Matthew Perry of Friends fame who had a history of substance abuse died at the hands of opportunist medical providers who provided the drugs that eventually led to his death. The list of other celebrities who died from medical providers is long including: Prince Michael Jackson Elvis Pressley Anna Nicole Smith Phil Hartman Joan Rivers Bill Paxton Medical Errors are the third largest killer of people in the United States. Do the benefits outweigh the risks must always be on the minds of all healthcare providers, yet our for-profit healthcare system in the USA incentivizes profits, often not in the best interests of patients. Doctors who often work for large hospital systems today perform procedures charging outrageous fees for their services. Plastic surgery comes to mind as so many of our patients who have had tummy tucks have problems resulting from the procedure itself for years afterward, often at ridiculously high costs. Services performed in a hospital are markedly higher than those performed in private practices. Many procedures actually may not even be necessary such as the breast MRI recommended to my wife a while ago when the mammogram supposedly was difficult to read. They charged $3600 for the test which should have been 1/4 of the price and then did a biopsy anyway while the fear of a breast cancer diagnosis loomed. What is the risk-reward here? Of course, I believe this was done to pay for a new machine rather than for the patient’s needs. Drug companies have been charging exorbitant prices for drugs such as semiglutide AKA Ozempic. Compounding pharmacies are making their synthesized versions of these drugs for off-label use too at a reduced cost from the name brand, although it is still cheaper in other countries. The manufacturers of these drugs have been exploring more off-label uses for overall health tied to weight loss and their abilities to reduce cravings which can quell addictive behavior. Unfortunately, insurance carriers have not played hardball on the price allowing them to cause more medical inflation or at least empower insurance companies to use it to raise premiums this year. Ultimately, we all pay the bill, and insurance companies are now warning that premiums will likely increase up to 8 percent this year due to the drugs which may have long-term side effects we do not fully understand yet. Worse, the more insurance carriers charge, the higher their profits due to the ObamaCare 80/20 rule. Less is more when it comes to medical care and more medical care increases risk. Bill Maher exposes how this has become the third largest reason for fatalities in the USA, with his friend Matthew Perry being a recent victim of a system out of control. Have we learned anything from the Opioid Crisis? Gabapentin Orion, 100 mg, in Sweden. Bottle, pills and powder from an opened capsule. Studio photography in Tuntorp, Brastad, Lysekil Municipality, Sweden. In my recent post on Gabapentin based on the NY Times article, I talked about this being the drug for everything that hurts or aches. Its use is off-label and you must wean yourself off of the drug which means it builds dependence. Doctors freely recommend it for many conditions without any scientific data supporting the practice. Imagine that there are safer options for long-term benefit however medical industrial complex still uses a model where everything is treated with a pill or a medical procedure that can have side effects such as disabilities or in its worst case, death. Worse, many of these procedures can be avoided by seeing a chiropractor first before the problem ever becomes a chronic health issue The recent opioid settlement will flood states with money to educate the public about drugs for pain and the money should be used to change how doctors deal with their patient’s pain. Most pain from a chiropractic perspective is from impaired movement and poor adaptations. Some are acute injury and chiropractors are well trained to improve outcomes and reduce disability as many studies suggest. Most medical care is protocols and one-size-fits-all approaches that just do not solve the problem but address symptoms rather than causes. When medical pain management methods fail, a procedure that decreases movement such as back surgery often makes the problem worse and more chronic. Chiropractic improves movement as it helps people safely and effectively feel and function better. Why pain is a movement problem that is mechanical, requiring a mechanical solution. Will the Sackler settlement money from the Perdue Pharma Opioid lawsuit be used to change these failings or is it just money and a bandaid to reinforce the current system that in many ways is misguided and potentially can do great harm? Insurance companies often get in the way with high copayments, and high deductibles that financially make patients choose drugs and are just bad health policies, while they put off needed care. Furthermore, a study recently showed that most patients sent for physical therapy are also taking drugs vs. chiropractic patients who are moving better due to manipulation and many of the exercises and soft tissue methods that reduce pain naturally. Insurance companies must get out of the way and incentivize patients and their doctors to change. Medicare needs to fully cover chiropractic as it needs to stop being a barrier to effective chiropractic care due to manipulation being the only service covered. The Chiropractic Medicare Modernization Act can fix the problem. You can help by contacting your congressperson and senator and asking them to co-sponsor these bills to change the law for full chiropractic coverage under Medicare. This will remove many barriers to care in Medicare, Medicaid, and other sources of coverage. Check out Bill Mahr’s recent piece on the problem that killed his friend. In the USA we pay more for and take more drugs than any other nation. We can do better but it starts with you and the choices you are willing to make. There are no shortcuts to better pain-free lives even though the advertisements we see on television would like us to believe otherwise. There are better choices though and choosing chiropractic first is a good first step for safe, effective pain relief. Need help now? Looking for effective non pharmacological pain relief? Book online today.