Who Does Your Doctor Represent? Is it You?

We want to let you know your physician may not be working for you.  Dr. Maulfair is receiving letters from Medicare Provider’s advising him as to which drugs are going to be approved as of January 1, 2013; this letter is specific for a patient and lists the drug Dr. Maulfair is prescribing for her and lists the drug that he SHOULD select.  In the case of one patient currently taking “Advair” he is being advised that as of the above date the covered drug will be “Symbicort”.  Do you think the group that made the list looked at the side effects of the drugs chosen compared to the ones left off the list?  Your doctor should decide which drug based on your history and current difficulty, what if the drug chosen by the list has as a side effect intestional bleeding and you have had bleeding in your digestive tract in the past?  Keep your eyes pealed after the 1st of  January.  You might be told you have to switch medications by your physician if you are a Medicare recipient because your physician is receiving letters advising reimbursement for “Formulary Drugs”;  drugs not on this list will cost patients more out-of-pocket expense.  As part of the changes within Obama Care perhaps pharmaceutical companies negotiated certain provisions.  Dr. Maulfair, as an example often recommends the use of older generic blood pressure medications as they have had years of success and fewer side effects than the newer drugs.  We are being advised to change our prescription practices as of January 1 to accommodate these new regulations.  Make sure you let your physician know what your preferences are or you too could wide up with a group choosing your meds for your doctor.

We are not a “participating” medical practice due to these mandates.  We work for our patients solely. Our practice includes recommendations for dietary and nutrient programs and other body friendly medical treatments which are not normally covered by insurance.  Insurance coverage has traditionally covered doctor visits, surgeries and medications so if you are physician who offers more than those treatments your patients have had to pay out of pocket for your care.  This type of care is usually less expensive and certainly more effective since no one has a deficiency of prozac but might have a deficiency of nutrients including B-Complex, our care is helpful and lasting and people get better and get off their drugs.  When someone is healthy they use fewer health care dollars. Surprise.  You would think the stockholders and owners of insurance companies would catch on but they do not.

People need to wake up to the fact that run of mill medical care is not putting your health first or even giving you the best recommendations.  I cannot figure out why physicians put up with this but they do.  Perhaps it is because most independent physicians are now employees of giant hospital interests with their far reaching community medical centers.  As an employee you do not pay your malpractice insurance premium, the company does.  You see, with the government telling a physician what can and cannot be done for patients when physicians comply and  it goes wrong a patient cannot sue the government, but will sue the doctor.  Your doctor was following the “standard of care” so it will be hard to prevail against him/her .    You realize, I am quite sure, that medical modalities that help you recover from chronic health problems are outside the standard of care, right?  If you have migraines the suggestion that you take magnesium and other minerals and watch your diet are outside the “standard of care”, yet they could actually keep you from becoming a drug addict.

I find it very hard to tolerate the government and pharmaceutical interests telling me what I can do with my own health.  I also think some of this mess is brought on by our own actions or lack of action.  You do not have car insurance pick up the tab every time you need tires or an oil change, yet, people are used to insurance picking up the tab for their doctors visits and meds.  If your employer pays most of your health care premium and you have little out-of-pocket expense when you go to the doctor you may not even know what the visit cost was because you are not paying for it.  Who is better equipped to drive the market place and demand fair prices but the consumer? You support your choices with your pocketbook.  You would not tolerate someone telling you which grocery store, gas station, or your pet’s veterinarian you were allowed to patronize would you?  You would not think you were part of the free American society.  Yet all of us put up with idea that our government supports an insurance company that chooses our doctor based on the list, and the doctor choosing our meds based on the approved list, and we accept the idea that whatever the recommendation it is, it is all that can be done based on what is payed for by others!!!

I want to live in a country where I am free to choose my own physician and my own treatments.  I dread the day when I might be a victim of  a car accident and must accept what will be paid for by the group, I do not want to be told what will and must be done for me.  I was in a car accident, I was told I must have spinal surgery and I refused.  I am pain free and I can walk  just fine.  If I would have accepted the “standard of car” for my injuries I would be on pain meds with rods in my back!  Part of the reason for that is the collaboration between the orthopedic physician (who eventually helped me my way) and an over zealous neurosurgeon.  Join me in supporting freedom of choice in all things including what do to for and with our own bodies.  I am happy with health insurance for critical and acute care and I am happy with health savings accounts and I am willing to suffer financial difficulties to retain my freedom to direct my own life.

Wishing you the best in health,

Coleen Maulfair

If Health Care is Your Right in Life then Your Doctors Are Slaves

Extreme?  Not.  In life, happiness, health and success in reaching goals is possible only when we exert personal responsibility and are free to work hard and prosper.  As parents we know when we notice the good things happening with our kids we get more good things.   When we only comment and notice the bad we get that in spades.
As a society, we will get what we reward.  This pretended kindness of universal health care sounds great and it could be achieved in a workable beneficial way as a real kindness, apart from the know best government mandates.  We are going to reward people with free health care for being there, and we are going to do that by enslaving other people.  Doctors will be pressed into service and made to help.   Other people will provide the “fuel” to make it happen and other people will be enslaved to make sure the “right” to care is delivered.  How?  Through the government getting involved in another precious human relationship.

In your exam room will be the doctor, a nurse, the government through its boards determining which treatments your doctor can offer and by the report generated and the insurance company who will “pay” for your visit.  People who can afford to go elsewhere away from the prying eyes and “free” money will do that, they will be far healthier.  If you just reflect for a moment about what your current insurance covers you will see how the expansion of this intrusive, wasteful disease care could expand and get worse.  Federal governmental boards will oversee the delivery of medical care.  If you think medicaid and medicare are good programs then you will enjoy the changes.  We do not.

Reforms are needed.  The private sector needs to do more so the government can go on recess and leave us alone.   We need to be able to have coverage for catastrophic events and health conditions not currently helped due to the insurance company with the money calling the shots.  He who has the bucks makes the rules.

How about this.  Free enterprise at work in health care.  We have not enjoyed that for many decades.  A doctor friend of ours said once that if doctors were made to talk with patients about money the health care cost would go down.  Instantly. True.  When doctors and their staff collect the funds they charge the costs stay down.   We know many doctors who spend their time and help in free clinics.  We know dollar for dollar tax relief for medical expenses would help.  We know companies who self insure save health care dollars, that is why they do it.  We know people will spend money on doctors who help them and will not go to doctors who don’t.   We know health savings accounts are popular and helpful when understood.  We know buying an insurance policy for catastrophic care is affordable when combined with health savings accounts, or, if you are a twenty something, you can pay out-of-pocket for infrequent care and save yourself some bucks.

We also know the simple truths in life, you will see more of what you reward with your time, money and attention.  So if you want more poverty make sure you pay people to be idle.  Make it possible for people to have the bare minimums in life and they will, they will remain in the bare minimums.  Reward health and you will get health.  Reward initiative and you will get more innovation and more activity.  Open up the health care marketplace for patients and doctors and stand back and watch it improve.  People we talk to want control over their lives and over their bodies.  When that is the way of life there are more funds for temporary charity to help out a fellow citizen who has fallen on bad times.  The generosity of happy people who are doing well cannot be denied. 

Come and create a great society apart from an oppressive government.  Let us just help each other.  Let us just make our own way.  Let’s go!  Coleen

On Health Care Reform-Another Problem

There is clearly much that can be done to improve health care both in the delivery and financing.  We have been blogging about many aspects that are clearly a problem.  Actually, they are frightening; if you have ever had a serious illness or been in a serious car accident you know why we recommend you have a family member with you and advocating for you as much as possible.  There is more to consider now.
We are used to insurance companies telling doctors what they will pay for and what they will not pay for.  It seems so silly to me that anyone gives them the last say.  Doctors should say to their patients, “this is what they will cover, my best advice to you is to do this even though it is not covered and appeal their decision not to pay for it, we will advocate for you as much as we can.“  Let the patient decide.  So often the conversation does not give the patient choice, doctors just assume the patient would not accept care that isn’t covered.  Not true.  Here is a new idea, whose body is it?  Who deserves the choice?

This will become a very important in the months to come because the health care legislation has created a real problem for doctors.   Treatments will be dictated by a board at the federal level AND the insurance companies.  Doctors will work within those frameworks.  What happens when someone sues the doctor?  That’s right.   The doctor takes the fall and he was following the treatment plans of a commission and under the guidance of the insurance company.  He will be the one sued.  That is why doctors will leave in droves if something is not done with tort reform.  The federal government will not be sued, people on those boards are immune to suits, insurance companies are protected.   What we have is a system of medical care paid for by people who are not in the room, who do not know the patient, who make decisions based on advice from vested interests.  Drug companies give very bad advice, they do not even acknowledge that the body needs nutrition to be healthy or that the body might have a nutrient deficiency of such magnitude it causes a symptom.

Be independent and find doctors who are, it will be far cheaper in the long run.  It is pretty easy to afford a catastrophic health plan and take care of routine tests and care yourself.   It is more important than ever now.

Currently nothing was done to fix this problem because most legislators are lawyers.  They protect the interests of lawyers and we would not want to cut into the big business of malpractice lawsuits would we??!!  Those poor patients who were harmed need to be defended by the best.  We agree.  What is ruthless and nasty is the fact that doctors are ruled by medical boards, insurance companies and now the feds.  If a doctor does not provide the “standard of care“  they are risking law suits and loss of their license.  The standard of care is established by the group, advised by drug companies and financial types.  It is a brave doctor that practices by his own judgement apart from the “group think”.  Rare.  You can find such a doctor by going to aapsonline.org, or icimed.com, or medical-library.net.

Health Care Disarray

We will endure many more months of uncertainty and confusion on the health care front.  As employers decide how the new law will affect them, and doctors decide what they are going to do, we will feel the unsettling aspects of this disorderly and ignorant legislation.  If you are interested in various aspects of  government health care our views are clear in our blog.
We know people have already been turned away from conscientious care in hospitals if they are medicare patients and “old”, “you have lived a good life” is the refrain.  Individual choice and family wishes are neglected.  He who pays says.  It has been true for years that covered drug rehabilitation is not rehabilitation, it is substituting a prescribed drug for a street drug because it is cheaper; it costs more to provide real help!  This and so much more will be routine and you will find treatments reduced to the cheapest, pharmaceuticals.  We will be an inactive, drugged nation in a few years…unless..

The only personal path is to stay healthy so you can escape all these pot holes of “choice” in your own care.  Being as healthy as you can will be the responsible path.  You know, we need to be working until the day we drop  so our taxes can pay for others.  The only way to fight back and escape the apathy that can set in when you lose your freedom is to do what you love and just keep being interested and active.  In the meantime do yourself a favor and study up on paths to excellent health and follow what you find.

For me that means taking my husbands’ advice and exercising more.  He tells me to slow down when I eat “because your stomach does not have teeth!“   A diet high in organic, nutrient dense foods is a must.  What we put in our mouth determines our health and it needs to be well chewed to digest properly.  Avoiding exposures to toxins is smart.  I will increase the frequency of my chelation program so I am continuing to remove the metals causing high blood pressure and more.  So join me in taking good care of yourself and your family and we will avoid visits to the doctor altogether.  If you find you need a doctor, seek out one like my husband who knows how to help you without pharmaceutical drugs.