Category: Health Autonomy

Tell your legislators that we need legislation that will increase consumer access to natural products. Action Alert! In the last Congress, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-MN) introduced a bill that would allow Health Savings Account (HSA) funds to go toward dietary supplements without having to get a doctor’s prescription; the same would apply to… Continue reading Natural Products Championed in Congress

New rules for physician payments through Medicare went into effect on January 1. Here’s what you need to know. In 2015, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) was signed into law. The legislation called for significant changes to how physicians are paid for treating Medicare patients. It repealed the Sustainable Growth Rate formula… Continue reading Feds Tighten Grip on US Medicine

Meanwhile, the FDA won’t stop trying to eliminate brain health supplements. We think they want to clear the field for when they finally do approve a drug. Two years ago we reported that Eli Lilly had a potential blockbuster drug for Alzheimer’s in the third and final phase of FDA trials. If it won approval,… Continue reading Another Alzheimer’s Drug a Huge Flop

Another example of profits coming before people in the medical establishment. (Note that prostate and breast cancers have many similarities, so women may want to read this for themselves as well as for the men in their lives.) Last year, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published an editorial advising doctors to be… Continue reading Medical Cronies Attack Better Prostate Treatment

More reason to question their common use among the very old and very young. A new study has found that taking powerful antipsychotic drugs significantly increases the likelihood of premature death for Alzheimer’s patients. The study looked at 58,000 people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s between 2005 and 2011. Those who were prescribed antipsychotics (usually to control… Continue reading Antipsychotics: Are They Killing OLD People?

Is it reaching a criminal level? A recent report by Reuters details how hospitals around the country are outrageously negligent when it comes to reporting outbreaks of antibiotic-resistant infections, and it’s costing lives. Consider this story. Between 2008 and 2011, twenty-one patients were infected with a deadly, drug-resistant bug at St. Anthony’s Medical Center in… Continue reading Hospital Malpractice

Studies on the effectiveness of the drug industry’s biggest sellers are frankly shocking, according to researchers. We—as individual consumers and as taxpayers—are apparently wasting money on expensive drugs that don’t work. And the side effects are often disastrous. “Every day, millions of people are taking medications that will not help them,” says Nicholas J. Schork,… Continue reading Drugs Don’t Work!

Not only do they make your acid reflux problems worse, they actually sicken your unborn child. Action Alert! An analysis of eight different studies, including data from over 1.6 million patients, found that taking heartburn medication during pregnancy significantly increases the risk for asthma for the baby. The researchers found that proton pump inhibitors (such… Continue reading Want Your Kid to Have Asthma? Take Acid Blockers!

Another key natural medicine to bite the dust? Action Alert! The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is moving against cannabidiol (CBD), a supplement used to control pain and inflammation. The circumstances are extremely suspicious. Late last year, the DEA published a final rule that classifies marijuana and hemp extracts, including CBD, as Schedule 1 controlled substances—a… Continue reading In Pain? Feds Don’t Care!

Governments and much of the press seem to be covering up that Flint is just the tip of the iceberg. State-based Action Alert! We reported last month that in Flint, Michigan, tap water in residents’ homes contained astonishing levels of lead, as high as 104 parts per billion (ppb), when the Environmental Protection Agency’s limit… Continue reading Is Your Town Leaking Lead?