You can have Obamacare. Or you can take the current Republican re-do. Have you read it? Do you know exactly what’s in it? Of course not.
I can tell you this. Every possible healthcare bill has the same flaw. It’s called death. I’ll explain in a moment.
But first I want to mention that, for the past decade, as a working reporter, I’ve taken many actions to put a piece of medical information in front of mainstream news media, and they won’t bite. No matter what. I’ve published the information, backed it up seven ways from Sunday, and it doesn’t matter. No dice.
Here it is. Again. Every year, like clockwork, the US medical system kills 225,000 people. That’s a mainstream conclusion. A conservative conclusion. By extrapolation, that means the US medical system kills 2.25 MILLION people per decade.
Therefore, any new law that places more Americans inside the medical system through health insurance plans will increase those death numbers. The death numbers will rise to new heights.
Where does the 225,000 death figure come from? A review in the July 26, 2000, Journal of the American Medical Association, titled: “Is US Health really the Best in the World?” The author was Dr. Barbara Starfield, a revered public health expert at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.
When I interviewed her in 2009, not long before her death, I asked whether the federal government was doing anything to comprehensively fix the medical horror show, and whether any official from the government had approached her to consult on that fix. To both questions, she emphatically answered: “NO.”
In her Journal review, Starfield broke down the ongoing medical tragedy this way: annually, 106,000 Americans die from the effects of correctly prescribed, FDA approved, medicines. 119,000 Americans die as a result of mistreatment and errors in hospitals.
Again, it doesn’t matter what kind of national health insurance plan you prefer. As long as it puts more Americans under the umbrella of the medical system, the death figures will rise.
Starfield was not the only person to blow the whistle. I’ll give you two more examples.
Consider this article, “The Epidemic of Sickness and Death from Prescription Drugs.” The author is Donald Light, who teaches at Rowan University, and is the 2013 recipient of ASA’s [American Sociological Association’s] Distinguished Career Award for the Practice of Sociology. Light is a founding fellow of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2013, he was a fellow at the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard. He is a Lokey Visiting Professor at Stanford University.
Donald Light: “Epidemiologically, appropriately prescribed, prescription drugs are the fourth leading cause of death, tied with stroke at about 2,460 deaths each week in the United States. About 330,000 patients die each year from prescription drugs in the United States and Europe. They [the drugs] cause an epidemic of about 20 times more hospitalizations [than the deaths: 6.6 million hospitalizations annually], as well as falls, road accidents, and [annually] about 80 million medically minor problems such as pains, discomforts, and dysfunctions that hobble productivity or the ability to care for others. Deaths and adverse effects from overmedication, errors, and self-medication would increase these figures.” (ASA publication, “Footnotes,” November 2014)
One more. The journal citation is: BMJ June 7, 2012 (BMJ 2012:344:e3989), “Anticoagulants cause the most serious adverse events, finds US analysis.” Author, Jeanne Lenzer.
Lenzer refers to a report by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices: “It calculated that in 2011 prescription drugs were associated with two to four million people in the US experiencing ‘serious, disabling, or fatal injuries, including 128,000 deaths.’”
The report called this “one of the most significant perils to humans resulting from human activity.”
And here is the final dagger. The report was compiled by outside researchers who went into the FDA’s own database of “serious adverse [medical-drug] events.”
Therefore, to say the FDA isn’t aware of this finding would be absurd. The FDA knows. The FDA knows and it isn’t saying anything about it, because THE FDA CERTIFIES, AS SAFE AND EFFECTIVE, ALL THE DRUGS THAT ARE ROUTINELY MAIMING AND KILLING AMERICANS.
What I’m pointing out in this article is an ongoing devastation that sits at the bottom of any conventional health plan.
All discussions about which national insurance scheme is right for you ignores that devastation.
The author of three explosive collections, THE MATRIX REVEALED, EXIT FROM THE MATRIX, and POWER OUTSIDE THE MATRIX, Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th District of California. He maintains a consulting practice for private clients, the purpose of which is the expansion of personal creative power. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an investigative reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health for CBS Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the US and Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global politics, health, logic, and creative power to audiences around the world. You can sign up for his free NoMoreFakeNews emails here or his free OutsideTheRealityMachine emails here.
I want government out of healthcare. Everything they touch turns to shit.
Out of our lives. They are supposed to maintain the roads, protect the borders, and help out in disasters and not tell us who to marry, kiss, what to wear, smoke or drink and so much more. But the citizens have been hooked on the nanny state too long.
People get cancer. Spend $,$$$,$$$.$$ on “treatments” and still die. Billions spent on “research” and we just can’t find a cure. Maybe so, but something just doesn’t feel right.
We have the cures! In America it is illegal to claim you can cure cancer, unless you have used Surgical/Radiation/Chemotherapy treatments which separately or combined significantly decrease your likelihood of surviving. But go online and search for “alternative treatments for cancer” and th options open up! Of course you have to be brave enough to ignore th Big-Pharma schills who tell you that Vitamin C, Vitamin D3 Natural nutrition ………… take your pick, if it does or even MIGHT work someone will tell you it will kill you! But what-the-hell, so does Surgical/Radiation/Chemotherapy, and at least you get to enjoy the ride without running yourself into massive debt!
And for your Life’s sake – DON’T USE GOOGLE TO SEARCH FOR ‘ALTERNATIVE’ anything. They won’t give you the REAL sites to look into! Use DuckDuckGo or similar search engines, or use an anonymous web browser. G has turned into a political hack and their algorithms are designed to only give you the sites THEY want you to see!
Try reading Mary’s Monkey.
When I was born in the 50s there was no insurance & my parents paid $100 for 5 days in hospital including room ,board ,nursery etc. Doctor bill was another $100. Now even if you have insurance and a normal birth they get you for $2000-3000; plus they boot you out the door after 24-36 hrs with a baby that has just been injected with Hep B [mercury laden].
When I hit 60 my BXBS premiums went up to $7200 a year with 5K deductible. That’s $1000 a month before you get anything. Most of my health conditions were not covered [many were serious dental], only covered by toxic expensive treatments or denied to exist.
I dropped them & used that same money for natural treatments & negotiated “direct patient pay”discounts or went out of country for the surgeries I did have to get. Doctors & facilities are starting to realize that being paid cash/ CC saves them time money & paperwork & eliminates waiting for months to get insurance companies to pay. Dentists not as cooperative to negotiation; so dental schools or Costa Rica are best options. Just do your homework.
Check out Jim Stone’s website. He is an ex NSA guy on the run in Mexico and often talks about the excellent health care down there. Civilized costs.
The government should get out of the health care biz. Since the advent of the death list, go to the last room and no water.
Insurance is a scam and don’t even say they have no cure for cancer, which is caused in part by vaccines, synthetic drugs, fluoride and gmo.
The argument relies on a fallacy: “. Every year, like clockwork, the US medical system kills 225,000 people.”
True. And the author, from that fact, draws the conclusion that any healthcare bill that increases access to medical treatment, is a death sentence for many.
What he does not say (the lie of omission, according to Orwell, is the worst kind) is that those without medical treatment also die, about 40,000 a year. That’s 40,000 (not to mention millions who are sick and untreated) for the roughly 30 million uninsured.
For the 290 million who are, 225,000 die from treatment. That means those who do not have access die at twice the rate as those with.
The best systems in the world are all national healthcare systems, which get better results at half to 1/3 the cost.
We are not talking about socialized medicine as in the UK (where people live longer) or the VA. We are talking about government administered payment, at a 90% lower overhead cost than private insurers, using private medicine. For every dollar private insurers take in, they return 85-88 cents to private medicine; for every dollar Medicare takes it, it returns 98 cents to private medicine.
Draw your own conclusions: Do you want the worst healthcare among all 35 advanced nations for twice the cost or the proven successful systems used in Canada, Japan, Australia, Singapore, and Europe where people are healthier, live longer, and pay half as much?
I urge single payer, supported by most Americans, with rewards to doctors for keep patients healthy and rewards to patients for following healthy lifestyles. It works!
The choice of Obamacare, which the Democrats stole from the Republicans (mandate plus subsidies are the old Heritage Foundation/Republican plan), or the trainwreck of Trumpcare, which would throw 23 million to the wolves is a false choice. Most Americans want Medicare for All. If we were a democracy, we would already have it.
It is not universal healthcare which causes doctor mistakes……..it is a system based on heavy drug use and rewarding doctors not for keeping you healthy and off drugs but for treating you when you are sick and then laying on with the drugs. The system I propose would eliminate this incentive and thus reduce treatment deaths.
health-care-reform.net corrects public misperception: ” Among thirteen countries including Japan, Sweden, France and Canada, the U.S. was ranked 12th, based on the measurement of 16 health indicators such as life expectancy, low-birth-weight averages and infant mortality. In another comparison reported by the World Health Organization that used a different set of health indicators, the U.S. also fared poorly with a ranking of 15 among 25 industrialized nations.
Although many people attribute poor health to the bad habits of the American public, Starfield (2000) points out that the Americans do not lead an unhealthy lifestyle compared to their counterparts. For example, only 28 percent of the male population in the U.S. smoked, thus making it the third best nation in the category of smoking among the 13 industrialized nations. The U.S. population also achieved a high ranking (5th best) for alcohol consumption. In the category of men aged 50 to 70 years, the U.S. had the third lowest mean cholesterol concentrations among 13 industrialized nations. Therefore, the perception that the American public’s poor health is a result of their negative health habits is false.”
85% of the medical deaths are due to infections in hospitals and negative effects of drugs. In a system where doctors and hospitals are rewarded for keeping you healthy and OUT of the hospital, these figures would drastically decline.
” Starfield’s (2000) comparison of the medical systems of Japan and the U.S. captures the fundamental differences in the treatment approach. Unlike the U.S., Japan has the healthiest population among the industrialized nations. Instead of relying on sophisticated technology and professional personnel for medical treatment as in the U.S., Japan uses its technology solely for diagnostic purposes. Furthermore, in Japan, family members, rather than hospital staff, are involved in caring for the patients.
The success of the Japanese medical system testifies to the dire need for Americans to alter their philosophical approach towards health and treatment. In the blind reliance on drugs, surgery, technology and medical establishments, the American medical system has inflicted more harm than good on the U.S. population.”
A healthcare program, both universal and based on the Japanese model and rewarding health rather than illness/treatment, has proven successful. Why not adopt it: most people want it. All we need is Democracy and people to stop presenting false choices.
You pull some fancy statistics there. Try quoting some sources- preferably once not paid for by Big Pharma. Pretty much every major drug now in use is less effective than a Placebo. Many (Statins are a case in point) massively increase the likelihood of more illness and death, and that comes at a cost that is literally crippling the nation, the States, and the people! And just because someone is ‘insured’ by no means guarantees that they get the treatment they supposedly should get, because of the ridiculous deductibles that actual mean they cannot afford the service.
Statistics aren’t fancy; that is their strength:raw numbers
Sources:(just google a claim and you will find it, but for the lazy):
“Nearly 45,000 annual deaths are associated with lack of health insurance, according to a new study published online today by the American Journal of Public Health. That figure is about two and a half times higher than an estimate from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 2002.
The study, conducted at Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Health Alliance, found that uninsured, working-age Americans have a 40 percent higher risk of death than their privately insured counterparts, up from a 25 percent excess death rate found in 1993.”
The 225,000 a year deaths is from this article; the breakdown comes from, while the BMJ puts the figure at 251,000 http://www.bmj.com/content/353/bmj.i2139
The 23 million who would lose healthcare under Trump plan is from the CB0.
The other statistics are sourced.
Now, deal with the issue and stop fretting and learn to use a search engine.
Jon: At what point does it become appropriate to bring the Talmud into
this sort of discussion regarding “healthcare” in America? Your call.
What do you think of Brother Nathanael Kapner? Have you ever visited
his site? search him. disqus is censoring linking it. It’s seriously difficult to proclaim him to be “anti-semitic”, right? Does he speak truth, or is he full of poop with some sort of
evil agenda?
I think the truth is both parties want government run heath care. The right just hides it better. Congress will keep screwing around until we are so fed up we just say the hell with it and accept socialized medical.