Monday, March 11, 2013

Medical Ripoff & Tyranny

The medical industry (that includes most doctors..but not all) deserves to be dragged through the mud. First of all, their service stinks (most doctors, not all & let this modifier be attached to anything I say about doctors) with respect to chronic conditions. Yes, if you have a broken bone, a burn they can do wonders. But for the chronic conditions...arthritis, diabetes, cancer and a hundred others they stink. They probably do more harm than good..provide symptom relief, maybe buy some time while causing new problems....and all the while, bleeding you dry, financially.The people who get screwed the most are cash payers without medical insurance. I was in a hospital recently for about 18 hrs...for observation of my heart beat problem. Initially I didn't have any insurance and they wanted to charge me $5909.58 and that was after
a fantasy 40% discount (after delaying payment they went from a 30% discount to 40%)  and my discovery of  3 erroneous charges. I appealed my Medicare Part B start date and was able to roll back the start date so as to cover the doctor & lab charges. After doing so and submitting the hospital charges to Medicare, the hospital accepted $820.59  total from me & Medicare. So they wanted to overcharge me...not 50% or 100% but 620.% Isn't that outrageous. AND they also allow separate billing by associated service providers...of which they provide NO list...in fact some you may not even meet. With those doctors and labs, after delaying payment, they all quite willingly accepted 50% of their initial charge...undoubtedly their initial charge is a fantasy figure. And again when they had to accept payment thru Medicare, it was still more reduced. The worse part is that many insist on a blank check...that is they wont tell you how much the charge is until after the service is received and you are obligated to fulfill your promise to pay whatever amount they decide upon.The policy of many doctors & medical facilities (or any service business) to demand a blank check; that REFUSES to reveal prices before service is received & incurring obligation to pay, is arrogant, unethical and must be outlawed. Undoubtedly the blank check demand inflates the cost of medical care and impoverishes millions of patients who are cash payers, pay a percentage of the bill, receive a service uncovered by insurance, and anyone with increased insurance premiums due to medical care inflation. The blank check demand  is often made at a time when the patient is desperately seeking pain relief. To do so is akin to extortion.  Should an agreement signed by the patient, under duress, to pay any amount, chosen by the doctor or hospital, be legally binding? The scope of what is legally binding in a contract is NOT unlimited. You cannot sign a contract to have someone murdered. You cannot sign a contract to sell yourself into slavery, a form of unlimited liability. And you should not be able to sign a contract or have one forced upon you to accept the unlimited liability of a blank check. That's unethical because no one has unlimited wealth and it is dishonest to pretend you can pay any amount.

 When the blank check policy is made illegal it will pressure the medical industry to refrain from its other arrogant and outrageous behaviors:

> Hospitals allow separate billing by associate service providers unknown to the patient and provide NO list of such providers to patient. This encourages fraud and a feeding frenzy by hospital associates who can charge anything they want
> Hospitals and doctors get paid the same amount independent of outcome...whether they helped you or hurt you. This must be at least partially responsible for the scarcity of true cures for chronic conditions. Without the penalty of lower pay for negative outcomes, quack medical care is perpetuated.
> The medical establishment's ignorance and ridicule of the most important factor for good health: good nutrition; while their corrupt alliance with the drug industry and government pushes drugs (for chronic conditions) that offer only symptom relief yet injure the patient in other ways. An example of their disdain for good health : during my recent hospital stay, their so called Heart Healthy menu offered to me, included eggs fried in transfat...that's almost criminal for a hospital which is suppose to promote health.


Yes, I should correct myself...the worst part...is the last point made...the service provided by the medical establishment for chronic conditions stinks and they are the REAL QUACKS. Indeed in my recent experience the cardiologist told me I should either take a beta blocker (blood pressure) drug every day for life or undergo an ablation procedure. That was despite that I told him, I suspected I had excessive amount of Vitamin D in me. Now it's a fact that such a condition can cause arrhythmia but he was either ignorant of it or chose to ignore it. My condition was the same after leaving the hospital. I stopped drinking milk with vitamin D for a month or two and the problem stopped. Now don't think I am against vitamin D...it's essential...but as with everything else, it has its limits. Vitamin D is essential for good teeth & bones...for that & a lot more see http://curezone.com/blogs/f.asp?f=3399

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