weight loss pills

Archive for April 26th, 2010

It’s always a joy to be able to link apparently unrelated subjects in the title to an article. This title is a real winner. Scientology was developed by a science fiction writer and has attracted some notoriety of late as various Hollywood figures have complained about its strange beliefs and homophobic practices. The idea of being able to relate dieting and weight loss to the pronouncements of the Thetans is wonderful but, unfortunately, not possible in this instance. No matter how interested the extraterrestrials may be in weight loss, they have neglected to include it in their religion. However, you will be pleased to know that it all does tie together. Kirstie Alley may be better known as an actress, but she is also a high-ranking Scientologist. Some years ago, she had a serious cocaine addiction and has credited the Church with her “cure”. She is now the celebrity ambassador for the Scientology movement’s drug treatment program and, probably by virtue of the size of her financial contributions to the Church, she is now a level 7 Thetan.

Those of you who follow gossip cannot fail to have noticed the constant stories about Ms Alley’s fluctuating weight. As the young star of Cheers, she was relatively slim. Sadly, as the years advanced, so did signs of her spreading hips. By 2005, she had expanded to more than 200 pounds but, by virtue of an aggressive diet and exercise program, she lost 75 pounds in a year and appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show in a revealing bathing costume. With this public celebration of her weight loss success behind her, she returned to eating and put most of the weight back on again. Now she has launched a new project. Going under the name Organic Liaison LLC, it sells a diet regime based on a new organic product with USDA approval. People who sign up, pay between $10 and $149 every month. In return, they receive a diet regime also including vitamins and supplements. So far, many of the members have reported some success. Ms Alley herself has lost 20 pounds.

The reason for the controversy is that all the income generated by this company seems to be channelled straight into the Church’s bank account. While there is nothing in law to prevent any private company from donating some or all of its net profit to charitable, religious or other comparable purposes, many who signed up for the weight loss program have been shocked to discover most, if not all, their money is funding the Church of Scientology. While most view the Church as harmless, there is a difference between passively ignoring it and discovering you are actively supporting it with your own money. No matter whether the company’s organic product is effective or the diet regime is nutritionally sound, there is a serious issue at stake here. We give to charities when we sympathize with their aims. Failing to disclose that Organic Liaison is effectively a front for collecting funds for the Church seems almost dishonest. How much easier it is when it comes to phentermine. Here we have an FDA approved drug with decades of track record in safely helping people to lose weight. There is no question of any part of the purchase price being diverted for non-commercial purposes. Phentermine is a capitalist’s dream – a safe and effective drug that can command a good price because there is no real competition in the market. It’s a shame Ms Alley is not a red-blooded capitalist.

The U.S. doesn’t get its money’s worth when it comes to health care, according to recent statistics. The Commonwealth Fund released a report earlier this month on America’s ranking in the world health care system — and it wasn’t good.

According to the report, residents of the United States receive the poorest quality of care, yet pay the most for it, among six of the top industrialized nations, including Germany, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. The findings were based on measures including quality, access, efficiency, equity, and outcomes of health care. Germany took the overall first place ranking, followed by Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.

While the other five nations on the list provide universal health care, the U.S., with its unorganized mixture of employer-funded care, private insurance, and government programs, leaves nearly 48 million throughout the country with no insurance whatsoever. Ominously, the Fund also linked lack of insurance with poorer quality of care in another report released this month.

Texas ranks at the very bottom of the nation in numbers of people left uninsured, at just over 25%. With high incidences of poverty, unemployment, and chronic diseases, such as diabetes, the state stands to gain more than most by measures to update the health care and/or to make insurance available to more of the population. Most of those lacking insurance do not receive pertinent preventative care, resulting in increased long-term costs to health, as well as to the state and federal governments.

Particularly in the larger cities of Dallas, Houston, and Austin — where many from rural areas of the state come seeking care, overburdening the system further — change would be welcomed.

Activists and members of Congress are calling for an overhaul of the overburdened and outdated system, with suggestions ranging from instituting America’s own universal health care, to subsidizing private insurance companies in order to make health care coverage available to all, regardless of income.

Obviously, it’s an issue that needs to be closely analyzed, as it is “pretty undisputable that we spend twice what other countries spend on average,” as reported by The Commonwealth Fund. While, in comparison to other industrialized nations, the U.S. has the fewest patients seeing a regular doctor (16%), is the least wired (working with the fewest electronic records, and receiving the fewest electronic updates on disease treatment options), and has one of the highest infant mortality rates, we are actually spending twice as much per capita on health care as Germany, at $6,102. Canada spends $3,165 per capita, Australia $2,876, Britain $2,546, and New Zealand $2,083.

The U.S. also has one of the longest emergency room waiting times, takes an average of four months to deliver elective surgery, and is considered one of the less “convenient” nations when it comes to general health care. Sixty-one percent of Americans surveyed found it “somewhat” or “very difficult” to receive care on nights or weekends.

What is most shocking perhaps, is the relatively high infant mortality rate, at 5 in every 1,000. The U.S. is tied with Poland, Hungary, Malta, and Slovakia for this statistic, and, among the 32 industrialized nations surveyed, ranked only above Latvia, at 6 in every 1,000 births. Japan, the Czech Republic, Finland, Iceland, and Norway beat the U.S. by a landslide, at approximately one-third the death rate. Every year, 16,000 newborn deaths occur in this country, mostly linked with low birth weights and premature delivery. This suggests a surprising lack of prenatal care and, indeed, measures of mothers’ well-being ranks extremely low in comparison to other industrialized nations.

African-Americans suffer almost twice the national average of infant mortality, at 9 in every 1,000 — which is closer to developing nations’ statistics than to industrialized ones. Black babies born in the U.S. are also twice as likely to be premature and have a low birth rate than their white counterparts.

Throw in scandals — like drug companies enticing doctors with “free” gifts and dinners to sell their medications, or multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical company investments in medical schools — and it looks like a gloomy picture, indeed. Michael Moore’s summer release of Sicko, though sure to be controversial, undeniably raises a subject on the national consciousness.

While it is painfully obvious that something must be done — and quickly — the next step is not so clear. States such as Hawaii and Massachusetts have taken their own initiatives with state-provided health insurance, resulting in nearly 90% of their residents having insurance, and therefore better access to care. California has debated its own measures, as well as many Midwestern states.

It’s not a straight-forward debate, by any means. While nations providing universal health care rank higher in overall standings, the U.S. is still considered a leader when it comes to breakthrough technologies and treatment options. A balance must be struck between revolutionary research and making sure more people actually have access to its results. Reports on new HIV drugs, for instance, hint that turning HIV and AIDS into a chronic, versus fatal, condition is just around the corner…but those medications are expensive, and not everyone in the U.S. has access to them.

Residents of the U.S., however, have done little to push the initiative. The surprising lack of attention on the issue in political debates reflects the fact that voters do not choose their candidate primarily based on his or her plans for future health care reform. And, time and again, it has been proven that the masses’ outspoken push for measures is what gets things done on Capitol Hill. In the end, it’s really time for us — the people — to decide how to dig ourselves out of this one.

Making sure you receive quality health care is important. Taking care of yourself affects your health, and will certainly affect your health as you age — and eventually your wallet, as well.

Pat Carpenter writes for Precedent Insurance Company. Precedent puts a new spin on health insurance. Learn more at Precedent.com