The Voice of Patients

Socialized medicine drives altruism out of health care. It also dulls the compassion of doctors. Except for groups such as the AAPS, physicians fail to speak out against political agendas doomed to increase patient suffering. Compassionate and articulate voices are now rising from other quarters. Amy Menefee, who conducts Patients United Now and Betsy Mc Caughey former Lt Governor of NY State are making compelling cases for patients threatened by intrusive health reforms.

Links:
http://www.youtube.com/user/aapsonline
http://patientsunitednow.com/?q=videos
http://www.medlib.ch/en/pages/video-vox

The 4 deadly R's of Social-fascist health care Reform

Ransom: All pay for health care through mandatory premiums & taxes

Redistribution: Politicians & interest-groups decide where booties go
Regulation: Bureaucrats tell caregivers how to give care
Rationing: The aged & the severely ill get queues but not cures

Dear American citizens: Allow your country to remain a caring nation

"Dear President Obama (...) There should never be anyone standing between a person and his/her caregiver..." This blatant truth hammered by an American citizen in an open letter to his president is unfortunately only evident to those who need care. Statistically: 4% of any population at any given time (though close to 100% of humans sooner or later)... To make things worse patients seldom vote! And politicians (including probably President Obama) know this. This makes the health care sector fair game to all kinds of interest groups... mostly alien to those whose lives depend on caregivers.

Egoism and short-sightedness of citizens in good health leads them to accept the political line that health care is tantamount to costs and that these need to be reduced. In fact, the more of its GDP any nation chooses to invest in health care the more it can be said to be a caring nation. Provided of course that regulators and other intrusive third parties are not entitled to confiscate part of these investments on the way... as that is where investments against human suffering become costs and waste!

Swiss Voters' Blow to "Evidence based" Medicine Will Muddle Regulators

Two thirds of Swiss voters called for mandatory insurance to include coverage of alternative medicines. This vote reflects the growing popularity of "natural" therapies and exotic imports such as Chinese or Ayurvedic medicine. The inclusion of complementary medicines will predictably increase global costs in mandatory insurance and lead to higher premiums.

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The intrusion of paying third parties and their bureaucratic watch dogs in the alternative therapy sector will alter the crucial one to one relationship between patient and health healer: this will inevitably dull the placebo effect linked to the faith and magic that goes with alternative therapies. The good news is that mandatory coverage of non-scientific complementary therapies will make it difficult for mandatory insurance regulators to continue using the "evidence based" myth as a tool for rationing orthodox medical care.

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