Thank you for sharing how you feel!!!

It’s awesome to hear these opinions!

I really recommend you sign up for the webinar at the end of this article to learn what Steve and Jordan did to escape this cycle themselves 🙂

Here’s the link: http://practitionerliberationproject.com/webinar/live/

I am from the Netherlands originally, lived in the US and now in Canada, so I can compare the three health care systems.
First of all, the Dutch system is the best of the three, because it is relatively cheap, efficient and straightforward. Let me give four examples:
1) I go in to see my Dutch family physician. I have about ten/fifteen minutes per visit, if I need more time, I have to book a double appointment. I then go to a building which is much better looking than any American practice I have been into (and I have seen many, unfortunately): modern, stylish and well-equipped. The physician has one assistant. There is no co-payment. Afterwards, I will get one bill, for my own records. The insurance handles the actual payment, I pay nothing. A regular visit was around 40 euros in 2007, the year that we left the Netherlands. In Massachusetts, this was several hundred dollars. There, we would receive tons of bills and a lengthy process of who pays what would start. In the end, an incomprehensible amount of money was going to be our co-payment, which came on top of the one we paid at the counter at the time of the visit. In other words, not only did we pay a (very high) premium to the American insurance, but also a co-payment and then another co-payment after everything was said and done.
2) my daughter had warts which needed to be frozen. In the Netherlands, this is done immediately by the physician. Costs: included in the 40 euros (which the insurance pays). In Massachusetts, the physician charged me $80 per wart on top of the costs for the visit, plus I had to make a new appointment (and take my daughter again out of school).
3) my daughter needed a blood test. In the Netherlands, I will go to a blood clinic, where I pull a number, wait a while, and then go into a small office, where a nurse does the blood work. Total amount of time, waiting time excluded as that may vary: less than ten minutes. No bills afterwards, as everything is handled between the lab and the insurance company. Canada has a similar approach, but has a longer waiting time for results.
In Massachusetts, daughter also needed bloodwork. It took us the whole morning. I counted the number of people involved: fifteen! Afterwards, the usual cascade of bills sprung up.
4) when in the Netherlands, someone is unable to come to the doctor’s practice, the doctor goes to the patient. House visits are common. There is no extra charge.

The main problems in the American health care system, as I observe it, are too much staff and too much risk for litigation. These are the main causes for the spectacular costs involved in a system that is backward compared to what I was used to.
For instance, we heard of a specialist in Florida, who spent about half of her salary on insurance costs against litigation. That is ridiculous. As non-Americans would say: that only happens in America (not meant as a compliment).
A simplified system would mean more efficiency, a drastic reduction of costs and more direct lines of communication between doctors and patients. But it also implies a lot of people without a job. For in the American health care system (and the Canadian, which follows in the footsteps of the American): there are far too many staff workers surrounding the person who does the actual work. A Dutch physician usually has one assistant, that is it. So streamlining the American system to the Dutch model would mean job cuts in a major field of employment. Do you want that?
Thirdly, on a personal level, getting healthy again requires guts, literally and figuratively speaking. Stop watching American television, with its fear mongering and sensational shows. Get real. Then, take responsibility for yourself. Be glad that you found the SCD-website – thank you so much Steve, for being out there on the internet, for you and Jordan have opened my road to healing -, and start acting accordingly. Stop putting decisions about your own health into other people’s hands. Explore what is out on the internet, especially when your doctor tells you not to do so. Do not believe what your doctors tell you if it does not resonate.
Fourthly, regarding the quality of doctors: there are good doctors in a bad system, and there are bad doctors in a good system. Nothing however beats a good doctor in a good system.

Personally, I refused to live in the States anymore, after sickening and costly experiences with its health care system. That is the main reason we left the country and went to Canada. If it had not been Canada, we would have gone back to Europe. But staying in a country where I was not safe health-wise, was no longer an option, even while the job was excellent.
In Canada, the health care is not as streamlined and efficient and modern as it is in the Netherlands, but it is much simpler and better doable than the American. My own doctor is originally from Poland, and she talks common sense. The oncologists I have seen, were slaves to Big Pharma, so useless. A surgeon I saw had a French background, also fine. My osteopath is from Germany and she works miracles. In the Canadian hospitals, there is not the constant frenzy that hangs in the American ones, but a more laidback atmosphere, like in the Netherlands. Difficult to explain what I mean with that, but it has to do with a basic attitude towards illness: is the main goal to heal, or is the main goal to make money?

I hope this helps you and readers getting an idea of what is out there in the world when it comes to health care systems.
I have no personal experience, but have heard some great examples of the French health care. Even though French like to complain about everything and nothing, I get the impression they have one of the best health care systems in the world. Any comments on that?

And I found this in my Canadian newspaper. It focuses on this part of the oath of Hippocrates: “Whatsoever house I may enter, my visit shall be for the convenience and advantage of the patient”:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/a-challenge-for-new-doctors-focus-on-the-patient-not-just-the-symptoms/article24859080/

Hi Sofie, thanks for reaching out and sharing your opinion here. While i am not aware of any specific international organization, I can say that there are many program (Like the practitioner Liberation program from Jordan and Steve) as well as many schools (Like the Institute of Transformational Nutrition) that are doing there part to educate people and help build a better way. We encourage you to continue to educate your self by reading and surrounding your self with the people you have mentioned in your comment.

Hey Mandy – totally, I don’t want to take away from the pain and tragedy of health issues. They suck while in it. However, my health struggles have become the greatest source of emotional, physical, spiritual and relationship healing… I can’t be more grateful to have travelled the road I have.

Thanks Jennifer and great job! I just learned about this medical sharing orgs. Doing some research on them now. I love how your’s is working. It’s a shared responsibility with you and them and the practitioners. I believe this is a much better way to do things in health.

Thanks Gloria! Looks like you didn’t finish your question, let me know what it is.

Hey Tina – Thank you for this! I love getting the feedback. I do not agree that more gov regulation is a good idea, having worked for the gov in the past they will do nothing but make it worse. Here’s where I’m coming from as far as the insurance system game.

Just like in any market, better people will have more demand and command more money. So the best practitioners will always likely be outside of the insurance game and always have been… it’s just that since Obamacare’s passing and the extra paperwork and lower reimbursement rates, now an even greater percentage of practitioners are not willing to accept that kind of market so they are moving to combos of insurance plus fees or just cash based. And I believe this will keep happening over the next few years. I don’t think anyone should fault them, they should be rewarded for their skills and they would in any other market.

I hate that you spend 24K a year that’s so sad to me. If you took that 24K and put it into out of pocket really good functional medicine practitioners you’d be BLOWN away by the changes that would happen. That’s a lot of money.

There are alternatives to spending that amt of money in the insurance game. Where I see things going is most people carrying catastrophic insurance only and then saving the rest of the money, year after year in a savings account for you and your families health bills. And you’ll likely be spending that cash on cash only practitioners.

I don’t think the total spend always needs to go up, I think there’s ways to play the insurance game less and invest the money in other areas where the returns are much greater. Thank you for stopping to comment when you never do 🙂

Thanks Cyndee for sharing this! I love hearing if I’m on or off. Agreed we need to do this now for us and for our children!

Thanks Allison, agreed. The system has some MAJOR faults in it. And unfortunately I don’t see it changing anytime soon from the top down. So I think to change it the people inside of it who actually have more power than we realize can begin to do it through our time and money and participation in it.

I don’t completely agree with that Rogb. I actually don’t have a full answer yet for the system otherwise I’d be talking bout it, but I like to keep debating it. Which is why I appreciate this comment. Michael Moore is one of the greatest marketers alive right now. His films are NEVER a biased source of info… great for info on one side of the equation and one view point. Just make sure to go to the far other side and read their marketing info too. I respect him but I think it’s best to realize what he does and how he makes money.

Hey Kat, sorry your stuck in the current modern medical system, if you can see if you can get into someone who is into Functional Medicine or Integrative Medicine they will likely get you way more success than you’ve gotten yet. It goes back to my point #2 for patients. The current insurance game system really doesn’t offer much help unless it’s an acute problem (in this case it’s really good).

Thanks Sarah! You said it more eloquent than me. We are all in this together, so the faster we all get on the same page and start voting with our dollars and time the changes will come.

Awesome Lynn! I’m excited for you to go to the new person. You are right you can’t spend you’re whole day trying to learn about health. It sounds like you are already way more educated than 90% of all patients. Just keep that up and keep trying the FM route. Wishing you the best.

Thanks Caryn! I’m so glad you liked it and got value of it.

And thank you for the update about the GERD call, so glad it’s working for you, keep us updated on the progress!

Hey Sarah – click on the links (1 and 2) above you’ll see Canada is ranked ahead of the US in 2 different studies, if you add in the WHO rankings which I didn’t use that makes 3. That being said — I’ve heard over and over that most Canadians are very unhappy with their healthcare. Sorry it’s so bad there too.

In addition, it is so very difficult for a patient to navigate this broken health care system.

Physicians as well as patients have allowed the gradual decline of our health care system and it is time we stand up and take it back… for ourselves and for our children!

You are, indeed, creating world class materials. Though the thousands of dollars I’ve spent in the last year and a half on alternative practitioners have had value on other issues, the $40 I invested in your GERD seminar was one of my best moves yet. Combining the phase one supplements with the HCL + Enzymes I was already taking has caused a major reduction in symptoms. Still waiting to make sure the improvement will stick, and if I can heal the underlying problem, but a huge thank you from me!