Public health versus private health: understanding the differences can be literally life and death for a society or civilization. The US has been slowly bankrupting itself providing exotic healthcare for all sorts of personal things including annoying sexual performance problems in the gnome community (viagra!). The US under serves public healthcare while overspending on private healthcare and this is putting us at a severe disadvantage in trade as well as driving our government off the cliff (of course, our many wars are also at fault here).

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As per usual, the US public writhes with fear, agony and partisan anger as we try, for the umpteenth time, to develop a national health program that is as useful and frugal as 80% of the top manufacturing nations on earth. The health statistics for the US public are miserable. We rank below nearly all of Europe and many Asian countries in longevity, child health and maternal deaths. Yet we have the most expensive medical complex system on earth.

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It is a mirror of our military/industrial complex. Expensive, totally out of touch with pressing matters, focused mostly on cosmetic appearances and impossible to change. And is bankrupting us. The twin forces of our extravagant military and our deluxe but nonfunctional health systems are tearing our nation apart and both will ultimately destroy our entire civilization if not reined in, somehow.

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One very bad problem we have, concerning healthcare, is differentiating between what is for the public good and what is private. We are a collective. Anyone who thinks he is an island, should move to one and not leave it. The rest of us live in the middle of an ocean of humanity, all of us are interconnected in a wide variety of ways.

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One way we are connected is, we share the same breathing spaces. That is, people breathe in and out all over the place (unless they are holding their breath!) and viruses love this aspiration methodology to aspire to multiply via coughing or sneezing. When did the first virus evolve to spread via breathing? We don’t know but I bet, it was around the same time the first amphibians began to walk on dry land.

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When the first Labyrinthodontia came toddling ashore, it probably cast a glance over to another Labyrinthodontia and said, ‘My nose itches. *Achoo*’. The other one said, ‘Gesundheit,’ and then went back into the water only it felt awfully sick the next day. Long before the ruling elites tried to get rich, running the G7 nations, the real pests were the Virus Empire and the Bacterial Kingdom. These two conglomeration of single celled party poopers have a long and stellar history of out-evolving all other life forms. More about that later.

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One of the main functions of any civilization that wishes to exist for very long is to deal with the Virus Empire and the Bacterial Kingdom and to keep them either at bay or under control. Anytime a government loses control of these two dire bio armies, chaos and death ensue. Out of curiosity, since I dislike simply assuming anything, here is a useful timeline about US public healthcare:

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Health Care Law: U.S. Health Care Timelines

1796: Congress refused to give the federal government authority to quarantine people with contagious diseases 1879: First federal quarantine program established (allowed to expire in 1884) 1887: Public Health Service opened one-room lab in Staten Island marine hospital to do research on bacteria, vaccines, and quarantine techniques — forerunner of National Institutes of Health 50 years later 1902: Biologics Control Act enacted to regulate quality of vaccines and sera 1906: Food and Drug Act enacted to prevent manufacture, sale, or transportation of (harmful) food, drugs, medicine, or liquor 1912: Children’s Bureau established 1917: Public Health Service facilities authorized to provide medical care to WWI veterans with service-connected disabilities; extended in 1933 to include medical and domiciliary care to all veterans of any war since 1897, regardless of whether disabilities were service-connected 1918: Chamberlain-Kahn Act authorized first federal grants to states for public health services (for control of venereal disease) 1933: Federal Emergency Relief Administration provided limited medical, dental, and nursing services for the medically indigent 1935: Social Security Act enacted to provide retirement and death benefits, a federal/state unemployment compensation system, federal grants to states in developing public health programs, and cash benefits to dependent children, the blind, and, in 1952, the disabled. Employer and employee contributions implemented in 1937 with each contributing 1% of first $3,000 of wages. No general health benefits were included. 1945: Harry Truman was first president to present an official administration proposal for national health insurance to Congress

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First off, Congress wanted everything to be state’s rights issues. So, if a state didn’t give a hoot or holler if vast plagues swept their own population (i.e.: the slave states) then, people would die left and right. It is amazing to see how people can’t think very well: slaves were ‘subhuman’ (see: Hitler’s Master race ideology) so it didn’t matter all that much if the slaves got sick. The idea that illnesses sweeping through the wretched quarters of the field hand slaves could migrate to the Big House and kill the master’s children, baffled slave owners. After all, they thought, slaves were NOT humans at all so how could they give the ‘real’ humans (Massa and his cuddly kids) any diseases?

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We take for granted the idea that we know that germs cause diseases. Unfortunately, this is false. It wasn’t even an American that found out about germs, it was a Frenchman. And this revelation occurred at about the same time my godmother, who died at 105 years in 1964, was born!

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Louis Pasteur Quick Facts – Quick Facts – MSN Encarta

December 27, 1822 . Death September 28, 1895 . Place of Birth Dole, France . Known for Founding microbiology . Proposing the germ theory of disease, in which diseases arise from naturally existing microorganisms, not from spontaneous generation, the supposed formation of disease-causing organisms from nonliving matter . Inventing the process of pasteurization . Developing a vaccine for rabies

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Pasteur proved that diseases were NOT caused by living in sin or reading racy French novels or going to ballets or engaging in politics. He proved that many things people did to foil death were either futile or downright dangerous. For example, he campaigned hard to get doctors to WASH THEIR HANDS between patients. The medical profession thought that was very stupid. The death rate of mothers, due to doctors refusing to wash their hands, was very ferocious.

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The US public health system has to pay close attention to collective health problems: things that spread via breathing, touching, sexual intercourse, sweat, urine, feces and farming methods. These MUST be attended to and regulated. People have to cooperate with various energetic programs to prevent epidemics, pandemics and the evolution of germs. That is, if people don’t do the right things with existing therapies and medicines, diseases evolve rapidly to overturn these cures. Thus, the need for public input on dealing with say, TUBERCULOSIS.

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That dread disease is now spreading and it is resistant to modern medicines. Draconian measures must be taken but aren’t being taken, to stop this menace. Another public health menace is malaria. This, too, has evolved to the point, it no longer is stopped by modern medicines. Usually, these diseases occur when private poverty prevents patients from following the entire course of a cure. So they stop halfway and the disease surges back, often, mutating while doing this.

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To keep up with these diseases, we need public funding of research labs. The major drug companies don’t like this sort of research, it is not all that profitable. They far rather research sexual enhancement drugs, or stuff that can be used for cosmetic surgery. Vanity drives a huge sector of healthcare research and profits. So universities are often the place where our new research comes from:

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U.S. researchers find ‘signature’ of common virus | Deals | Regulatory News | Reuters

Common viruses that cause colds and flu leave a distinctive signature in the blood, and U.S. researchers said on Thursday they had found a way to pin it down. . The researchers hope to develop a test that will tell a doctor quickly whether a patient has a common cold, influenza or some other infection, and help guide treatment options. . “This work is still in a relatively early phase of discovery, but we are optimistic that these findings may lead to a whole new way of diagnosing infectious disease,” Dr. Geoffrey Ginsburg of Duke University in North Carolina, who led the study, said in a statement. . Most respiratory infections look similar — cough, sneezing, fever, headache and fatigue. There are no good quick tests and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a study, also on Thursday, showing on-the-spot flu tests miss up to half of all flu infections. [ID:nN06348322]…. ..

…The biggest value, they said, may be in helping doctors tell who has viral pneumonia and who has bacterial pneumonia. It is useless to treat viral infections with antibiotics. . “It could mean more appropriate use of antibiotics. Overuse of antibiotics can lead to the emergence of drug-resistant pathogens, and no one wants to see more of that,” Dr. Christopher Woods of Duke said in a statement





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Way back in my youth, I was 100% against feeding antibiotics to farm animals. Yes, they gain weight faster and live longer when we do this but the germs mutate over time and destroy the value of antibiotics to the MAJOR PUBLIC. Again: private farm producers are endangering the greater public because they want bigger profits from bigger animals.

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A government should stop them from doing this but of course, the big aggie guys pay Congress lots of money to not stop them so they merrily destroyed the value of antibiotics during the last 50 years.

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Massive beef recall linked to antibiotic-resistant salmonella outbreak

California firm Beef Packers Inc has recalled over 800,000 pounds of ground beef linked to an outbreak of antibiotic-resistant salmonella that has sickened people across nine states. . The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued the alert yesterday for a range of the company’s ground beef products processed between June 5-23 that were sent to retail distribution centres in Arizona, California, Colorado and Utah. The 825,769 pounds (375,349 kg) of meat had been repackaged into consumer-size amounts and sold under different retail brand names. Consumers were warned to check with local retailer to find out if they were at risk.

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Thank you, Big Factory Farming Aggie Guys! This salmonella is ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANT!!! Good gods. And this was so easy to predict. The way we abuse antibiotics and other drugs used to stop dangerous diseases is part of the public/private healthcare matrix. We cannot pretend that ‘to each his own’ is OK. Medical anarchy=death.

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BBC NEWS | Health | Are we losing the war on bugs?

We now know that the bacteria behind the current outbreak of pneumonic plague in China – Yersinia pestis – started out life as a fairly harmless inhabitant of the intestine before acquiring a gene which allowed it to infect insects, and then return to humans with devastating effects. . The strain of E.coli meanwhile which has just left two people seriously ill is a mutant form of the bacterium which lives without causing any trouble in cattle, but can be a killer in humans when it is picked up after touching an animal or eating undercooked, infected food. . Campylobacter jejuni, another cause of bacterial food poisoning, have developed cells with different surfaces: this means that even if most of them are recognised and killed by the host’s immune system, some of them will escape and proliferate. Which is what those which have developed resistance to antibiotics are also able to do. Campaigns have been launched aimed at reducing unnecessary use of treatments amid a rising number of resistant strains. . While MRSA rates have fallen dramatically, others – notably antibiotic resistant E. coli strains which cause infections of the urinary tract and the blood – are on the increase. . “Sensible prescribing is part of the answer but we also need new antibiotics – 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,” says Dr David Livermore, an infections expert at the Health Protection Agency.

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Grrr….if anyone thinks eating right and living a ‘virtuous’ life will protect them from tuberculosis or the plague… that is just nutty! Of course, it is good to eat healthy, be sanitary and to exercise but none of these activities will protect one from the major deadly diseases that are resurgent. On top of this, businesses making drugs don’t like dealing with these things, they want to find drugs we have to take all our lives. Bingo: big profits, little work.

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Below is a PEW study about antibiotics being abused by farmers:

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National Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production

Final Report: Putting Meat on The Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America Executive Summary PDF (2.7 MB)

Full Report PDF (6.2 MB) Frequently Asked Questions PDF (164 KB)

. Every day, doctors use antibiotics to treat thousands of sick children and adults. Humans depend on these life-saving medicines for their personal health. But did you know that as much as 70 percent of all antibiotics sold in the U.S. are being fed to cattle, swine, and poultry on industrial animal farms, for purposes other than treating disease? . Click here to learn more about how antibiotic use in food production threatens human health in the Human Health and Industrial Farming program by The Pew Charitable Trusts

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What puzzles me is how some people get on various strange bandwagons. For example, getting hysterical about fluoride. While at the same time, being la-de-dah about very serious potential plagues. This refusal to look at big things while getting anxious about small things is very human. We feel unease when we confront the greater forces. So we focus on trivialities.

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Water pollution from all sorts of things such as hormone drugs, antidepressants, industrial wastes, street runoffs, etc, are much more deadly and much more serious and are PUBLIC HEALTH issues, not private issues. The right wing refuses to figure this out. I cannot fathom why but then, they also trend towards wanting ‘faith’ rather than ‘reason’ when dealing with the world. So things can be overlooked. But overlooking our public health has a very steep price. That is, masses of humans can die.

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For example, stopping the nuclear bomb tests was critical for stopping the rising cancer rates that have now killed MILLIONS of people. Millions have died in this ‘silent nuclear war’ and are still dying! Yet, during the entire episode in world history, the major nuclear powers all denied that nuclear bombs caused cancer. While all of these same nations were trying to help us with public health care initiatives!

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Humans are very paradoxical creatures! One last thing:

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BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Extinction hits ‘whole families’

Whole “chunks of life” are lost in extinction events, as related species vanish together, say scientists. . A study in the journal Science shows that extinctions tend to “cluster” on evolutionary lineages – wiping out species with a common ancestor…. . …Many species have become extinct during the relatively stable periods between those global calamities. But even during such quiet periods, the team found that extinctions tended to cluster into evolutionary families – with closely-related species of clams vanishing together more often than would be predicted by chance…. . …According to this pattern, the study’s authors point out, extinctions are likely to eliminate entire branches of the evolutionary tree.

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We saw with Dutch Elm Disease, how species can be wiped out by mere germs. The roster of living things killed by the Viral Empire and the Bacterial Kingdom is long and dread. They both have rung down the curtain on many, many life forms and we must take them seriously. Which is also why we have to shut down military germ labs! Gah!!! These are extremely noxious.