When this site started, we displayed health-related videos, but for various reasons we quit using them. These are better videos, and the whole new site is devoted to them. So I hope you will try it out and let us know how you like it.
According to StudentScholarships.org, the quarrel over whether privatization of the [Canadian] Health Care System is beneficial is an ongoing and heated debate. Individuals in favor of the privatization quote numerous benefits, the primary argument being: a reduction in waiting times for all patients.
While there is no question that the waiting times for medical care are a pressing issue, I believe privatization is no feasible solution. The overall standard of service received under the proposed new Health Care system would no doubt decline.
Furthermore, privatization would undermine our Canadian values of equality for all individuals. Our belief that each citizen has the equal right to receive medical treatment would be challenged if a tiered Health Care system was enforced.
At first glance, privatization might be seen in a positive light, as those individuals who could afford it would jump the queue – in turn, the waiting line would be shorter for the remaining patients; however, another contributing factor to a shorter waiting line, would be the simple fact that those individuals recognizing that they cannot afford to receive medical care, would neglect to seek help.
Privatization of health care alone would not suddenly increase the amount of physicians available to treat patients, nor would it suddenly free up time for physicians to see more patients.
As it stands right now, emergency room patients are treated on a basis of severity, not who can pay a higher fee. I believe introducing a private health care system would give an unfair advantage to the wealthy, while potentially neglecting those individuals who, while greatly needing the help, cannot afford it.
The social question then arises over whether judging an individual’s worth through monetary values alone is justified. Surely one’s salary level does not determine just how valuable he is to society? Read the rest of this entry »
The healthcare industry may be showing an upward growth in countries across the world but several areas are still not being taken care of that will enhance the provision of health care to the common people. Almost 1/5th of the worldwide sale of healthcare is comprised by countries like Russia, Mexico, India, Indonesia, China and Turkey.
It was in the 1990s that the heath care cost started increasing. The 42 million mark was attained by Americans who did not have any health insurance or health care coverage. In the years to come, it is being predicted that considerable stress will be imposed on the US health care sector due to the rise in number of old sick people. In the near future, number of healthcare programs and insurance coverage will also witness some increase. The escalation in the medical plans in 2006 was 42.5 million and this might increase to 70.2 million by the year 2025.
Based on health studies it was found that approximately 23% of Americans try to prevent themselves from lifestyle diseases by consuming good quality food. With the rise in popularity of sustainable food movement, consumers across the world are being encouraged to eat healthy in order to prevent diseases. However, studies indicate that negligible expenditure is being done on preventative measures in comparison to the money being spent on treatment of chronic diseases. Read the rest of this entry »
According to researchers, about 20 million Americans suffer from some sort of mood disorder. And even the most cheerful of us sometimes have down days, experience grief, or maybe just get overwhelmed by circumstances such as overwork.
What if you could stir up an instant mood-elevating drink when you need one? One with natural ingredients that are actually good for you? Apparently now you can.
A new mood drink product called MoodBoost comes in foil packets that you mix up in water for a quick mood adjustment. Ingredients include vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and herbal extracts—with no artificial sweeteners and no caffeine.
The mood drink includes ingredients that have been associated with raising the levels of serotonin and other neurotransmitters that help alleviate seasonal mood swings, control stress, and simply make people feel better.
This is especially interesting, because extensive medical research in Europe, where herbs are often prescribed by medical doctors, has shown that St. John’s wort, one of the ingredients in MoodBoost, is a natural antidepressant that is as effective in alleviating depression as antidepressant drugs, but without the side effects of prescription drugs.
Additional important ingredients include 5-HTP, vitamin D, Rhodiola rosea, vitamin B12, L-tyrosine, L-glutamine, magnesium, and zinc. Other medical research has shown that many people do not have enough vitamin B-12,vitamin D, and certain amino acids, such as L-tyrosine and L-glutamine.
What about the taste? The manufacturer has added tropical flavors, so the drink may actually taste good. And anyway, if you are depressed, it would be well worth mixing the powder into a small glass (or bottle) of water and chugging it down. I plan to give it a try.
Many might not be aware, but the world over, almost as many people die of medical negligence on part of medical attendants as would in road accidents. And this statistic is only a little different for developed and undeveloped countries. Medical negligence leads to deaths and even more injuries – permanent or temporary. Almost always, they lead to a lot of pain and suffering, trauma and additional costs – all of which could be avoided, had the medical staff been a bit more careful. In all such cases, victims can claim compensation.
Want to know the best new health idea lately? Making healthcare available to everyone.
Oh, wait! That is not a new idea. In fact, it is 100 years old. President Teddy Roosevelt, leader of the Rough Riders, outdoorsman, adventurer, Republican, was the first U.S. President to advocate healthcare for all.
While Canada and most countries of Europe have achieved that goal. the U.S. has been repeatedly prevented from protecting all its citizens from dying for lack of medical care. Nowadays 18,000 people a year die because they cannot afford health care. Some of them have jobs.
In other countries, like Canada and England, everyone gets free healthcare. A young American man I worked with had a sudden heart attack in his 30s while visiting his cousins in Canada. He said his care doctors and hospital care were top notch, and they cost him nothing.
As one British doctor told an American patient, “Call us selfish, but we don’t want you getting us sick.”
Yet Canadian and British doctors are well paid, have nice houses and cars and are happy with the system. When interviewed last year, one young doctor near London mentioned his $million dollar home and could not understand why anyone would think that English doctors are not well paid.
So here is a video of President Obama on Labor Day, explaining once again why we must have healthcare reform, and we cannot afford to wait while insurance costs, which have risen three times as fast as wages, continue to soar.
Notice as he says that while Americans are dying for lack of healthcare and being denied coverage or losing their insurance just when they need it most, some profitable insurance companies are being subsidized by the U.S. government.
Subsidizing the insurance companies? That alone is enough to make me sick. It has got to stop.
I recently had the opportunity to tour the home of Karen (her name has been changed to protect her privacy), the mother of four children. In many ways, Karen’s home is typical of what you’d expect to see in a Philadelphia suburb.
Two of the kids are wrestling in the living room when she meets me at the front door. Her daughter is sitting in the kitchen, playing Club Penguin on the family computer. There’s a flat screen TV mounted on the living room wall, just above a gas fireplace and I can see the Wii sensor attached to the top. The kids have spread a small trail of toys throughout the main floor and I’m careful not to step on a Transformer someone has built out of Lego. Birth Injuries is the last thing I’m thinking.
It isn’t until I hear a banging from the hallway leading to the bedrooms and involuntarily flinch at the possibility that a wall is being damaged that the differences begin to dawn on me. The entrance hallway is much wider that I’d expect in a home of this size and it cuts into the space of the living room. Perfect at eye level, it’s scraped and battered a few feet above the floor. Doorways have been widened, including the front door.
“Here comes Nathan,” says Karen, in way of explanation, as her fourth and youngest child wheels into the kitchen. He looks at me and waves. Karen wipes his face and he uses the joystick on his wheelchair to accelerate into the living room. I flinch again when the chair clips the corner of a coffee table, but Karen shrugs. “We’re going to have to get rid of that table,” she says, “there’s just no room for things like that in here.”
Karen suffered from strep late in her pregnancy and, although she had brought it to the hospital’s attention several times, it went untreated. Nathan suffered neurological damage as a result of the streptococcal infection that was subsequently passed to him in the womb. Karen felt guilty for years, but came to realize that this was one of those rare cases where the medical establishment had failed.
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