Why are we not up in arms about the cost of health care in America?

About Time Magazine’s “Bitter Pill”

To read Bitter Pill, click here.

The story opens with an all too common tale of life in America. We have the right to pursue life liberty and happiness, but not at a price the rest of the world might enjoy, at least not when it comes to health care.

Take Sean Recchi.

Diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at age 42. Total cost, in advance, for Sean’s treatment plan and initial doses of chemotherapy: $83,900. Charges for blood and lab tests amounted to more than $15,000; with Medicare, they would have cost a few hundred dollars.

Why are we not up in arms about the cost of health care in America? It approaches 20% of our GDP. We pay more than anyone, ANYONE else in the world pays. And we are not even covering everyone. Nor is the care top quality. In fact we are nowhere near the top as quality of care goes. Our ranking? Paying the most? 37th. We rank 37th in quality of care.

When we debate health care policy, we seem to jump right to the issue of who should pay the bills, blowing past what should be the first question: Why exactly are the bills so high?

What are the reasons, good or bad, that cancer means a half-million- or million-dollar tab? Why should a trip to the emergency room for chest pains that turn out to be indigestion bring a bill that can exceed the cost of a semester of college? What makes a single dose of even the most wonderful wonder drug cost thousands of dollars? Why does simple lab work done during a few days in a hospital cost more than a car?

Read this article, "Bitter Pill". I implore you. It is long, but it is important for all of us to understand that health care in America is extortion. Nothing more than government sanctioned extortion.

Maternal vitamin D supports baby’s brain.

This large-scale prospective pregnancy cohort study examines the association between maternal circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 concentrations in pregnancy and offspring neuropsychological development.

Higher circulating concentration of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 in pregnancy was associated with improved mental and psychomotor development in infants.

Mothers with low levels of vitamin D are more likely to have children with slower brain development and lower mental and motor skills, warn researchers.

–Circulating 25-Hydroxyvitamin D3 in Pregnancy and Infant Neuropsychological Development Pediatrics 2012; 130:4 e913-e920

Maternal Vitamin C Deficiency during Pregnancy Persistently Impairs Neural Development

Planning to have a baby? Better pay careful attention to your vitamin C intake! Even marginal vitamin C deficiency in the mother stunts the fetal hippocampus, the important memory center, by 10-15 per cent, preventing the brain from optimal development.

Population studies show that between 10-20 per cent of all adults in the developed world suffer from vitamin C deficiency. Therefore, pregnant women should think twice about omitting their daily prenatal.

–Maternal Vitamin C Deficiency during Pregnancy Persistently Impairs Hippocampal Neurogenesis. PLoS One. 2012;7(10)

–Vitamin C deficiency in early postnatal life impairs spatial memory Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Sep; 90(3):540-6. Epub 2009 Jul 29.

Vitamin D and other supplements may interact with medications.

It is a good idea to check with your pharmacist, doctor or nutritionist to see if your supplements interact with your medications. Or you can follow the link below to check with the Office of Dietary Supplements at National Institutes of health for a list of known interactions.

Many of you may want to know whether or not vitamin D interacts with any drugs. Yes it may. Care is needed in the following situations:

• If you’re taking certain other medicines: digoxin and have irregular heartbeats (atrial fibrillation) or thiazide diuretics such as hydrochlorothiazide or bendroflumethiazide (commonly used to treat high blood pressure). In this situation, don’t take high doses of vitamin D without consulting your doctor.  You should also have your digoxin level monitored more closely if you’re taking vitamin D.
• If you have one of these medical conditions: primary hyperparathyroidism, Hodgkin’s or non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a granulomatous disease, kidney stones, some types of kidney disease, liver disease or hormonal disease, you should get advice from your doctor or a specialist before taking high doses of vitamin D.
• Don’t take vitamin D if you have high blood calcium levels, unless under the care of your physician.
• You may need more than the usual dose of vitamin D if you’re taking certain medicines which interfere with vitamin D. These include: carbamazepine, phenytoin, primidone, barbiturates and some medicines used for the treatment of HIV infection.

For a list of contraindications for other vitamins and minerals, visit the Office of Dietary Supplement’s website:

http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/list-all/

Benefits of Grass Fed Beef.

There are many reasons to choose grass fed beef over grain fed cattle. Open pasture cattle farms are better for the environment. Methods of raising and slaughtering grass fed cattle are usually much more humane.  Unlike their feed lot counterparts, grass fed cows are typically not given harmful antibiotics and hormones.

Grain fed cattle raised at feedlots are also much more likely to consume chicken manure, garbage and other waste products in addition to the grain. Grass fed beef not only has more nutrients than grain fed beef, but is less likely to have been exposed to unhealthy microbes, drugs and contaminants.

Here are a few benefits of grass fed beef:

Source of healthy Omega 3s
 Grass fed beef is not only much leaner than the grain fed variety, it contains twice as many omega 3 fatty acids. These "healthy fats" are essential to human nutrition and are even beneficial to cardiovascular health.

Lower Cholesterol
 Grass fed beef has lower levels of cholesterol than grain fed beef. High cholesterol has damaging effects on the cardiovascular system and can increase the risk of heart disease and heart attack.

Antioxidants 
The amount of vitamin A, vitamin E and other antioxidants in grass fed beef dwarfs that in grain fed beef. These antioxidants play a critical role in fighting free radical cell damage and protecting the body from cancer and age-related sickness and disease.

Conjugated Linoleic Acid
 Grass fed beef has twice as many conjugated linoleic acid isomers (CLAs), another healthy fat, as regular beef. CLAs have anti-cancer properties and are believed to lower the risk of developing diabetes. Higher intake of CLA is linked to weight loss.

E. Coli
 According to researchers at Cornell University, cows fed a diet of grain have about 300 times more E. coli bacteria in their stomachs than those fed a grass diet. E. coli obtained from grass fed beef also has a greater tolerance to human acidic defenses and is much more likely to make a person sick.

Antibiotic Resistance
 Grain fed cattle, especially those crammed into tiny feedlots, are extremely prone to sickness and disease. For this reason, they are often fed copious amounts of antibiotics to keep them alive and to stimulate their growth. Eating the beef of these cattle can lead to antibiotic resistance in humans. Grass fed cattle are far less likely to get sick or to be given any antibiotics at all.