RCS Posts: Health with acupuncture, cheaper and better and politics.
It the wonderfully effective practice of acupuncture were to become common in the United States, the cost of healthcare there would drop. That is, improved healthcare care could very well become more affordable. People in the US could pay less for improved healthcare and become more able to pay for that care.
Cheaper and better seems a good deal.
The profession of anesthesiology could suffer because of the ability of acupuncture, in very many cases, to handle pain more safely, effectively, and with less expense.
MDs (medical doctors), anesthesiologists, and many drug manufacturers form a group not interested in supporting the use of acupuncture. They have strong reasons for that lack of support, mostly economical reasons. The AMA (American Medical Association) has shown itself to be not interested in promoting acupuncture. Healthcare users are the ones to be interested in bringing it to their own countries, but have been slow to learn about it; slow to learn because there have been few teachers and little information available.
With these little essays on acupuncture, I hope to educate myself and others on the topic. For the good effective use of acupuncture we benefit from our understanding and that of professionals in the field.
With increased use of acupuncture the huge amount of drugs American MDs prescribe would probably be less. Fewer prescriptions could mean less profit for drug manufacturers and a saving for many of us. So, we may add drug manufacturers to the group of those not interested in supporting the use of acupuncture.
Drug manufacturers have been interested in politics. They have formed and use powerful lobbying organizations in Washington. Drug companies contribute large sums of money to selected kinds of research. They have invested little in acupuncture. It seems safe to say that drug manufacturers are unlikely to support a health system which is not founded on drugs.
So, an active part of the medical establishment establishment has acrually organized to resist the use of acupuncture in the US.
For the individual the use of acupuncture could mean significantly lower medical costs and better health. What can the individual do about the use of acupuncture and the better of our health care system? Something, but not much. However, individuals can do all that is necessary. Note the letter "s" i have affixed as the last letter in the word "individuals." Individuals know how to co-operate and can act together effectively. They can even join an organization.
Greater use of acupuncture leads to significantly lower medical costs and to healthier health care. Acupuncture is a safer way to handle pain than is the use of drugs.
There is more we can do, and more we can learn. We are many and can co-operate.
The French, Russians, and others have encountered resistance to the practice of acupuncture of acupuncture, but have overcome much of it and are learning more of the practice and have been benefiting from it since about 1960. Even the Chinese have experienced some resistance related to the social changes there in recent decades. However, now the Chinese are now benefiting nicely from their use of acupuncture. Their excellent training has been renewed and continued research supported. There is wide active co-operation practitioners of acupuncture and the practice of western style medicine in use in China. Nearly all of china is now benefiting from better healthcare and more affordable costs from that co-operation.
In the United States about 20% of the costs to individuals for many procedures to to the anesthesiologist and his monitoring equipment. Monitoring is important, but can be excellent at lower costs. As we learn more about acupuncture, its safety, the way it can shorten hospital stays, and its chances for reducing insurance fees, the more interesting it looks.
It seems to me that we have much to gain from the practice of and further research in our use of acupuncture and that we are not doing enough to avail ourselves of important benefits.
I have said that acupuncture reduces and stops much pain in ways safer than those now common to us. When we look into the wonderful ways it can supplement our present healthcare by successfully treating and healing many ailments in ways our present system has had little success, it seems to be an area of healthcare we must explore.
You can begin to do something now. You can co-operate, team-up, partner-up. You can check around for good information about acupuncture near you. You can begin to separate the nonsense from good sense available online. You can share with family and friends the information you have and about where you lack information. You can ask people, that you know are interested in health, about where you can get more information.
You could look around to see if there is a practitioner near you with a good reputation. You might speak with that professional and ask him about his training and what he can do for you and yours. Or you may even be able to discover an organization interest in acupuncture which you can access. You could ask them what they are doing and think over their answers. You could check-out my other posts on acupuncture.
There may not be much you can do on your own and you really don't have to do anything. Still I believe that you can find that which you can do. We can learn a lot. We can help others around us just by raising our own awareness of the practice of acupuncture.
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Thanks for reading.
RCS