I first heard about "alternative" medicine when I was quite young - under 10 at any rate - when a family acquaintance was diagnosed with cancer. The conventional medical system threw up its hands and the friends were talking about alternative. I remember I asked "what's 'alternative' medicine?" The answer was along the lines of doing things that were different, that might work, but there was no science behind it. As time went on, I heard this litany more and more.
Now, I realize this litany arises from a conventional medical system and the pharmaceutical industry that supports it as a way of suppressing competition.
Not exactly a conspiracy theory, as this concept comes right out of the mouths of the conventional medical system itself. The American Medical Association, the AMA, was actually founded in an attempt to essentially unionize the regular medical system against the competition from the system of medicine known as Homeopathy. This is all captured nicely in a four volume work entitled Divided Legacy by Harris Coulter.
In particular the last 50 years or so has seen increasing levels of attacks against ALL forms of natural, holistic, "alternative" medicine. This is always done under the guise that natural medicine is less effective, unproven and therefore, probably dangerous. Throughout my book Heal Your Life, Heal the World, I present ample evidence that this is not the case; in fact, exactly the opposite is true in most cases. If you would like to see some of the evidence, I refer you to the book and the many, many references I have for each chapter. Right now, I want to present a slightly different take on all this modern "health" care snafu we are all faced with, which quite frankly is getting worse by the day if not by the hour.
As I have presented in my book (no, I'm not going to retype the entire title every time I refer to it), there are essentially two main aspects of health care these days, which if you come to terms with these two things, it will really help you cut through the rhetoric and get to the core of the truth. 1) Does modern "health" care work to actually get sick people well, and keep well people from getting sick? 2) Why does "health" care cost so much in this country?
We collectively spend almost 20% of our total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on so called health care, almost double the percentage of the other developed countries. Yet, our long term health outcomes are worse than many so-called third world countries.
As examples, when I compiled the data and did most of the research for my book in 2017, I gathered long-term statistics on average lifespan, infant mortality, childhood mortality and maternal deaths during childbirth. These measures are considered some of the most important for measuring the overall health of a society. When preparing for some lectures earlier this year, I searched out the latest data and here is what I found. The rankings are our position out of 193 countries.
Factor 2017 rank 2022 rank
Average life span 31 46
Infant mortality 45 52
Childhood mortality 45 50
Maternal deaths 33 57
These data clearly show that the United States has gotten worse, a lot worse, in every category, in just 5 years. When I first compiled the data 5 years ago, I was appalled at how bad we were then. 5 years on, what has happened in our "health" care system is abysmal. If we fired doctors and health care administrators with the same level of intensity that we fire athletic coaches when they don't produce championships or at least playoff appearances often enough, pretty much the entire US health care system would be out of a right now, and quite frankly, except for ERs and Urgent Care staffs, they probably should be.
Just a few words about health care costs before moving in to the real subject of today's blog, which is, how is our health care system going to work when the power grid shuts down, and more importantly, how are you going to take care of yourself and family when local stores are out of over-the-counter medications, out of nutritional supplements, and worse, out of food. Believe me, missing your favorite extra soft toilet paper will be the least of your concerns. After all, humans and our ancestors have been successfully pooping for a few million years now, mostly without toilet paper.
The cost issue has had entire books written about why things cost so much more here. When certain procedures cost 10s of thousands of dollars here, but only a few thousand dollars in places like Mexico or Europe, people can, and have, flow to Europe, had their surgeries or other procedures, stayed for a month or two to recuperate and have a nice European vacation, then come home, all for a lot less than it would have cost here in the US.
The image I've included with this blog shows the relative growth in the US for the number of physicians, compared to hospital administrators. Want to know why the hospital charge you $100 for a band aid during your last visit? Here is a huge part of why. You paid about 25 cents for the band aid, $10 for the nurse to put it on, and the other 90 dollars went to pay for the vacations, yachts and mansions of the hospital administrators. When I say we could fire all the administrators and not miss them, I meant it! We absolutely wouldn't miss them. In fact, I predict that if we did fire them, our health care outcomes would instantly start improving.
So, California and other areas of the country are being routinely hit by rolling blackouts. These may be caused by long term utility companies not paying for maintenance, there may be other technical reasons, and as some conspiracy documentation sites suggest, it may simply be due to a desire to jerk people around, stir the pot, foment fear and a sense of urgent dependency on the system. Any or all of these may be contributing causes. Just keep in mind all this started long before any of the latest main-stream-media propagated excuses. Gas prices went up a year before Russia invaded Ukraine, but were the result of the war? Really?
At the end of the day, I don't have time to be an expert on everything, but I have been around the block often enough, for enough decades to recognize a duck when I see one walking, swimming, quacking, flying and pooping with all the other ducks.
What I actually AM an expert on, is natural health care. You can grow about 20 herbs in pots in your window sills or on your patio and use them to treat about 75% of the common ailments you or your family might face. Add in wild harvesting of herbs in local forests, and you can probably treat about 20% more, meaning, with just a little proactivity on your part, you've got 95% of the common ailments from earaches to belly aches, rashes and fevers taken care of. No supply chain issue, and generally speaking, no electrical power required so let the blackouts come, and they are. If they haven't gotten around to your neighborhood yet, just be patient. While you're waiting, start exploring complete off-grid power systems. Your city or homeowner's association won't allow them? Time to move.
There are quite a few other ways you can help yourself and family besides growing your own herbal medicines, so stay tuned to upcoming blogs to learn about them. There is also my book Heal Your Life, Heal the World, as well as my Dr. Cage Says online health community, which is devoted entirely to educating you to be self-sufficient and proactive in the areas of Health and Wellness as well as upgrading human consciousness. Why do I put so much emphasis on Consciousness, you ask?
Short answer, because this is the only thing that will allow us to upgrade our world when the "powers that be" are fully engaged in downgrading and degrading our world. Long answer? Stay tuned for my next blog.
To quote my book: "This book is an instruction manual for how to restore and maintain your health. In the past, too much emphasis has been placed on disease: how to define it, how to fight it, and how to be comfortable living with it. Not nearly enough emphasis has been placed on the concept that health is our birthright, that we are all supposed to be healthy, and that health is a means to a much more important goal: the larger spiritual goal that is the purpose of our life."
So, let's get started. Read the book, and join my online community of like-minded individuals.
Dr. Cage