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Who Are These So-Called QUACKBUSTERS? Part I
http://www.quackpo****ch.org/Wiscons...e_these_so.htm
Who are these so-called "Quackbusters"?... Opinion by Consumer Advocate Tim Bolen February 2nd, 2003 Americans have known, or suspected, for some time, that there has been an organized assault by a group, against companies, and practitioners, offering alternatives to the drugs/surgery paradigm. That group calls itself the "quackbusters," and they are a scam. I'm about to tell you WHY that assault was formally assembled, HOW THE SCAM works, and WHO the players are, and WHAT they're up to right now. In my next newsletter I'll tell you WHY, right now, Wisconsin is the important battleground. If you know who they are, and how they operate, you can beat them. North America has been going towards what are called "alternatives," in health and medicine, in a big way. More than half of the US health dollar is currently being spent on this phenomena. With new billing codes (ABC Codes) going into effect, allowing insurance and Medicare to pay for "alternative" therapies, that percentage will, no doubt, increase dramatically. In California, the fifth largest stand-alone economy in the world, where I live, the health freedom movement is much larger than anywhere else. Here, we'd rather be healthy than medicated. We've analyzed the politics of the problem, and successfully turned the political environment to our way of thinking. We simply do not put up with "quackbuster" crap, here.. Why should we? And, neither should you... Throughout this discourse keep something important in mind. It's this - we in the Health Freedom Movement outnumber the quackbusters 100,000 to 1. We've got more money than they do, and we've got better, and more talented people. We also have better lawyers. It is time to use our advantage to destroy them. WHY IT WAS FORMALLY ASSEMBLED... Three things, I believe, seriously alarmed conventional (mainstream) medicine and spurred them to action in late 1996. The FIRST thing was reports showing that medical care in this country is so bad that doctors and hospitals are listed as the third largest cause of unnecessary death. Americans have been finding out that the average MD these days, beyond the emergency room, has little to offer beyond the "magic bullet," meaning the new drug pushed this week by the drug company salesman. The bottom line in conventional medical care is a shock, and Americans are expressing their displeasure with the situation with their changes in health buying patterns - which leads to the Second thing. The SECOND thing was a 1993 report in the New England Journal of Medicine (JAMA) that showed the huge financial impact of "Alternative Medicine" on the US health care dollar. The THIRD was the Clinton Administration's identification of "health fraud" as a major cause of health care's rising costs - and the announcement of Attorney General Janet Reno's plans to deal with that issue STRONGLY. THE EFFECTS ON MAINSTREAM... STOMACH ACHE #1 - The 1993 JAMA report on Alternative Medicine... had to be a shock to conventional medicine. It showed that the American public was not in the "Marcus Welby," or the "Ben Casey" mode any more - where the guy in the white coat, with the stethoscope around his neck, was America's sole source of health advice. The "Ask Your Doctor" program was flat-out dying. The JAMA report suggested that more visits were being made to unconventional practitioners in 1990 then to conventional - 488 million unconventional visits to 388 million to primary care physicians. 13.7 billion dollars was spent on unconventional practices as opposed to 12.8 billion for hospitalization. Alternative Medicine, which excels outside of the Emergency Room was, offering real health solutions. STOMACH ACHE #2 - Then, in 1995, Janet Reno, the then Attorney General, under the direction of the US President, came out with a program identifying "health fraud" as a major problem in the US health care system. She shocked, and frightened, conventional practitioners. "Health Fraud" - was, and is, defined by the Justice Department as "Over billing, false coding, MD kickbacks, etc.." Reno, of course, was right - conventional medicine was, and is, involved in sheer greed and dishonesty. It was, and is, a huge problem. In response, mainstream medical went into orbit, trying to deflect her attack - to no avail. Janet Reno was teaching "seniors" how to read their medical bills - and turn their doctor into the Feds. The "Meds" were in trouble with the "Feds." And, still are. And, should be... So mainstream, rather than fix their own house, had to come up with a plan to counter these two assaults on their dollar intake. They did... and here it is... HOW THE SCAM WORKS... In 1996, mainstream launched their counter-attack. It was a four part dis-information Public Relations campaign designed to kill two birds (stomach aches) with one stone. They wanted Janet Reno (and the American public) off their backs, and they wanted to get rid of their upstart competitor Alternative Medicine. So they came up with a simple plan - re-define the term "health fraud" with a massive dis-information campaign. The intent was to re-define the word AWAY from Reno's definition of "Over billing, false coding, MD kickbacks, etc.." to a different focus - "Alternative Medicine." They put the plan into effect. Enter, from stage right - the "quackbusters..." PART ONE of the plan was what I call the "definition switch." Janet Reno, in her original plan, had expected cooperation from the State Medical Boards. She expected the Boards to prosecute billing cheaters. She NEVER got that cooperation. In Chicago in 1996, at the FSMB (Federation of States Medical Boards) annual meeting, a major program was presented. It was, supposedly, on "health fraud," and how to combat it. Conspicuously, there were no speakers from Janet Reno's team. If any of Janet Reno's people thought this was going to help the Federal program - they were wrong. The Feds that were attending must have been in shock, upon seeing the presentation. Only once in the program was the Fed's definition of "health fraud" ever mentioned - it was by FTC's Matt Daynard who made it clear that their (the FTC's) concerns were MUCH broader than theirs. Other than an apparently confused Daynard, no where in the program was there a discussion of how to prosecute doctors who over-billed, false coded, took kickbacks, etc. All they talked about was "Alternative Medicine," and how to prosecute it - calling it "health fraud." From that moment on - While Feds prosecuted sleazy hospitals, greedy MDs, clinics, ambulance operators, home suppliers, etc., State Medical Boards were to target two categories (a) solo practitioner MDs that recommended supplements, exercise, etc., instead of prescription drugs, and (2) unlicensed competitors to the drug/surgery dollars, i.e.; Naturopaths, Homeopaths, Nutritionists, Health food Stores, Massage Therapists, etc.. And the war began in earnest. For, even then the Health Freedom Movement, although not organized, had muscle. Hundreds of fights across the nation, ensued. PART TWO of the plan was to affect Federal Agencies - and try to redirect those agency's efforts away from the Justice Department's program, and convince them to focus their energies on "Alternative medicine" proponents. They did this with a four-part sub-plan. (a) They invited FTC and FDA lower level employees to their meetings for the express purpose of propagandizing, and kissing-up to them. (b). They created a system of "meetings" where they had access to those Federal employees on a regular basis - for the purpose of propagandizing them (c) They used their contacts within those Federal agencies to gain unwarranted credibility for their own plans, and anti-alternative medicine programs. (d) They got the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to give them official government credibility. PART THREE of the plan, was a propaganda gambit. It was in two parts (a) create a so-called "information base." Websites appeared, sounding authoritative, like Stephen Barrett's sleazy www.quackwatch.com, and others. The questionable organization, the National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF), was to provide so-called "expert witnesses" for testimony. The FSMB was to act as a clearinghouse, both for names of people suggested for prosecution (persecution), and for where to find "information" and "expert witnesses." And more... DHHS was duped into giving the quackbusters unwarranted credibility. Type in the key words "health fraud" on a government website, and up pops the National Council Against Health Fraud's website, and quackwatch.com. The second part (b) , and equally important was to demonize, and criminalize, all aspects of "alternatives" through false suggestions, or claims, against them. For instance; The claim that herbals are "untested" and not "standardized" is simply a ploy to make herbals look bad. Herbals do not need to be "tested," nor "standardized." . Herbals are more like wine - since they are a natural product, dependant upon natural factors like weather, no two batches are going to be the same. Herbals, being part of nature (part of earth's life cycle) have been field tested since the beginning of time. The "testing" process we the people put in place is for new "drugs," not herbals - those things, unlike herbals, that have NEVER been introduced into the human body before. Generally speaking, drugs are HUGELY DANGEROUS - hence the warnings of side effects. PART FOUR of the plan was to create a relationship with Medicare, and the health Insurance Industry, to supposedly, advise them of "health fraud." It incorporated, in a sub-plan parts One, Two, and Three, above |
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