17% of our GDP is spent on health care, thus health care has gone from being a personal issue to a public policy debate. In this 20 year retrospective on this issue we feature various perspectives: liberal, conservative and libertarian.
Dr. Ed Annis on the Health Care Debate
In 1994 Dr. Ed Annis the author of Code Blue joined us with his views. Dr. Ed Annis had rebutted President John Kennedy on his platform on health care.
We asked him, “How did the national health care debate come about?”
Dr. Ed Annis responded, “Well there were philosophical flaws, politicians were biased and the media was belligerent… The problem is government not health care.” He addressed Medicare by saying, “People should be allowed to provide for themselves if they can.” Dr. Ed Annis stated that just because one has a birthday of 65 does not mean one is entitled. He then addressed permeation and gradualism.
Max Sawicky on Health Care as a National System
Dennis quoted Arthur Schlesinger, from The Partisan Review of 1947, on the transition to socialism. And we made the transition to Max Sawicky of the Economic Policy Institute who joined us in 1999. Max said, “I would move health care into a national system.” Max believes we can’t afford anything else. “If health care is made on the basis of profit- everyone is priced according to their worth.”
Dr. John Goodman on the “Bureaucratic Health Care System”
Dr. John Goodman, the father of medical savings accounts, joins us in 2010, and has this to say:
“We have a bureaucratic, dysfunctional health care system with perverse incentives… In 1993 Hilary Clinton, wanted to nationalize health care. She failed. Look at the “S Chip” program for children that ration health care, and the difficulty seeing doctors. Expenditures for health care have gone up from $500 billion in 1990 to $2 trillion today.”
Impact of Drugs on Society
From health care we go to drugs and their impact on society and our system overall. Jacob Sullum, Senior Editor of Reason Magazine, joins us in 2007 and comments on the direct correlation between prohibition and drugs. We hear from several voices on various sides of this issue. Philip Jordan, former director of the El Paso International Center, seemed to find a similarity between prohibition and drugs, even though the drug enforcement code Dennis reads says differently. Rusty White, a former prison guard says, “In a controlled environment like a prison, drugs still get in.”
From drug use to new cures and behaviors we visit with Dr. Kevin Gilliland, CEO of Innovations 360. “Drugs,” he says, “wreck a person’s self image. They rob you of your sense of self. Addiction is not a moral failing.”
On that same program in 2009, Christopher Kennedy Lawford joins us with his story of the genetic disease within his family, how as an adolescent he lived through the assassinations of two uncles, and he comments on the conditions within his family and how this led to a very troubled youth. He comments, “traumatized and troubled youth, sometimes turn to drugs or alcohol”. He says, “Drugs and alcohol gave me a way out. They saved my life.” Christopher Lawford Kennedy is now an activist, educating others on alcohol and drug abuse.
Health and Wellness
From drugs and dependence we go to health and wellness, with a look at a revolutionary new care, Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment. Alene Creacy and her husband Bill join us with their story and the importance of this treatment. Claudine, a Canadian mother, talks about the process and how it has helped her sons, born with cerebral palsy. Claudine actually demonstrates the chamber and how the oxygen helps.
In terms of wellness, Dr. T. Colin Campbell joins us in 2009 to talk about good eating habits. Dr. T. Colin Campbell, author of The China Study, the most comprehensive nutritional study ever conducted, became a vegetarian as a result of his research. He shakes his head at the hosts’ eating habits and says, “no to sugar, no to burritos, but salsa isn’t bad. And chocolate, well, that’s a plant based food!”
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#1819 – 04.08.10
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During an interview and follow-up Q & A with T. Colin Campbell, PhD., author of The China Study, Campbell discusses what we should eat, shouldn’t eat and how to eat right in a fast food nation. Campbell, a strong proponent of vegan benefits for health, disease prevention, and longevity of life goes on to further explain details of his research and findings during his China Health Study.
Campbell’s initial research consisted of in-depth lab research focusing on the consumption of animal based foods versus plant based foods and its effect on the rate of disease. In his research, conducted in China, he and his team surveyed 130 villages (6,500 families) taking necessary samples, such as blood and urine, and sited nutrient levels and elements of that nature. They then compared information on their blood health with the rates of disease for 400+ kinds of diseases.
Their findings clearly indicated that to have optimized health, animal products should be eliminated and a strict vegan diet is the healthiest way to prevent disease.
Throughout the course of the interview and Q & A, he continues to compare the China study’s diet with the Mediterranean diet, the myth of animal calcium intake, the role of fat in relation to disease and more.
Following the original airing of this episode, host, Dennis McCuistion tried out the diet to see if it was everything it claimed. Click here to see his findings on Vegan Benefits to Health.
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04.19.09 – 1714
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In Part One of the two-part series on science and health with T. Colin Campbell, PhD., Campbell discusses his findings on what science is actually saying about health and nutrition and the vegan benefits to health. Dr. Campell is the author of The China Study, a Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University and the Project Director of the China-Oxford-Cornell Diet and Health Project.
Click here to read how Dennis McCuistion applied the principles of this episode in his vegetarian diet experiment.
There is an obvious health problem in the United States. While, American citizens spend more on health care than any other country, two-thirds of the country is overweight. Greater than 15 million Americans have diabetes, more than 1 million have high cholesterol and half of all Americans have a health problem that requires them to use a prescription drug. Dr. Campbell sought to discover what, if any, are the changes that could be made to the American diet to better prevent disease. Partnering with Cornell, Oxford and the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, Dr. Campbell conducted his study.
The American diet consists of high quantities of protein. However, the findings of The China Study suggest that there are significant vegan benefits to health. Disease increases when a person consumes more than 10% protein in comparison to his or her daily caloric intake. The average American has a protein consumption of 17-18% and 70-75% of that is from animal foods. Through Campbell’s research, it became very clear that there is a direct relationship between animal protein intake and disease increase. The findings showed that as soon as animal protein started to show up in the diet, there was an increase in cholesterol, cancer and heart disease.
Dr. Campbell, closes his conversation noting that his intention in his message is not to push an opinion on listeners, but rather to provide information to the public that unfortunately has not been taught. His concern is that the information the public tends to receive is incorrect, therefore consumers cannot make educated choices on healthy diets. The facts from his study clearly point toward strong vegan benefits to healthy living.
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04.12.09 – 1713
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Dennis McCuistion and a panel of guests discuss alternative ways to feel better and stay healthy. McCuistion is joined by three panelists:
- Robert Carpenter – Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and President of a biotechnology company, Texas Enterosorbents, Inc
- Sheila George – Leadership Council for Nussentials, a nutraceutical company that helps people heal naturally
- Blaine S. Purcell – Medical doctor, senior physician in internal medicine at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, TX, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and lawyer
Studies show that taking the right natural nutrients and supplements can increase your health, stamina, slow down aging and contribute to overall better health. In fact, some evidence points to supplements reversing the effects of some diseases. On this edition of McCuistion Television, experts discuss ways to feel better and be healthy.
Carpenter and Purcell’s backgrounds in veterinary medicine have allowed them to look at health differently than the average medical doctor, as there is more of a nutrition focus in veterinary medicine than in traditional medicine. There are natural ways to prevent disease and nutraceuticals are a big part of that. Nussentials focuses on nutraceuticals and incorporates them into their stabilized rice bran. Putting the right nutrients in the body and in the environment in which we live can help our bodies heal.
Together the panelists discuss micronutrient additions to a whole food diet and its benefits to diabetes patients and the critical nature of lifestyle changes. Ending the conversation, Carpenter touches on their clay products’ benefits to health as they are turned into pharmaceuticals.
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1716 – 07.27.08
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