldview and religious beliefs. While the topic of death and dying is an uncomfortable one, you are well advised to discuss this decision with your family members, friends, and members and leaders of your religious community that you respect. Having done this, you can rest easy knowing that you have made a good decision with regard to your health care power of attorney and last will, and that your last wishes will be respected and undertaken.

Some Ethical Issues in Health Care - Requirements and Treatments

When it comes to health care ethical issues, there are almost as many ethical issues as there are health issues to be treated. There are laws in place to direct the behavior of almost every person in the health care personnel chain, from the nurse to the nurses aide who assists them and the doctor who ultimately gets to try and make the decisions to treat within the confines of the insurance system ruling over the life of the patient in question.

There are ethical issues that are clearly defined, such as the requirements for treatment decisions when a patient has a Medical Power of Attorney or a Living Will. Then there are thealth care ethical issues that don't have such clearly defined areas, such as whether it is allowable to withhold a possible lifesaving treatment from a patient only because their insurance will not pay for it.

Health care providers must make their treatment decisions based on a great many determining factors, perhaps the most constraining of which is the insurance reimbursement regime. If doctors and other health care providers could just treat their patients and have only that to worry about, what a wonderful world it would be. But doctors have to constantly worry about whether or not they and possibly the facility where they practice will be paid by the insurance companies. The next most important factor which affects health care providers ability to provide the care patients truly need is whether or not the patient has been truthful with the information they have given to the health care provider, and whether or not they have had access to health care to establish and maintain their health care needs.

Ethical concerns also come into play with patients whose family constellations are unclear. A patient who has a spouse has a straightforward next of kin when decisions have to be made. When a patient is separated from their spouse, and even perhaps has a new significant other, the next of kin can be much more difficult to determine, and protecting all health care providers-doctors, hospitals, etc from the liability risk of allowing the person who does not have a legal right to make decisions for a patient is a necessity. The health care ethical issues presented by these kinds of situations are very delicate.

One important ethical concern in health care is the need to protect oneself from the very real danger of the transmission of communicable diseases in bodily fluids. Especially in cases where a patients history is not available, health care providers have the right and the responsibility to protect themselves from viruses and bacteria that may be present in the body fluids of patients to which they are exposed taking care of these patients. However, this must be balanced with the possibility of making patients feel accused or uncomfortable by these same protective measures.

One last important health care ethical issues, especially in this day in age, is the protection of private, personally identifying information. Patients records used to be kept in public places where almost anyone could read them-filing pockets outside their doors, for instance. This kind of situation is not longer allowed, and records are more closely guarded nowadays, and many hospitals now rely on records kept entirely on computers.

Ethical issues are a part of almost every field, but health care has a special place in the system, where people are trusted with making those who are sick feel better, those who are injured able to return to their prior lives, and those who have chronic conditions and those who love them more able to cope with the demands of living with those conditions.

How to Evaluate the Best Type of Home Health Care Agency to Meet Your Needs

The words "home health care" and "home health care agency" mean different things to different people.

With hospitals discharging patients to their homes sooner and sicker, families are not prepared and are overwhelmed. Many families do not want their loved one to go to a nursing home or skilled unit. Many families are never even given the option for home health care. Others think that when their family member is discharged form the hospital to home that there will be someone there 24 hours 7 days a week, for as long as the care is needed.

The home health care agency explained

There are two types of home health care agencies. The first addresses the health and medical care of the aging adult. Care is provided by home health care agencies, and can include the home health care aide, RN's (registered nurse) and physical therapy. State and federal laws regulate these agencies. They are often Medicare and Medicaid certified. Many private insurances and HMO's pay for these services as well. This means the agencies can get paid by these programs for providing home health services These services require a doctor's order.

The services provided will be intermittent such as an RN coming in to do a dressing change or monitor vital signs. A home health care aide may come in a few times a week to assist with bathing and dressing. You must be housebound and only able to leave the house to go to the doctors or attend church to be eligible for these services.

The other type of home health care agency offers help with household duties and non-medical personal care. This could include preparing meals, bathing, dressing or moving around the house. Depending on the state, these agencies may or may not be licensed. This type of home health care allows a person with special needs to stay in their home. It is for individual's who are getting older, are chronically ill, recovering from surgery or disabled. The best place to receive ongoing care may be in the comfort of your own home.

Studies show that our aging society not only wants to live independently as long as possible, but that they want to do it in their own home. Many have their own lives, live close to family and friends and have pets to keep them company and social activities to keep them busy. Mentally and emotionally, being at home is comfortable and often promotes wellness and healing.

Some feel that quality care at home can be expensive and is only for the wealthy

There are actually many ways for aging adults to receive qualify home health care. There are new programs such as reverse mortgages, VA benefits and long term care insurance. Many states now have state and local programs for the low income seniors that qualify for Medicaid to have waiver programs. These programs provide care at home in order to avoid an admission to a nursing home. There is a growing number of home health care agencies out there that provide for everything from companionship, to avoid loneliness to errand running and cooking and 24 hour live in services.

For medical and health care needs, there are home health care agencies that provide care when there is a change in the medical condition of the aging adult. The care required, must be deemed medically necessary by a physician.

For those individuals that want to age at home, having a good plan for the future in place is important. This may allow the aging adult to enjoy the comforts of home for as long as possible. You may no longer need to stay in a nursing home to receive good care.

If you are unsure if aging in place is an option for you or a loved one you may consider consulting with a care manager or eldercare consultant. A care manager can usually put together a plan that fits within a family budget. Care at home can be far less expensive than a move to a nursing home.

No Expense Spared: Health Care Costs

Health care costs are higher than they have ever been in this day and age, to the point that they are actually pushing more and more people out of reach. Decent health care is now so hard to come by if you do not have good benefits or thousand in the bank that people are really struggling to get and stay healthy. The health of the nation is declining as a result. Costs have risen to the extent that any illness has to burn itself out because people cannot afford to go to the doctor's surgery to get a prescription, but why have health care costs escalated this far?

Health Care Costs And Governmental Changes

In recent years, the legal system and the medical system have been lumped together under the same umbrella as a result of the fact that the United States is now a suing nation. Every time someone files a lawsuit against a doctor or hospital, health care costs are guaranteed to rise, so think how much all of the lawsuits combined have contributed to the rising health care costs that we are now faced with! Of course, if an individual is suing a doctor or hospital for a legitimate reason then that is warranted, but if they are just doing it to profit or on made up accusations then those individuals are ruining health care for those of us that just want to be healthy and would be grateful to be able to afford an appointment when we are ill. Too often, individuals sue because they get the basic health care standard rather than something that they have not paid for to begin with, and the rest of us have to foot the bill.

Insurance companies also contribute to the rising health care costs. Some insurance companies actually determine the costs of various procedures on their policies and will only pay that set amount out despite the fact that a bill for the medical care received actually totals more. As a result, most people would not be able to pay the bill in full so it would go to a debt collector, which costs money, or written off, which also costs money. As a result, doctors and hospitals put their health care costs up to recoup their losses and we all miss out as a result.

The final reason for the rising health care costs that we have today is the standards of living. Every day living is rising in expense on a daily basis and we cannot keep up. More and more people are getting into debt as a result. When general prices go up, so do the health care costs and thus the less affluent people suffer as a result. They find themselves unable to afford anything. If there is no help available then this will have to change because health care cannot go on as it is. There has to be some sort of reform and fast, otherwise nobody will be healthy in the coming years!

Coventry Health Care - The Benefits And Advantages

Coventry Health Care is a massive company that has proved to be very effective over the years for a number of people seeking health insurance. They manage various insurance companies, PPOs, HMOs and worker compensation companies and can thus offer a hug variety of health care service products that is unrivalled elsewhere. Coventry Health Care does not restrict you as to what type of cover you can have because they cater for individuals, government agencies, small companies, large companies and can thus cater for all of your health care needs.

The Benefits Of Coventry Health Care

The first major benefit of searching for Coventry Health Care is that it is so easy to find information on them. All you have to do for a good insight into Coventry Health Care is go to their website. Everything you need to know is on there for you to have a good look at. There is a comprehensive guide to their services and the product they offer as well as a lit of offices that you can call or visit for further information. As they are so accessible you can have complete confidence that you will know exactly what the terms and conditions of the policy that you take out are.

When you have a health care policy with Coventry Health Care, you can be sure that you are in safe hands. There is no hassle like that associated with other companies because you only have to phone Coventry Health Care instead of having to phone around several different companies before speaking to the right person if you go with another provider. Owing to customer complaints in the past, Coventry Health Care have made it so that the consumer gets the best deal possible by putting everything under one specific roof for ease of contact and use. You get convenience as well as comprehensive health insurance, and all at a lower cost!

Coventry Health Care is a consumer friendly company that re more than willing to help their customers through any medical situation or problem. Regardless of what your wants and needs are, they can really help you because of their sheer range of products and focus on customer confidence. You can simply call them up to discuss your options, and they will then tailor the policy to your needs. Do not be surprised if they ask you question after question because they take pride in knowing that all of their customers are well covered and very satisfied. Check Coventry Health Care out online or call them today for peace of mind!

Alternative Health Care - Healing The Natural Way

Medicine is developing every day and there are more and more new cures for various problems coming through as we speak. Within fifty years, there is likely to be a medicinal cure for the majority of diseases in the world, which can be no bad thing. But just think what you are pumping into your body at the moment. Every time you get sick, you will more often than not go to the doctor. He or she will prescribe you with a variety of pills and potions, designed to make you better. If I asked you what those pills and potions contain though, you would have no idea. Companies producing them make billions of dollars every year, but do they really care what our individual health is like? I doubt it! Anyone who is sick may therefore want to look into alternative health care for the answer.

If you do get sick and look into alternative health care, you will find that there are a number of cures for any given ailment and you just have to find the best possible one for you at any given time. For example, some of the ingredients may not suit you in one remedy, but you would still have several more to choose from, depending on the branch of alternative health care that you choose to investigate. Alternative health care will offer a cure that is completely natural almost every time. From potions and lotions to aromatherapy, acupuncture and massage, there is guaranteed to be something for you out there!

There are a number of alternative health care branches that come from all over the world and have had proven results in the past. In fact, most of them are ancient. You just have to look at the traditions of China and other Eastern countries to see that. Various cures have been evolved and used over periods of time totalling thousands of years and will varying degrees of success over those years, but the alternative health care solutions they offer now have been tested and proved to work. In fact, some experts and professionals argue that the cures from back then are better than the medication that general practitioners use today.

Alternative health care looks after the body whilst you are ill as well as working to prevent ailments by offering ongoing treatment like massage and acupuncture, for individuals that may have forms of arthritis for example. Eastern alternative health care actually serves to heal the body and the spirit so you feel much better for it in yourself - from the inside out!

Some forms of alternative health care do utilize ingredients that are hard to get hold of because they are rare or come from remote locations all over the world. As a result, they can be extremely expensive. However, they are no more expensive than the medications we all pay for to get well again anyway. There is no real difference; apart from the one you will feel after undergoing a course of treatment from alternative health care practitioners and the general ones that we are already used to. When the daily stresses and strains that we undergo get on top of you again, try alternative health care. You have absolutely nothing to lose!

Health Care - One of the Nation's Largest Industries Offers Fastest Growing Occupations

Not only is the health care industry one of the largest in the United States, it also holds some of the fastest growing occupations. According to the US Department of Labor more new wage and salaried jobs will be created in the health care industry in the next few years than in any other industry.

Additionally, many of the jobs in health care require a four-year degree or less. Earnings in health care are higher on average than other private industry jobs.

Great Health Care Opportunities with Little Training

The health care industry is not simply limited to the professional occupations of physicians, surgeons, and registered nurses. There are also an incredible number of occupations in this fast-growing field that require little or no specialized education, including

  • Nursing Aides

  • Medical Assistants

  • Medical Lab Technicians

  • Occupational Therapy Technicians

  • Nuclear Medicine Technology

  • And More
  • Those in the health care industry can find many opportunities to broaden their knowledge and skills for different areas of the industry, including

  • Health Care Administration

  • Health Information Management

  • And Much More
  • With an aging population in many of these jobs, there are growing opportunities for those interested in health care careers.

    Work Anywhere

    In virtually any metropolitan area, health care workers are in constant demand. The aging population means people are on the verge of retirement, which means more job opportunities are forthcoming.

    Earn Your Degree - Start a Rewarding Career

    If you're interested in any of the numerous health care careers, you will find great opportunities available to earn your degree online or in a campus setting. And, best of all, once you start your career, you can continue to advance your degree online for greater career opportunities while you work. Explore your options today!

    The Health Care Crisis Statistics

    The Health Care Crisis Statistics in today's world shows a major increase in medicine and health. The insurance headlines in the news have skyrocketed among the top statistics over the past few years about how high the cost of insurance is in America. There are some key factors that make up the health care crisis statistics in America today. The key factors are legislation, capital, constitution, health insurance, industry, health care, health care system, news, and Medicaid. The legislation is one of the key factors of statistics in America today. The reason why legislation is a key factor is because it controls the laws and marketplace that insurance companies have to abide by when providing care to people in America.

    Capital is another key factor because as the statistics in health care increases in America the more people will have to pay to maintain their health insurance and care in America. Therefore the capital in America will always increase because of the growing statistics in the United States of America. The constitution is another factor in the growing statistics in the United States today. In order for the health care statistics to grow at the rate they are now in America to have a significant effect on long term health care is due to the constitution. Health insurance is one of the biggest key factors that continue to increase statistics in the world. Whether you have insurance, or not you still are subject to the cost of inflation due to health insurance in America. The ways that a different industry provides, or sells health insurance to companies is a major contributor to the statistics in America.

    Health care is the number one hot spot in America that consistently continues to raise the marketplace value up with the average annual premiums that are being charged to people in the United States. The health care system in more ways than one are producing more astronomical premiums for individuals that pay for insurance coverage, and as a result more people fall into the slot of being uninsured in America. The news covers a great amount of detail in the health care field to uncover the national health insurance crisis in the world today. Medicaid alone accounts for about 20% of the statistics in America. Let's look at some more detail aspects of the health care crisis statistics in America today. The US spends over four times as much on health care as it does on defense spending in America. Health insurance and cost for medical treatment are escalating faster than any other segment of the economy. It has everyone worried such as employers, employees, retirees, and politicians in America.

    In 2006 alone, small employers' premiums rose by 8.8 percent, and companies with less than 24 employees saw an increase of over 10% for the year. The average annual premium charged by insurers for family coverage averaged $11,500 in 2006. Employees paid out almost $3,000 of that, amounting to 10 percent more than in the previous year. A full-time, minimum-wage employee makes just over $10,000 a year, meaning that the total premium for health insurance coverage was more than the worker's annual wage. According to the National Coalition on Health Care, employee's insurance premiums increased by 73% from 2000-2005. Inflation over that same period was 14%. Wages rose 15%. Premiums are skyrocketing to the point that they're close to going into orbit! As of October, 2006, over 46 million people were uninsured. We're not talking about deadbeats, either. The vast majority of the uninsured are working people with families. They may not be offered insurance through their employer, or they cannot afford the premiums.

    Many self-employed people are uninsured, and the astronomical premiums for individual insurance put them off the playing field all together--or before existing conditions prevent them from getting insurance that will cover them for the very conditions they will most likely need care for. Many people have found that a home-based business is a very effective way to get the cash rolling into their medical-savings-account with money to spare. I have personally found out through many another people that a home based business is the way to go in America today.

    Health Care Reform Wayback - A Brief History of Health Care Reform in the USA

    Is Health Care Reform New?

    As somebody who is very interested in the progress of health care reform as a taxpayer, private consumer of health insurance and services, and as a professional, I have been trying to follow the current health reform debates. I am getting a little frustrated with the lack of progress on either side of the aisle, and also by some of the knee jerk reactions by politicians and their groupies.. You would think that the current administration, and its political adversaries, had just invented health reform or the cries of outrage that sound against it.

    I decided to do my best to outline some of the highlights of the health reform attempts, failures, and progress in the past 100 years or so. I am not a professional historian, by any means, so some may feel as if I left out important things or took them out of context. I am trying to be balanced, but take all the blame if I neglected something you feel is important.

    Teddy Roosevelt In the 1910's

    Teddy Roosevelt ran on a very progressive platform in the early part of the last century. His campaign promises for 1912 included protection for workers safety on the job women's right to vote, and a national health care program. He was president of the United States, by the way, from 1901 - 1909. But he lost the election of 1912 to Woodrow Wilson. It is interesting to note that this Roosevelt was a Republic. Wilson was the Democrat. Never assume that American party politics are set in stone.

    Early Models of Current Health Insurance and Cries of Socialism

    In 1929, Baylor Hospital in Dallas, Texas came up with a pre-paid program for a large areal teacher's union. This is considered one of the earliest models of health insurance. Now here's the irony. A few years later, an Oklahoma doctor formed a farmer's association with a pre-paid plan. Members of the association would pay into the plan, and then get services covered. The American Medical Association called this doctor's plan socialism!

    Despite this, pre-paid hospital and doctor plans continued to grow in popularity around the US. However, they usually left out the unemployed and elderly.

    The New Deal in the 1930's

    Another Roosevelt, FDR, also wanted to implement national health reform. He wanted to include it as part of social security legislation. That did not work out, but even Truman wanted to set up a national fund. for health care. He figured everybody could pay in, like we do for social security, and then it could make sure that people's most severe health needs were met. All of this was left out of the New Deal, and the AMA continued to criticize it as socialism.

    Post World War II

    By the end of the second world war, it became a lot more obvious that there was a big gap between health care costs and what mos people could afford. Congress did pass a bill to build a lot more hospitals. They also required hospitals to provide charity care. They had a clause to forbid discrimination on race, religion, etc. But they did allow separate but equal care, which did not always turn out to provide equal care to everybody.

    In the 1950's, labor unions began adding health benefits to their collective bargaining agreements. This really formed the basis for the group health insurance many people enjoy at work today. So group health plans became more popular, and in 1954, Congress voted to make this benefits tax-exempt.

    The 1960's

    JFK fought hard for national health care, but again he was met with cries of socialism. But Medicare and Medicaid, regarded as American institutions now, did emerge despite this. Medicare is the US national health plan for seniors and disabled people. Medicaid is the national health plan for very poor people.

    Despite the fact that millions of Americans had heath insurance coverage for the first time, in the 1960's, health care spending and costs were beginning to rise.

    The 1970's - Nixon and Carter

    President Nixon, a Republican, worked for health reform. He proposed a bill that would require employers to provide minimum health insurance coverage. Under his administration, money was allocated for the development of HMOs and managed care to contain costs.

    Carter ran for president, and national health care was a large part of his campaign platform. Even though he won, the severe recession put these plans on hold.

    The 1980's and COBRA

    COBRA is the national law that requires some employers to extend group health benefits to terminated employees for several months.

    The 1990's and The Clintons

    Probably the most famous previous attempt to dramatically reform health care was under President Clinton. Hillary Clinton, then first lady, spear headed this work. You will probably not be surprised to learn that political critics of the pan delighted in calling it socialism. Experts contend that the plan failed because of partisan politics on both sides. The drug and insurance companies, and the American Medical Association (AMA) also spent a lot of time and money getting the Health Security Act defeated.

    CHIPS - I cannot leave the 1990's without mentioning CHIPS. This is the state and federal children's health insurance program which covers millions of children from lower and moderate income families.

    21st Century Health Reform

    I have to credit George Bush, a Republican, with passing the Medicare Prescription plan in 2003. This is also known as Medicare Part D, and it helps fund prescription insurance for Medicare beneficiaries.

    Obama ran on a platform that included health reform. It seems like it is as tough to pass now as it was during the time of Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Truman, and Bill Clinton. Politicians are still making deals behind closed doors, and of course, people are still shouting socialism.

    But some things have changed. The AMA now supports health reform. Many businesses are concerned about spiking costs of covering employees, and representatives have admitted they would like to see some reform that would help them. Even insurance companies have said they will cooperate.

    Hopefully, we can see some progress. I have no idea what will (or should) happen next.

    Health Care Services

    There are many health services and a proper range of health care services needs to be provided under a proper healthcare system. The United States does not have the best health care services in the world but it can be said that it has the best emergency care system around the globe. The fact behind this is that America is having highest level of poverty and income inequality among all the rich and developed nations and it affects the reach of the people to the proper health services.

    Health systems are designed to fulfill the needs of the health care of some targeted nation or population. Health care planning and its proper system implementation are much more necessary for any country or government. According to the World health report 2000 "Improving performance are good health, responsiveness to the expectations of the population, and fair financial contribution." Duckett (2004) proposed a two dimensional approach to evaluation of health systems: "quality, efficiency and acceptability on one dimension and equity on another."

    To have a best health care facilities UNICEF advises that there must be three primary steps which can then systematically improve the health services and to complete a health system.

    1. Standards
    2. Assessment and Accreditation
    3. Support Materials

    Seven years ago World Health Organization made the first major effort to rank the health systems of 191 nations. The following parameters were taken in consideration for the best care services;

    · Insurance Coverage
    · Access
    · Fairness
    · Health Lives
    · Quality
    · Life and Death
    · Patient Satisfaction
    · Use of IT
    · Top of the Line Care
    · Walk in clinic

    Health is a state of well being, physically, mentally, socially and psychologically. Health services are fundamental part of any community, therefore financial stability and proper coverage of medical through insurance or some other way is very much necessary for a human to live and stay normal. There is a proper process oriented structure is required, implemented by the government to provide the health services to each and every of their citizen. The health care industry is responsible to provide the proper health care services to the people with their arm namely health services providers. These health services are paid and could be paid by the patient, by insurance plan, or by the government. Charities and volunteers also play their role to provide the health services to those who are unable to afford. There could be various ways to provide health services to the patient, normally can be categorized into two main;

    · Face to Face:

    This is the most common way, where the provider, interacts with the patient physically and after having the checkup and understanding of the issues, diagnoses the problem or suggests some tests or medication.

    · Non -Face To Face:

    Telecommunication is the latest emerging facility, which is now in use to provide healthcare services as well. The practitioner can interact with the patient using, phone, email, text message, or video conferencing and then can provide further suggestions to him / her.

    Health services are also provided at schools where the children could be taken care of. UNESCO has published a set of tools to provide the guidance to school healthcare services providers. Following are the basic parameters which must be catered;

    · HIV/AIDS
    · Food and nutrition
    · Helminthes and hygiene
    · Malaria
    · Violence
    · Drugs, tobacco and alcohol

    In any health services providing system there could be the following three types of health services.

    1. Primary Health Care Services:

    Whenever someone needs a health care service in normal and routine life, who could be a family doctor, nurse, nurse practitioner, physiotherapist, pharmacist, etc. Primary health services often include prevention and treatment of common diseases and injuries.

    2. Secondary Health CareServices:

    Whenever someone needs a special care he/she is referred to a specialized care unit, like hospital, or nursing home to provide secondary level of health facilities.

    3. Additional / Supplementary Health Care Services:

    The services which are normally provided to the senior citizens, children or to whom which do not have their proper medical coverage or paying capabilities and the expanses are covered through government funds or through some volunteer or charity organization.

    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"