The True Price of Health Care Spending
March 15, 2010
Natural News
By David Gutierrez
The U.S. healthcare system loses between $505 and $850 billion a year to mistakes, inefficiency and fraud, according to a report by Thomson Reuters. This amounts to one-third of all national healthcare spending.
“America’s healthcare system is indeed hemorrhaging billions of dollars,” the report says.
According to the report, unnecessary medical procedures and treatments — including antibiotic overuse and superfluous tests — account for 37 percent of all wasted spending, $200 to $300 billion per year. Fraud — including false Medicare claims and kickbacks for referrals or prescriptions — accounts for another 22 percent, as much as $200 billion a year. Medical errors are responsible for 11 percent of excess spending, or $50 to $100 billion yearly. Preventable health problems, such as diabetes, cost the healthcare system $30 to $50 billion per year.
One of the easiest areas to repair might be administrative inefficiency, which accounts for a full 18 percent of medical overspending.
“The average U.S. hospital spends one-quarter of its budget on billing and administration, nearly twice the average in Canada,” the report says. “American physicians spend nearly eight hours per week on paperwork and employ 1.66 clerical workers per doctor, far more than in Canada.”
Administrative inefficiency can also lead to other wasteful practices.
“It is waste when caregivers duplicate tests because results recorded in a patient’s record with one provider are not available to another or when medical staff provides inappropriate treatment because relevant history of previous treatment cannot be accessed,” the report says.
Although the United States has the highest per capita healthcare spending and spends a higher proportion of its GDP on healthcare than any other nation in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (a group of predominantly high income Western democracies), it has the highest rates of heart disease, obesity, diabetes and neonatal death in the developed world, as well as the unhealthiest population.
Click here for the full report
Beware ‘Natural’ Label on Cleaning Products
February 15, 2010
Organic Consumers Association
A growing number of home-cleaning products that call their ingredients “natural” are hitting store shelves. Now, an industry group is trying to clarify what the term means and whether manufacturers are using it appropriately.
The Natural Products Association, a Washington-based group representing manufacturers and retailers including Clorox Co. and Whole Foods Market, plans to release new standards Thursday for natural home care products. The group is issuing the guidelines out of concern that products like household cleaners and detergents say on labels that they are natural when they are made mostly of synthetic ingredients, says Daniel Fabricant, the association’s vice president for scientific and regulatory affairs. Products that meet those standards will be able to display the association’s seal.
Natural generally means that the product’s ingredients are derived from renewable resources like plants and minerals. (It is not to be confused with organic, which refers to a method of agriculture that avoids the use of pesticides and antibiotics.) But there is currently no uniform standard among manufacturers for use of the word in home-care products.
To display the seal, products will have to meet criteria including the following: 95% of the ingredients in the product, excluding water, must be derived from natural sources. Non-natural ingredients should be used only when alternative natural ingredients are unavailable. The product should contain no ingredients with suspected human health risks. NPA says it is reviewing full ingredient lists from manufacturers who have applied for certification to determine whether their products qualify. The seal will be seen on products in the next several months.
The association released similar standards for personal-care products such as lip balms and skin creams in 2008. So far about 350 products have its seal.
Some manufacturers say guidelines for home products are needed. “It’s time for there to be a standard so that when consumers see the word ‘natural’ they can see that it meets a meaningful standard, ” says Martin Wolf, director of product sustainability and authenticity at Seventh Generation Inc., one of the companies advising NPA on the initiative.
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Superbugs Getting Stronger and Stronger
February 11, 2010
Natural News
By David Gutierrez
The steady medical advance against viruses and bacteria that many experts were trumpeting in the early days of vaccines and antibiotics seems to have stalled, if not reversed. The ongoing emergence of new and increasingly drug-resistant diseases is now causing many to question whether the war against microbes is one that can ever be won.
“It is a war of attrition,” said David Livermore of the United Kingdom’s Health Protection Agency. “There have been points where we have been advancing, and points when we have had to beat a retreat. If we were having this conversation 20 years ago, for instance, we would be celebrating the vaccine for bacterial meningitis.”
The news these days contains less of celebration and more of alarm. Even with H1N1 swine flu now appearing less dangerous than originally thought and infection rates of the superbug Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) falling in the United Kingdom, widespread antibiotic use and a globalized world have made the processes of pathogen evolution and spread faster than ever before.
The threat from the highly lethal H5N1 bird flu – a mere mutation away from a highly contagious form – has not abated, and other infectious threats thought long vanquished continue to rear their heads. China, for example, is currently battling an outbreak of pneumonic plague caused by Yersina pestis, the same bacterium that wiped out a third of Europe’s population as the Black Plague. Meanwhile, longer lifespans have encouraged the emergence of suberbugs such as Clostridium difficile, which preferentially targets elderly patients who have already been treated with antibiotics.
“Sensible prescribing is part of the answer, but we also need new antibiotics,” Livermore said. “It’s not one of the most attractive areas for pharmaceutical companies as people don’t take them for very long, unlike treatments for heart disease or cancer.”
“We will always be at war with microbes,” said Primrose Freestone of the University of Leicester. “Their genetic promiscuity is impressive.”
Click here for the full report
Colloidal Silver – The Natural Antibiotic
November 13, 2009
Natural News
By Mike Adams
Colloidal silver is one of the best natural antibiotics yet discovered in human history. For many health applications, it’s safer, cheaper and far more effective than traditional antibiotics. The effectiveness of colloidal silver is such a huge threat to the pharmaceutical industry that the FDA (and even the FTC) has engaged in an all-out assault to threaten and intimidate colloidal silver companies in order to drive them out of business.
Aren’t you curious to find out what they don’t want you to know about colloidal silver?
To help provide answers to NaturalNews readers, we’ve gathered this collection of supporting quotes describing the seemingly-miraculous properties of colloidal silver. Read and enjoy!
Colloidal silver vs. antibiotics
Silver was used 1,200 years ago by Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, sailors, and then by the pioneers who populated our country. They used it for various illnesses and to keep their foods and liquids from spoiling. Prior to 1938, before antibiotics, colloidal silver was used by doctors as their main substance to fight bacteria in a more natural way than through the antibiotics they use today. Antibiotics can harm our kidneys and liver functions. Colloidal silver promotes healing.
- Defeat Cancer by A. Gore Gregory
Olive leaf extract, colloidal silver, acidulous, royal jelly, and mushroom extracts are examples of products that may be a better first choice than antibiotics. When our bodies are toxic the immune system becomes the garbage collection system. Saunas and hot baths help to eliminate toxins that overwhelm the body’s immune system. This is a natural way to boost your immune system by freeing it up to do what it does best. The bottom line is this – you need to stay away from antibiotics.
- More Natural Cures Revealed: Previously Censored Brand Name Products That Cure Disease by Kevin Trudeau
I’m not suggesting that colloidal silver should be avoided altogether. I think it is ideal for some purposes and might be of use in an emergency or for last-ditch treatment of a bacteria that has grown resistant to antibiotics. However the use of this medication must be approached very cautiously. Because colloidal silver loses its potency over time, the best bet is also a kit that permits mixing the solution and using it immediately. You should then discard any excess you cannot use. Whenever you use it, keep in mind the fact that the silver will be accumulating in your body.
- Attaining Medical Self Sufficiency by Duncan Long
Colloidal silver is a natural broad-spectrum antiseptic that fights infection, subdues inflammation, and promotes healing. It is a clear golden liquid composed of 99.9 percent pure silver particles approximately 0.001 to 0.01 micron (1/1 to 1/100,000 millimeter) in diameter that are suspended in pure water. It can be taken by mouth, administered intravenously, or applied topically. Colloidal silver is available in health food stores.
- Prescription for Nutritional Healing, 4th Edition: A Practical A-to-Z Reference to Drug-Free Remedies Using Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs & Food Supplements by Phyllis A. Balch, CNC
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Cure for Eczema and Skin Alergies in Probiotics
November 12, 2009
Natural News.com
By Paul Louis
(Natural News) Most health conscious people know of the positive effects on digestion from using probiotic supplements. Many take probiotic supplements after using antibiotics to replace the good intestinal flora bacteria indiscriminately killed during antibiotic use.
This practice is so well known that MD’s have begun recommending probiotics during and after antibiotics.
But there is new evidence that probiotic benefits go beyond that. One area of investigative research is building the immune system’s resistance to allergies that affect the skin. An obvious example of a skin’s allergic reaction is eczema, which tends occur often with infants.
A recent Dutch study gathered over 150 pregnant women with allergic disease histories in their families. During the last six weeks of pregnancy, they were given either three strains of probiotics or an inactive placebo pill. Neither they nor the doctors knew which was which.
After those pregnant women gave birth, most of their children were monitored by the Dutch researchers. The children continued to receive probiotics or placebos for 12 months. After three months, the rate of eczema occurring among the probiotic subjects was less than half of those given only placebos.
There were no more probiotics or placebos administered to the children after 12 months. However, many were still observed up until age two. As they approached that age, the gap between eczema occurrences between the two groups, probiotic and placebo, narrowed somewhat.
But there was still a substantial difference. The study results were considered evidence that probiotics can have an effect on offspring from allergy-prone mothers, and the report was written up in the Journal of Allergy.
Another recent study published in the Journal of Nutrition involved probiotics administered to mice. This time the focus was on food allergies. The mice all had whey intolerances, and they were fed probiotics and prebiotics while drinking milk. With the help of probiotics, their intolerance to whey showed considerable improvement with almost no skin reactions.
Up to eight percent of children have various chronic food allergies. Extending this study to children may prove probiotics to be a useful natural remedy for eliminating food allergies.
Click here for the full report
