Preventative Care Continues To Be Ignored
It is shocking that in 2013 this is the “stock” Medicare letter that goes out to patients who inquire about getting coverage for “Maintenance Therapy” aka Preventative Therapy:
Medicare Information
“Maintenance Therapy is not considered by Medicare to be medically reasonable and necessary, and is NOT reimbursable by Medicare. Maintenance Therapy includes services that seek to prevent disease, promote health, and prolong and enhance the quality of life, or maintain or prevent deterioration of a chronic condition. Medicare never covers Laser Treatment, Nutritional Counseling, Chiropractic exams, Therapeutic Procedures or Muscle stimulation.”
Note from Dr. Purcell
I have been in the field of Alternative and Integrative Medicine for fifteen years. In that time I have worked hard to help my patients reach their health goals and get to the next level in their lives. This is something that can rarely be achieved with the standard “symptom suppression” of conventional medicine.
I have also waited patiently as the grass roots movement of natural and preventative medicine has risen to the surface. This can easily be seen in the success of local farmers markets, large health food stores such as Whole Foods, the availability of organic foods in conventional groceries and so on.
Mainstream Medicine continues to resist and ignore the concept that natural substances, nutritional supplements and dietary modifications can be useful in preventing and treating disease. This is in spite of hundreds if not thousands of double-blind studies supporting the use of natural medicine. The body of scientific evidence continues to grow and more people are being awakened to the benefits of natural therapies.
I know that changing the status quo takes time. I also know that when we as a population are faced with new ideas that fly in the face of conventional dogma we can either embrace them or ignore them. (Remember long ago when the majority of the population thought the sun to revolve around the earth? And then decided to imprison the man who told them otherwise? And then the population did indeed find the earth and other planets to revolve around the sun. Woops!)
Let me tell you a little secret…Preventative medical care is less expensive than mainstream medicine. Sure you may pay a bit more up front to prevent and reverse disease but that is peanuts compared to the bill you will get for back surgery or any type of prolonged hospital stay.
I can tell you first hand that Natural Medicine works. It isn’t some type of hippy dippy nonsense. Natural therapies are based in Science, and treatment recommendations are quite logical once you understand how your body works.
This short statement by Medicare makes it very clear that if you want to prevent deterioration and disease, and prolong or enhance the quality of your life it is up to YOU!
Unless you have incredible genes, Health Happens by Choice not Chance.
Preventative care is the only way to maintain optimal health and more people are realizing it each day. This is the future of medicine and in order for it to evolve it requires a consistent joint effort from like-minded individuals.
