How Great is the Canadian Health System - NOT

Tune in to Medicine on Call today at 9:00 AM only on www.americaswebradio.com and listen to Dr. Elaina George, M.D. discuss the terrible health care system in Canada with former Canadian Dr. Lee Kurisko. Dr Kurisko exposes what one goes through in Canada and what we can expect in the US under the stupid ObamaCare plan, it sucks! Sorry no other way to describe it!

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What Is In The Swine H1N1 Flu Vaccine: A Primer

By Elaina George, MD

There has been a lot of confusion about what ingredients are in the H1N1 Vaccine. In order to distill the information to make it easier for you to make an informed choice, here is a brief synopsis of the information provided by the manufacturers in their package inserts.

There are 4 manufactures who have been approved to sell H1N1 vaccine in the US. They are: Novartis, CSL, Sanofi/Pasteur and MedImmune

1. Novartis makes an injectable vaccine for ages 4 and above
Ingredients: Thimerosal (Mercury) both in the single dose and the multi dose vials
Antibiotics - polymyxin and neomycin (can be neurotoxic)

Manufactured with phenol (the chemical used on skin in cosmetic face peals to remove wrinkles)

Note: They recommend that children ages 4-9 get 2 injections one month apart. This would increase the risk from a reaction to the mercury (e.g, neurological damage such as Gullain-Barre or possibly Autism)

2. CSL makes an injectable vaccine. Only the multi dose vial contains thimerosal

3. Sanofi/Pasteur - Only the multi dose vial contains thimerosal

vaccine is made with polyethelene glycol (antifreeze) and formaldehyde (a chemical used in embalming).

*These three vaccines are grown in chicken embryo cells. So if a person has severe allergies to eggs, they are at risk of having an allergic reaction and should therefore not take the vaccine.

4. MedImmune makes a live attenuated H1N1 vaccine that has an intranasal delivery.

It does not contain thimerosal, but has the food additive MSG (monosodium glutamate) which can cause reactions in some people who are sensitive, it also contains gentamycin (an antibiotic which can be neurotoxic and cause hearing loss)

As per the package inserts from all of the manufacturers:

Note: "Carcinogenesis, Mutagenesis, Impairment of Fertility
Neither FLUVIRIN nor the Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine have been evaluated for carcinogenic or mutagenic potential, or for impairment of fertility."

*In other words, NONE of the H1NI vaccines have been evaluated for the possible potential to cause cancer, birth defects or its effect on fertility. This is according to the information from all of the manufacturers.

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It's Your Health!

6 Ways Your Health Insurance Company Makes It Hard For Your Doctor To Take Care Of You

By: Dr. Elaina George

There is a major misconception about the reasons for the rise in the cost of healthcare. Procedures and the practice of defensive medicine have been described as the main reasons for the exponential rise. However, the reality could not be farther from what is portrayed on TV series like Nip/Tuck. The medical insurance industry has fueled the campaign of misinformation to enhance their divide and conquer strategy. As long as people spend their energy on blaming doctors, they have less energy to pay attention to rising deductibles, premiums and co-insurance. In short, the insurance companies benefit by keeping doctors and patients at odds. In reality when a doctor charges for a procedure or performs a surgery what is paid is no where near the amount that was charged. In short, the increase in patient premiums, deductibles etc… have gone to pay administrative costs and CEO salaries.

These are 6 things you need to know so you can understand the barriers your doctor has to navigate to take good care of you:

1. Insurance companies change what they will pay for

Through the pre-certification process, insurance companies will change what services they will reimburse. This list can change yearly. It is driven by insurance company costs and not by medical necessity as determined by the doctor and the patient.

2. Insurance companies have gatekeepers that look for reasons to deny recommended services

Insurance companies have physicians and/or nurses on staff that can deny services. The person that reviews the procedure may not even be someone familiar with the medical procedure (for example, a psychiatrist reviewing the records of a surgeon).

3. Insurance gatekeepers get bonus compensation when they save the company money

This is pretty self explanatory – it pays to deny care.

4. Insurance companies discount payments for surgery and other procedures.

This is a process called bundling. If the procedure has a left and right side like knee surgery or has several steps. like sinus surgery, the surgeon will be paid a steeply discounted rate that can be as high as an 80% discount. For example, a surgeon will be paid the discounted insurance allowed amount for the 1^st side and 50% for the second side. If it is a multi-step procedure, the surgeon will be paid the allowed amount for the 1^st step, 50% for the second step and 25% for 3-5^th step then nothing for anything beyond the 5^th step.

5. Insurance companies make a bigger profit by delaying payment to doctors

A study showed that an insurance company can make as much as $84,000 in bank interest rates each day they pay

a claim late. By law an average clean claim (with no errors) should be paid from 14-30 days after it is submitted

by a doctor’s office. The average claim is paid anywhere from 30-45 days. Some claims, after multiple appeals,

can take up to a year to be paid after the service was given.

6. Insurance companies can ask the doctor for reimbursement of paid claims indefinitely.

A doctor has 120 days to submit a claim, after that time he/she may not submit a charge or charge the patient. However, an insurance company can ask for reimbursement with no time limit.