› Broader Healthcare Definition Increases Your Costs & Endangers Your Care

By Dave Funk, Candidate, Iowa’s 3^rd Congressional District.

An article came out on December 6th in the LATimes and other media outlets about our very own, Senator Tom Harkin’s support for an expanded definition of healthcare.  You and I are already aware that even without this expanded definition; Obamacare will cause foreseeable financial distress on our country now and in the future.  Now, Senator Harkin, next to his boss, Senator Harry Reid, talks about provisions that allow for alternative medical treatments.

How much more can the liberals in Congress cost America with this proposed healthcare bill?  It’s insanity they could even think we as a country can afford to do this.  Senator Harkin, who’s championing this provision, “is also the leading recipient in Congress of campaign donations from chiropractors and dietary-supplement makers.”

We live in a time where pharmaceutical companies jump through hoop after hoop to get FDA approval to even enter the market place and still maintain a heavy financial burden in case of any defects in the drugs.  Treating illness and disease with safe and effective drugs demands the strictest amount of accuracy possible so that we can, in many cases, depend on them to recover.  Yet Obamacare feels it necessary to include alternative medical treatments, many of which have not been medically proven to work.

“Amber Pasricha Beck, a spokeswoman for the California Medical Assn., expressed concern about the Senate provisions, saying: ‘They raise red flags because they could potentially open the door to practitioners with less training and expertise, which could endanger patient safety.’”

Not only does it pose a potential threat to the quality of our healthcare, consider the costs that alternative health treatments would add to the system.  We cannot continue down this line of reckless spending in Washington.  Adding to these costs are grants that will be given to teams to collaborate on the care of their patients.  Teams which according to the LATimes, could be lead by these practitioners which could pose significant danger.

Making this provision even more absurd is the fact that in the first half of 2009 alone, “chiropractors, supplement makers and other advocates for alternative therapies spent nearly $870,000 lobbying lawmakers, according to data compiled by the Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan research group.”

If you go to the grocery store today you can find a variety of alternative supplements to healthcare for losing weight, strengthening your immune system, having healthier skin and more.  What happens when these manufacturers are allowed to directly penetrate the healthcare industry and are not held to the same strict standards as Pfizer, Merck, Glaxo Smith Kline and many more?  Will doctors be allowed to prescribe these alternative treatments and medicines without FDA approval?

Still not convinced?  The Council for Affordable Health Insurance (CAHI.org) concludes that mandating these additional services can increase individual healthcare costs from 20% to as much as 50%.  Amazing how a simple provision in a bill can not only increase your healthcare costs and decrease your quality of care, but also potentially put you at risk using drugs and treatments that were not held to the same strict standards.  I’m not against preventative action for healthcare.  Exercise and nutritious eating should be encouraged by everyone to improve our health.  That said, I know for a fact that this is not the answer to solving our healthcare problems and will only further put unneeded stress on our financial system and on us.

We need real solutions to our healthcare problems, not expanded definitions, increased costs, and decreased quality.

Hear more on Healthcare from Dave here.