CONTENTS:
The Sorry State of Health Care In America
MMS Update
The Doctors Speak….
A Reader’s Story…Pamela Kent
SHORT SHOTS….
**** Dr. Keith Scott-Mumby Is A Font of Information
**** How To Listen to My Radio Show
**** Brevail Works For Men, Too
Welcome to this 121st issue of my newsletter. About 24 months of past issues are available at this web site. Just click on the “Newsletter Archive” link on the left of the screen. The articles tend to be “timeless,” so read or reread some of them at your leisure.
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The Sorry State of Health Care in America
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This article is dedicated to the many thousands of cancer patients who have been bankrupted by our ridiculous medical system. Those of you who have been treated for cancer or who may be considering what to do about it should pay particular attention to Lisa Kelly’s story. Those of you who plan to vote this November should pay particular attention to it, also. Fixing our broken medical system is probably the major political issue we face in this year’s national election.
This story appeared in the Wall Street Journal. What is so tragic about it is that even after being wiped out financially, Lisa was no better physically than when she started her “treatment.” America’s most prestiguous cancer institution had not only left her bankrupt but it failed to heal her. I want to thank Jim Bernard for bringing this story to my attention.
“The Sorry State of Health Care in America
This is the grim story of a cancer patient, Lisa Kelly, and the famous, well endowed, non-profit M.D. Anderson Cancer Center of the University of Texas.
Barbara Martinez, a reporter for the Wall St. Journal, related the billing hurdles that Mrs. Kelly has been confronting since late 2006 in a shocking front-page story on April 28, 2008.
This is a tale of pay or die that recurs again and again all over our country and only in our country in the entire western world.
Advised by her physician to go to M.D. Anderson for urgent treatment of her leukemia, Mrs. Kelly was told she had to pay $105,000 up front before being admitted. The hospital declared her limited insurance unacceptable.
Sitting in the business office with seriously advanced cancer, she asked herself – ‘Are they going to send me home?’ ‘Am I going to die?’
Time out from her torment for a moment. M.D. Anderson started this upfront payment demand in 2005 because of a spike in its bad debt load.
The Journal explains – ‘The bad debt is driven by a larger number of Americans who are uninsured or who don’t have enough insurance to cover costs if catastrophe strikes. Even among those with adequate insurance, deductibles and co-payments are growing so big that insured patients also have trouble paying hospitals.’
It isn’t as if non-profit hospitals like M.D. Anderson are hurting. Look at this finding in an Ohio State University study: net income per bed at non-profit hospitals tripled to $146,273 in 2005 from $50,669 in 2000. And you also may have noticed the huge pay packages awarded hospital executives.
M.D. Anderson, exempt from taxation, recipient of funds from large government programs and research grants has cash, investments and endowment totaling $1.9 billion, with net income of $310 million last year, the Journal reports.
Back to the 52 year old Lisa Kelly. She and her husband returned with a check for $45,000. After a blood test and biopsy, the hospital oncologist urged admittance quickly. Then the hospital demanded an additional $60,000- $45,000 just for the lab tests and $15,000 for part of the cost of the treatment.
To shorten the story, she received chemotherapy for over a year. Often her appointment was ‘blocked’ until she made another payment.
In a particularly grotesque incident, she was hooked up to a chemotherapy pump, but the nurses were not allowed to change the chemo bag until Mr. Kelly made another payment.
She endured other indignities and overcharges. Reporter Martinez cites $360 for blood tests that insurers pay $20 or less for and up to $120 for saline pouches that cost less than $2 retail.
Imagine anything like Mrs. Kelly’s predicament and pressures occurring in Canada, Belgium, Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, Holland, England or any other western country. It would never happen.
These countries have universal single payer health insurance. No one dies because they cannot afford health care. In America, 18,000 Americans die each year because they cannot afford health care, according to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. Many more get sick or become sicker.
None of these countries spend more than 11% of their GDP on healthcare. The U.S. spends over 16% of its GDP on health care and does not cover 47 million people and tens of millions are under covered
In the U.S. the drug companies charge their highest prices in the world, even though we, the taxpayers, subsidized them in large ways. In other countries like Mexico and Canada, they cannot get away with such drug price gouging, with a pay or die ultimatum.
In the U.S., computerized billing fraud and abuse cost over $200 billion last year, according to the GAO arm of Congress. In other countries, single payer systems prevent such looting.
In other countries, administrative expenses of their single payer system are about a third of what the Aetna’s and other insurers rack up.
In other western countries, medical outcomes for children and adults and paid family leave are far superior to that of the U.S. The World Health Organization ranks the US health care system 37th in the world.
When apologists in Washington hear these statistics, they say ‘but we have the best medical research centers in the world, like M.D. Anderson.’
Clearly much is wrong with the nature of pricing health care.
Like other hospitals, M.D. Anderson is caught in a macabre spider’s web of cost allocations mixing treatment costs with research budgets, cash reserves, and just plain accounting gimmicks that burden patients.
When a friend showed the Journal’s article to a Dutch visitor, the latter blurted in anger – ‘you are a nation of sheep.’ Not a very flattering description of ‘the land of the free, home of the brave.’ Someday, soon maybe, Americans will finally band together and say ‘enough already, we’re going for full Medicare for all- without loopholes for corporate profiteers and purveyors of waste and fraud.’
Last month after being in remission, Lisa Kelly’s leukemia has come back.”
Folks, if we do nothing else in the upcoming election, we have to elect representatives who will fix this rotten mess called a medical “system.” The President can’t do it. Bill and Hillary Clinton proved that 13 years ago. It is Congress who must fix this ridiculous swamp of special interest greed.
Of course, Lisa Kelly, with the proper information, could have overcome her leukemia using natural means. So those of us who know better have the responsibility to get the word to people like Lisa. Don’t be discouraged when 8 out of 10 of them refuse to listen to you. Keep talking.
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MMS Update
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Well, I haven’t heard from any of you who have healed your cancer using the Miracle Mineral Supplement (MMS). In case this is a new subject to you, you can catch up by starting at my September 20th, 2007 newsletter, which is at:
www.Beating-Cancer-Gently.com/nl111.html
I suggest you read the next couple of newsletters (October, 2007) as well to get the full story on MMS — how it works and what not to take with it.
Last week, I received this e-mail from Joe Kenny.
“Hi Bill,
In a paper by Thomas Lee Hesselink, MD found at this web site (most of which is in Jim Humble’s book) – Dr. Hesselink tells about the proper use of MMS and how not to include Vitamin C and other antioxidant supplements during the day of treatment (p. 2). Then on p. 4, he tells about how Chlorine dioxide can be used ‘internally to treat FUNGAL INFECTIONS, chronic fatigue, and cancer, however, little has been published in that regard.’ — Fungal infection is obviously related to cancer as you know and bacteria (cryptocides) found by Dr. Livingston in her cancer research seem to all be part of the cancer problem.
Dr. Hesselink’s paper at the site mentioned will provide a good source for a technical person.
Best regards,
Joe”
Well, Joe, you’re right. Dr. Hesselink is not writing for us lay people. However, if you want a complete technical description of MMS for your friendly doctor or pharmacist/chemist, Dr. Hesselink has produced it — including one version that is illustrated with diagrams of all the molecules. For those of you (like me) who are more interested in the application than the science, please go to Jim Humble’s web site and download his e-book or order the paperback version. It includes a chapter written by Dr. Hesselink. Here is Jim Humble’s web site:
CARING FOR YOUR TEETH AND GUMS WITH MMS
I’ve been using the MMS to brush my teeth for several months now. My gums and teeth are in much better shape than when I started. I recommend this for all of you. Here’s a detailed account by Dennis Richard (see the article on “Molecula Silver” in last month’s newsletter) on his experience using MMS to care for his teeth and gums.
“I am asked daily to explain my benefit and the way I use MMS to brush my teeth. I use 4 drops of MMS and 20 drops of citric acid and I let them activate for 3 minutes. I then add a shot glass of water (approximately 1 ¼ to 1 ½ oz. of water.) I dip my brush in the glass with the mixture and brush just like I was instructed by my dentist, brushing up and down and side to side, and working the gum line as well.
I then take a sip of the solution and hold it in my mouth while using a flossing fork working the MMS down below the gum line where it can get in the root of each tooth.
When I started doing this in February of 2007, my gums were bleeding every time I brushed and my teeth were loose. I had a dentist wanting to pull them all out. He said they were all falling out and I wouldn’t have a tooth left in 6 to 12 months. Within days of using MMS my gums quit bleeding and my teeth tightened up and I haven’t lost one since then.
It had been a year before I started using MMS since the last time I had my teeth cleaned and the plaque had built up so much that every time I would floss, I would have to restring my flossing fork 3 to 4 times as the plaque would cut it just like the serrated edge of a knife. Within 3 months of using MMS morning and night to brush and floss, I realized I only had to restring once every week or two. A year and a half of doing this, I now only have to restring once or twice a month as there is no plaque on my teeth to cut the string and it has been 2 ½ years since I had my teeth cleaned.”
Thanks, Dennis, for the detailed account of your experience with MMS as a substitute for toothpaste. I strongly recommend you get some and try it, folks. It is very inexpensive (certainly less than toothpaste) and will save you thousands of dollars in trips to the dentist. It will also help you keep your teeth longer. I am 76 and I still have all of mine except for the four wisdom teeth that were pulled some 50 years ago. I haven’t been to a dentist in over ten years (not even for cleaning).
To get some MMS and citric acid, just go to Dennis Richard’s web site. It is www.mmsinfo.net.
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The Doctors Speak…..
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Here are some interesting quotes from doctors from a recent Reader’s Digest article. My friend, Dr. Ralph Umbriaco, Chiropractor and Oriental Herb Expert, sent it to me. Thanks, Dr. Ralph.
“Thank you for bringing in a sample of your (stool, urine, etc.) from home. I’ll put it in my personal collection of things that really gross me out.”
Douglas Farrago, MD, editor, Placebo Journal
[Thank YOU, Doc, for being so careful with my family jewels.]
“I was told in school to put a patient in a gown when he isn’t listening or cooperating. It casts him in a position of subservience.”
Chiropractor, Atlanta
[Please close the door, Doc. There’s a heckuva draft in here!]
“I used to have my secretary page me after I had spent five minutes in the room with a difficult or overly chatty patient. Then I’d run out, saying, ‘Oh, I have an emergency.'”
Oncologist, Santa Cruz, California
[…but, Doc, I was just going to tell you about my cottage cheese and flaxseed oil…]
“Asking me about your rash or discharge at Wal-Mart probably isn’t the most appropriate thing to do.”
Douglas Farrago, MD
[OK, Doc…sorry. Go back to shopping for your cigarettes.]
“Ninety-four percent of doctors take gifts from drug companies, even though research has shown that these gifts bias our clinical decision making.”
Internist, Rochester, Minnesota
[So what’s for lunch, Doc? …fried chicken and Prozac?]
“Those so-called free medication samples of the newest and most expensive drugs may not be the best or safest.”
Internist, Philadelphia
[Gee, Doc, thanks for the Vioxx!]
Have a few laughs. They deserve it. Love ’em and leave ’em, I say.
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A Reader’s Story…Pamela Kent
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Pamela Kent is one of my fans. I’m sure her neighbors in Boston, Charlotte and Palm Beach are tired of hearing about me. But, bless her heart, she was kind enough to send me this testimonial.
“I am a walking version of Bill Henderson’s book ‘Cancer-Free.’ Over two years ago, I had a total hysterectomy for a large polyp in my uterus with cancer cells in the polyp. I refused radiation therapy which had been recommended by the surgeon.
The regimen I’ve used to get and stay well is as follows:
a. The Budwig diet of cottage cheese and flaxseed oil every morning.
b. RM-10 Ultra
c. Heart Plus and Green Tea Extract
d. Barley Power pills
e. CoQ-10
f. A multivitamin (with no iron).
I’ve also been taking regularly things from Bill’s newsletter such as:
a. Three Aloe Vera plant leaves blended with 2 tablespoons of whiskey and 1 pound of raw honey.
b. 1 teaspoon of baking soda mixed with 3 teaspoons of Grade B maple syrup.
I also purchased a VIBE Machine and I use it every day.
I am now feeling fine.
God bless Bill Henderson.
Pamela Kent”
Thank you, Pam. You are, indeed, a great example of how to take charge of your own health care. Hang in there, young lady!
You can contact Pam at AKentiii@aol.com.
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SHORT SHOTS….
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DR. KEITH SCOTT-MUMBY IS A REAL FONT OF INFORMATION
My interview this week on my web talk radio show is with Dr. Keith Scott-Mumby, a British MD who has completely broken the mold of the allopathic doctor. I was fascinated when I had a chance after the interview to read his book “Diet Wise — Let Your Body Choose The Food That’s Good For You.” I have finally found a book which recognizes that each of us has a unique reaction to the food we eat. Food allergies and changes in our genes caused by food are all well documented in this book. I have an update to my “Cancer-Free (Second Edition)” book planned where I will remove all reference to books like “Eat Right 4 Your Type” and Dr. Atkins’ “Diet Revolution.” I will refer only to Dr Scott-Mumby’s book. It is the only book I’ve found (finally) which gives you a complete guide to finding what foods work for you — and against you. To get this book, go towww.DietWiseBook.com or Amazon.com. You will not be disappointed. For a more complete review of my opinion of this book, just listen to my web talk radio show “How to Live Cancer-Free” next week. Instructions on how to do that are below.
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HOW TO LISTEN TO MY RADIO SHOW
Many of you have listened to my web talk radio show called “How to Live Cancer-Free.” Thank you. I have a chance there to talk to authorities who can help you heal. Once in a while, like next week, I talk about subjects that I think will be useful to you. To listen to this show, here’s all you have to do:
1. Put in your web browser: http://www.WebTalkRadio.net or just click here.
2. At the home page, click on the page called “Show Hosts” on the left of the screen.
3. When the alphabetical list of the 44 shows appears, just scroll down to “How to Live Cancer-Free” and click on it.
4. At the next screen, you will see two “buttons.” To listen to my current show, just click on “Listen Now.” A new show goes up every Monday afternoon. To see a list of the last ten shows, any of which you can listen to, just click on the “Podcast” button.
Lots of people download the “mp3” file that is the current show or one of the “podcasts” of previous shows, burn the file onto an audio CD and play it in their car on the way to work or the mall. Easy to do.
My current listening audience is about 34,000 folks per week. That puts my show in the #2 spot among the 44 shows on Web Talk Radio. Thank you, folks.
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BREVAIL WORKS FOR MEN, TOO
If you heard my interview with Dr. Doug Joiner-Bey last week, you were probably impressed with his vast knowledge on the subject of lignans. He is a Naturopathic Doctor with many years of clinical experience. His book “The Healing Power of Flax” is the Bible on this subject. It is available from Amazon.com.
This wonderful stuff called lignans from the flaxseed and its hull is now available in concentrated form in a capsule manufactured by Barlean’s, the same folks who make the best flaxseed oil in the world. The product is called Brevail. As Dr. Joiner-Bey described it, one capsule is the equivalent of eating two heaping tablespoons of ground flaxseed. Lignans and their effect in the body have been researched by Barlean’s for about twenty years. They have sponsored studies at the University of Washington and Washington State University which proved the wonderful healing properties of lignans. They simply balance your hormones, block hormone receptors in the breast and the prostate which cause cancers and shrink an enlarged prostate like mine.
I have been taking Brevail for about three weeks now (after Dr. Joiner-Bey told me the men’s version was going to be identical). Barlean’s will soon have a product out with a different name for men (the first name they chose had already been taken), but it will be identical. Please go to the web site www.Brevail.com for more information on this great product. You’ll be able to put in your Zip Code there and get a list of stores near you which carry it. The web site has many wonderful testimonials. They’re all from women, so far, but don’t be put off, guys. Just one of these capsules a day has already improved my prostate symptoms. Everyone reading this needs to be taking this great product.
For those of you who are new to this newsletter or my book, I have no financial interest in the products I recommend. I just try to find and tell you about things I think will help your healing or prevention of cancer. [Of course, the sponsors of my web talk radio show are an exception. They help me pay the overhead of that show which makes it possible for me to do it. However, I don’t accept sponsors for that show unless I believe completely in their products and their integrity as a source. Barlean’s is not one of my sponsors — but I would be honored to have them. They are a great company with exceptional products.]
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OK, enough for this time. I’ll be back in July with another newsletter.
And don’t forget my bribe. Send me your story about your cancer experience — good, bad or neutral — and I’ll send you a free copy of my e-book “Cancer-Free (Second Edition).” Your story may help many other people. Just let me know if you want me to include your name or e-mail address when I publish it in the newsletter. I will certainly respect your privacy.
Do your friends a favor and send them to my web site:
http://www.Beating-Cancer-Gently.com
Be well!
Bill Henderson
Author, “Cure Your Cancer” and “Cancer-Free”
E-mail: cancer-free@charter.net
Disclaimer:
Although many alternative medical treatments have been successfully used for many years, they are currently not practiced by conventional medicine and are therefore not “approved” and legal (in some States) for medical professionals to prescribe for their patients, although it is legal for individuals to use them at their own discretion. It therefore becomes necessary to include the following disclaimer:
The offerings made by this publication are to be carefully considered by the user. All responsibility regarding the use of alternative treatments rests with the patient. If you have doubts regarding these things, rely on your conventional doctor.