MrPeachy

I think you already know how I feel about this... I've said it before, I'll say it again... Alternative medicine seeks to give the body what it needs to cure itself while conventional medicine seeks to alleviate symptoms while fleecing our pocketbooks. Great illustration of the real fleecing of America, Alex.

mnvikes

"The saddest thing in my eyes is that allopaths go after alternative medicine for price gouging (esp cancer) patients, despite the fact I continually see the alternative methods get significantly better results for 1/10th-1/100th of the cost of conventional treatments."not true. there are few alternative treatments that actually do anything for serious problems.as far as your story though, i beleive it though it is probably an extreme example. healthcare is expensive, period. lots of healthcare providers are financially strained because most insurance companies pay horribly for reimbursement because they negotiate contract rates that are much lower than the sticker price that should be paid, and then you have illegal immigrants and uninsured people who dont have insurance and inevitably get sick, then cant pay their bills. so hospitals have to raise the price on uninsured people to stay financially viable. i dont know how bad it is in hospital but it has gotten kinda bad in pharmacy. youll get a medicare part D plan that pays the pharmacy a dollar or two (ive seen as low as 20-30 cents) over the cost of the drug to dispense a prescription (which isnt nearly enough to cover stafffing- maybe even the credit card transaction fee in the 30 cent cases) so when someone walks in without insurance they might charge them $10-15 over the cost of the pills to make some money since there is no contract rate and they can charge what they want. its unfair and unfortunate but its business, they have to do it to survive and alternative practitioners would do it too if they were in the same boat.Zambiti- i think your post is directed at me, yeah youre fine now paying cash for the occasional cold, but everyone dies and most people get chronic disease at some point. and when that happens, youre screwed. herbs and organic food wont do much if youre in a car accident or your kid gets a freak cancer. unless you are extremely rich not having insurance for an extended period of time ends up being a losing wager for quite a few people. and i havent seen too many insurance companies that are just like "oh, its ok we'll dole out more money." most would audit the hell out of you and refuse to pay as much of the claim as they can get away with

mim

I think western medicine should fall back and regroup. The FDA allows too many drugs to be dispensed without extensive testing. I gave up an MD degree because the further in I got, the more I wanted out. For the last 35 years I have been utilizing homeopathic, acupuncture, flower essences, chinese medicine, and Ayurvedic medicine for common ills. I would use western medicine for surgery only and then with about 10 second opinions.All this is aside from the rest of our health care industry - insurance and the rest.Be well.

Zambiti

Been exceedingly busy lately, but had to pop in to add my .02. It isn't allopathy that causes the example you give, it is pure greed run a-muck in a system that tells the world that the only way to get health care is to have a disconnected 3rd party payer who will stand for gouging and corruption as NO direct payer would! I've actually attempted to help people who are being gouged get excessive charges removed from bills going through the insurance dispute process. The end result is 90% of the time the insurance company saying "Don't worry, you don't have to pay anything." Like **** they don't!! Everyone pays in higher health insurance premiums. No, this is not a problem with there still being people who have no insurance coverage, as one poster pointed. Our family DOES NOT and WILL NOT have health insurance coverage as a matter of conscience. We NEVER run into problems like this. Upon arrival at any allopathic care center - which has happened 2 times in 10 years - we just state "We self pay." They say, "OK" and we just get the bills in the mail later. We then pay with cash what we can, and put the rest on time, which they are required to do. We don't get strong armed into paying excessive amounts, or forced to be referred to collection. One hospital employee attempted to strong arm me, and I flat out told her, "Ok, then you get $50 a month until it is paid. And you can't refer to collection because I made an offer to pay." She then backed down and recorded the payment. A lot has to do with the honesty and the fortitude of the individuals involved. By golly, I have great fortitude and can't stand dishonesty (which is part of the reason I avoid allopathy, but that is on medical terms not greed). To be honest, those who state continually that the health care crisis is caused by those who are uninsured, they are just spouting political rhetoric designed to make the greedy even more money, while robbing from the poor and sick. It is health insurance that has caused the ever increasing inability to pay. When covered by health insurance, we paid MORE for services. We don't get discounts because we pay with cash, other than an occasional discount because we use cash, but what we get is NOT charged for things we didn't use. We see reasonable and customary prices. We've had it both ways, and without insurance is by far cheaper. Great reading: http://www.marketmed.org/history.aspAs for reasons to avoid allopathy, there are plenty of scientific ones. And, yes, I've seen many alternative treatments that are much more effective. The problem is, the unscientific (liberal arts degree) allopaths want us to believe that proof something works is in a double blind study in a controlled circumstance, conducted by a company that has everything to gain by the outcome, or a college which is being funded by said company. Time for a reality check folks. Zambiti out - and back to the busyness of a healthy, alternative life.