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America's Health Care Costs Will DOUBLE in the Next Ten Years
Posted by: Dr. Mercola
February 22 2007 | 3,190 views

By the year 2016, what Americans spend for health care -- already an astronomical $2 TRILLION -- are expected to double by 2016 to more than $4 TRILLION, with the government share of the tab reaching 50 percent, according to economists with the National Health Statistics Group.

Already, 16 cents out of every American dollar is spent on health care, and that will rise to nearly 20 cents in 10 years. Consequently, out-of-pocket consumer spending on health care will rise to $440 billion.

A major factor driving this massive increase, according to economists: An aging population, led by the Baby Boomer generation, becoming eligible for Medicare. What's more, those dollars they spend will be wasted on useless and, often, toxic prescription drugs foisted on them by a conventional and unreliable health care system that emphasizes profits over true health.

Improving these grim projections begins and ends with you taking better responsibility for your own health concerns and those of your family, starting today. Much of this increased spending, experts say, will go toward drugs to "treat" diabetes and cancer. Both of these serious conditions can be avoided safely without them by taking better ownership of your own health.

Fortunately, you have many free tools available on my Web site to make this transition to optimal health a smooth one.

WebMD February 21, 2007

Yahoo News February 21, 2007

Health Affairs February 21, 2007





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Comment on This Article Community Comments (9)
 
 
Posted On Feb 22, 2007
So insurance will quadruple in price and pharmacueticals will skyrocket all at the expense of the average consumer.  Well, I am not the average consumer, I will do everything within my power to not take drugs to treat self-created illnesses.  I will make my own choices in regards to my health and I will not ask a doctor if that is right for me (as suggested by many commercials).  Anyone who does not take their health into their own hands will suffer in the end not only financially but emotionally, physically, etc.  We are in good hands with Dr. Mercola, the doctor of the 21st Century!

 
LM36
Apprentice User Apprentice User, Joined On 12/2006
LM36   
 
 
 
Posted On Feb 22, 2007
 The cost of american health care in terms of both cost and the cost in damaged human lives caused by side effects to the drugs . To get handle on these things natural methods must be employed . In a recent cme program on diabetes the first page stated that diet and exercise could effectively prevent and delay type 2 diabetes. The next 10 pages showed the different meds that treat diabetes . The accent is wrong concentrate of prevention -medicines as a last resort. So much of what we do is of suspect. Most conventional treatments for depression ,azltheimers ect are of such dubious benefit  and of such cost that in  england  limits are being placed on there use. We have placed are Drs. in the position that is almost impossible. They should be health coaches explaining the benefits of diet, excersise and such things as vitamin d . but they have become almost the sales arm of drug companies because thats where most continuing education programs come from. There is a big argument today over the use of drug eluding stints as opposed to bare metal stents. Which one is better. Than an analysis comes out saying that if this procedure if done after 48 hours it is basically useless. The British medical journal found that only about 15% of what we do is based on good solid evidence to get control of cost we must insist that standards are set to demand that these ineffective drugs be weeded out

 
vince_203
Apprentice User Apprentice User, Joined On 9/2006
vince_203   
 
 
 
Posted On Feb 22, 2007
Blue Cross is run by accountants/lawyers who have systematically, in my case, tried every TRICK in the book NOT to pay for a regular medical device for my wife, who has been a left leg amputee since the age of 9.

Blue Cross denied a expensive, but NORMAL, prosthetic leg 'knee' (the price of a new car), but approved a new leg socket, ankle & foot parts in a new leg for my wife.  BC claimed the knee was "experimental".

As any amputee will tell you, these prosthetic limbs wear out over time & need to be replaced, just like parts on any mechanical device, in regular use.

The delaying tactics by Blue Cross, trying to wear us down, through repeated denials, despite medical need being proven, put my wife in a wheel chair for over 9 months, because her old leg had failed, prior to us on our own, before a final decision at a California State arbitration board was made, moving forward with building a new leg, because my wife's overall health was deteriorating from lack of movement. 

We took them to the California State arbitration board, thanks to a patients' bills of rights, signed into legislation last Fall by The Govenator, Arnold S., where we finally won, & BC had to pay 100% plus interest.

So since my wife and I are both University educated, own our own business, & not about to back down from wrong or harm directed our way, we fought the BIG BAD BLUE CROSS & set precedent for any of you other prosthetic folks out there reading this!

Blue Cross essentially was caught in a BIG FAT LIE (we presented over 7 experts letters very detailed, lengthy & 100% accurate from MD's, expert prosthetic engineers, & documentation) that the so-called "experimental knee" had been used by the United States Veterans' Administration, for over 10 years, on over 14,000 soldiers, in need of legs from war injuries.


 
Russ Bianchi
Savvy User Savvy User, Joined On 9/2006
Russ Bianchi   
Replied

Michigan Mom
Savvy User Savvy User Joined On 6/2006
Michigan Mom  
 
Posted On Feb 22, 2007
That's terrible. It's funny that insurers don't ask any questions when a doctor preforms an unneeded surgery like a c-section, or pays for medication when a lifestyle change would suffice, but then refuses to pay when there is a legitimate medical need.

What a crazy world we live in.


Russ Bianchi
Savvy User Savvy User Joined On 9/2006
Russ Bianchi  
 
Posted On Feb 22, 2007
Since I ran out of word space in the first post, I will finish up here....

What I want to conclude with is, yes, the insurance racket is really badly  corrupted, and is playing the odds for every case of someone like my wife and I, fighting tool and nail for a correct decision (and our very lives), these EVIL insurance guys KNOW they will defeat and frustrate 9 others, without the will, resources, or knowledge to fight them.

DO NOT BE ONE OF THE OTHER NINE CASES!!!
 
TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR OWN HEALTH!!!
 
USE DR. MERCOLA'S PREVETATIVE MODEL AND YOUR LIFE, HAPPINESS & HEALTH WILL BE VASTLY IMPROVED!!!

Most respectfully submitted,

Russ Bianchi

 
 
 
Posted On Feb 22, 2007
Another interesting thing about health costs is that insurance premiums are going through the roof for patients and physicians are getting reimbursed less! Personally, I think the insurance industry should be put on trial for taking advantage of the American public, especially when unregulated companies like Blue Cross declare earnings in the billions each year.

 
Dr. Matthew J. Loop
Apprentice User Apprentice User, Joined On 6/2006
Dr. Matthew J. Loop   
 
 
 
Posted On Feb 22, 2007
This is so aggravating! Unfortunately everyone has to have health insurance, if you don't have it and you have an accident or require surgery you are financially ruined for life.

So health minded people have to pay the high premiums and then seek out alternative health practioners that HMOS do not cover. We buy supplements, not pharmacetuicals, and they are not covered. Then the premiums go up every year, because of the flawed medical model. I am tired of subsidizing the average Joe's overuse of drugs and doctors.

Medicare is going to become a tax disaster for all of us in the very near future.


 
Michigan Mom
Savvy User Savvy User, Joined On 6/2006
Michigan Mom   
 
 
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