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Antidepressants for Every Man, Woman & Child

By On · Add Comment · In antidepressants, children, health care, medical care, National Center for Health Statistics study, Obamacare, psychoactive drugs

I recently posted on some telling “health” statistics in the U.S. It’s so refreshing to know what Americans are really fighting for with regard to health care, because the strong belief of some is that every American has the right to be on as many drugs as their neighbor. For the mass American mentality–that’s health! Awesome.

Americans are fighting for their inalienable right to drug their children. Yes, they are…that’s health, remember? If parents can’t understand their children, and public school officials can’t understand their children, then their good doctors will be there to help. Yes…with anti-depressants. In fact, more children are on psychoactive drugs today than on any other drug ever before in history.

Is it me? Do I just not understand health or health care? Are we blessed–part of the “haves”–if we can get antidepressants for our children? Ohhhhh…maybe I’d better go back to doctor school. I thought health and wellness was something else.

According to the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics study published in September 2011, antidepressants were the third most common prescriptiondrugtaken by Americans of all ages in 2005–2008.

And from 1988-1994 through 2005-2008, the rate of antidepressant use in the United States among all ages increased nearly 400%.

Isn’t that awesome? Aren’t we so fortunate here in the U.S.? Hope Obamacare brings antidepressant drugging to every citizen in the nation, especially children. It’s our right to NOT be sad. Yay, Obamacare!!!

Here go some more stats for you:

  • 11% of Americans aged 12 years and over take antidepressant medication.
  • Females are more likely to take antidepressants than are males, and non-Hispanic white persons are more likely to take antidepressants than are non-Hispanic black and Mexican-American persons.
  • About one-third of persons with severe depressive symptoms take antidepressant medication.
  • More than 60% of Americans taking antidepressant medication have taken it for 2 years or longer, with 14% having taken the medication for 10 years or more.
  • Less than one-third of Americans taking one antidepressant medication and less than one-half of those taking multiple antidepressants have seen a mental health professional in the past year.

I love these statistics. They show how much healthier we are as a result of the mass antidepressant prescription campaign. Thank you Obamacare, for caring so much that you want me and my children to have as many antidepressants as we need. No more sadness for us. We are so fortunate to have real health care in this country; and so fortunate that we may all get even more courtesy of our federal government and caring medical industry. Truly awesome.

Get it Right!

By On · Add Comment · In health, medical care, sick care

Wake up, people! What you are fighting for is not health care–it’s sick care. Get it right. There is nothing wrong with wanting accessible sick care. Since most people believe that getting sick is inevitable, they naturally want accessible, affordable sick care. But don’t call it health care, because there is nothing health about it.

This distinction is creating quite a bit of confusion among otherwise well-informed people, and it’s not their fault. We’ve been brainwashed into thinking medical care is health care. It’s not. One million dollars to anybody who can prove to me that there is a health component to it. Health, not sickness. Health.

The medical definition of health:

the condition of an organism or one of its parts in which it performs its vital functions normally or properly

Which medical procedure fulfills that?

Real health care is that which enhances the health; and in that regard, there are many health care practices: Exercise is health, so trainers you are health care. Nutrition is health, so nutritionists you are health care. A body functioning optimally, smoothly, and without pain is healthy; so chiropractors, acupuncturists, massage therapists and all other body workers, you are health care. Getting proper rest, serenity, and balanced mind and body are health; so yoga instructors, Pilates instructors, meditation teachers, Buddhist monks, and mental health practitioners, you are all health care.

Medicine, psychiatry, rehab, emergency care–you are sick care. Period. Nothing wrong with that; in fact, we need it. Sick care is an integral part of our world, but it’s not health care. So all this debate about health care is erroneous, because nobody is really fighting for health care at all, except the true health care advocates–the practitioners. Let’s get it straight, all right?

Uninsured Raise Health Care Costs for All – Really?

By On · Add Comment · In Families USA, health care reform, insurance companies, medical care, reasonable and customary
What our federal government wants to do is reform the health care system–that is, make sure medical care is available to everybody. Universal health care, the belief goes, will lower costs and make people healthier (I’m guessing, because I don’t really get the ultimate goal of all this reform stuff).

Healthier? Really. And lower costs? Hmm. A recent report from the sham organization, Families USA, has suggested that uninsured people increase health cost for everybody. They claim that as medical bills go unpaid, the costs are shifted to the insured through higher premiums. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, Families USA provides no rational argument–no facts, whatsoever. I’ve read their sorry report, and it’s obvious to me that it is just fodder for the politicos trying to push the health reform agenda. Most people, especially those that favor reform without question, won’t bother to read the report; and many more won’t understand it. In fact many doctors won’t understand it because they don’t do the billing in their office. But every billing manager in health care will know my words ring true. Listen.

Families USA claims that doctors and hospitals charge more for their services when uninsured patients don’t pay their bills; they claim that providers primarily pass these increases on to insurance companies. Nonsense! That’s illegal. All medical procedures have reasonable and customary (R & C) rates that are determined by discipline (medical doctor, chiropractor, physical therapist, etc.), procedure (examination, office visit, debridement, x-ray, etc.), and zip code (Beverly Hills, Bakersfield, Omaha, etc.). Charging more than this R & C rate 1) won’t get paid by the insurer and 2) is illegal. A provider also can’t raise the bill to insurers by upcoding either–that is, charging for a higher level of service to pad the bill. Illegal!

So the claims by Families USA are pure BS, plain and simple. And to the undiscerning reader it may seem like cold, hard facts; a good reason to support universal health care. But it’s a lie. Understand this, universal health care is being embraced by political groups, ideologues, and insurance companies alike. That’s right, insurance companies*. Because they smell the money-making opportunity in this horse turd. More insured means more premiums for the insurance companies–believe that. And they love it! They have a vested interest in perpetuating the complete falsity of passing costs onto the insured. Bull! Insurance companies raise premiums for one reason and one reason only; the same reason they withhold reimbursing health care providers for as long as they can–PROFITS. And profit from this political mumbo jumbo they will.

*“Reasonable and customary charges” are the allowable charges that Aetna will pay for medical services by contract with providers in its network. Rates are consistent with those normally charged by the provider for the same services or supplies and within the general range of rates charged by other providers in the same area for the same services or supplies. When you use a network provider, you pay only the coinsurance on the allowable charges. When you use an out-of-network provider, Aetna pays the allowable charges it would pay a network provider, and you pay the difference. You decide.

Wake Up and Smell the Mirror

By On · Add Comment · In Asia, doctors, drugs, health care reform, medical care, overprescribing, polypharmacy, symptom care

There’s a phenomenon happening in Asian medical care that mirrors our own practices, yet we seem too blind to see it. According to recent reports, doctors in Asian countries from Hong Kong to Indonesia are overprescribing drugs to patients that often don’t need them. And this overmedicating is driven by profits, experts say. You don’t say. Could that be the dirty little reflection staring “too expensive” American medical care back in the face?

“Polypharmacy (overmedication) is very popular [in Asia], it means they use a lot of medicines which are unnecessary, like giving you many types of antibiotics for a cold,” said William Chui, honorary associate professor at the Clinical Trials Center attached to the University of Hong Kong.

Well Dr. Chui, let me wake you up to a harsh reality: It’s not just profits that drive this practice–it’s a faulty paradigm. Health care based on primarily treating illness, while merely paying lip service to healthy behaviors, and shutting out these same practices from insurance reimbursements, maintains this polypharmacy madness. Think about it: Health insurers, which includes the federal government’s Medicare and Medicaid plans, only pay for symptomatic care. This perpetuates the myth that health comes from fighting illnesses.

No doubt, disease care is important; however, it is merely one aspect of human health. Denying all the rest–physical fitness, proper nutrition, regular bodywork, mental health services outside of psychiatry, and so forth–simply says, “It’s not necessary.” Do you think people get confused by this message?

The politicos talk a big game when it comes to health care reform. Wake up and smell the BS, America! Focusing on more of the same “health care”, just subsidized, is insane. Look at Asia if you can’t look at yourself. Put the finger back in its holster, American health care, or point the other four back at yourself; you wrote the book on medical over-consumption. But it’s a heck of a lot easier imagining you see Asia through a window, than recognizing it’s just a reflection in the mirror, now isn’t it?

America’s Health Slips Some More

By On · Add Comment · In health care, health paradigm, life expectancy, medical care, socialized health care

Just another blow to American health care. New reports show the U.S. slipping in life expectancy rankings compared to other countries of the world. In my book, The Six Keys To Optimal Health, I point out that the World Health Organization (WHO) ranks the U.S. 37th out of 191 nations with regard to overall health. And now we’ve fallen to number 42 on the life expectancy chart with countries such as Jordan, Guam, and the Caymen Islands ranking ahead of us.

Can anybody else see the paradox in all of this? How can one of the richest nations in the world, the most technologically advanced, and the most medically innovative fall so low on the world health scale? Some very important people in health care and politics (as well as one obnoxious film maker) believe it’s because we do not have socialized health care. But is it?

Let’s look at the facts. The biggest killers in this country are heart disease and cancer, both preventable conditions, not a lack of medical care. Perhaps, a lack of access leads to a few less saved lives, but these people are still having heart attacks. The problem, once again, has to do with our current health paradigm. It’s all about saving the lives of people who are dying, rather than preserving the lives of people who are living, before they get ill. Duh. What’s so hard about that concept? Why don’t these brilliant policy makers see that? I just don’t get it.

This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t focus on saving lives – heck no. Please save my life, my wife’s, or my daughter’s if you can. Please! I’m ever so grateful for having the best system in the world for doing that (there is no denying that we are at the very top in saving lives in the U.S.). But we are talking about health and life expectancy here. Very different concepts indeed. Health and life expectancy depend on what we do to take care of ourselves, not how quickly you can perform a bypass surgery on Mr. Jones, whose left anterior descending artery is clogged shut.

If we continue to make the process of saving lives the focus of health, then we’re fighting a losing battle. Don’t get me wrong, innovation in the medical sciences will continue to flourish, and newer, more incredible ways to save lives will be discovered for years to come. And it will continue to be a trillion, maybe even quadrillion, dollar industry. You certainly can’t complain about that. However, if we are to ever raise our position within the world health rankings, then we will need to start by focusing on the basics – that is, doing the things that preserve and optimize health; diet, exercise, bodywork, rest, and so on. There isn’t a better place to start than by learning how, and I know of a great source coming out this fall that can guide you purposefully. Stay tuned for more.

Copyright © 2013 Dr. Nick Campos - All Rights Reserved.