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Lena Sanchez - 72 year-old editor - second from left bottom row -pictured with 1 son and both daughters - oldest daughter, short dark haired gal back left with her husband and two sons. Second son top right with his second son and only daughter. bottom left younger daughter and bottom right her daughter (my second grand daughter) with fiancée.

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"Ask Lena Health Question & Answer Issue"
Lena Sanchez - Editor
mailto:lena@antibiotic-alternatives.com  
928-636-9425
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928-636-9425
Tuesday November 10, 2009

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 ASK LENA HEALTH Q & A EDITION!
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I am publishing two questions and answers today. The second question I pondered over for quite sometime before I decided to publish it. The decision came when I received a call with a health question and during that call the same type of question as the emailed one - published today - came up so I decided more of you might be confused on the Medicare Advantage issue. I am not taking a political stance just answering questions and if it gives you some answers then I've succeeded...

The answers to questions submitted to me each week come from my 20+ years as a Medical Office Nurse along with many years and ongoing education in nutritional and alternative treatment modes. Add that to many years of friendship with Dr. Wayne Garland, a very knowledgeable naturopath and herbologist, who many years ago, beat his cancer death sentence given by the traditional medical world, has helped along the alternatives path and hopefully help to give hope to those who need it... Also receiving a lot of study reports and try to ascertain if they are good or bad then report them to you, which has increased my knowledge along the way and I pass them on to you to use or not...

I am not a doctor or dentist and you should not think of me as one!! My years observing life and health of the many people/patients around me and the contradictions of the traditional medical world's idea of treating - prescription domino effect - while watching and also was taught those same schooled methods that aren't relieving illness but creating far more health problems than they help. Those same medical professionals aren't telling people how to get healthy or how to prevent illness, which led me to look for something to change that premise for myself and those around me who ask. In looking outside the Westernized medical profession I found and continue to find alternatives that really work to create health and longevity - when adhered to - beyond anything the traditional medical world can do...

Ask Lena Health Questions and Answers is for your information and education only and in some instances to give you a different perspective on a particular problem! My wish for you, in the use of the information gained here, is that you will apply it in a smart and safe manner in order to enhance your life and not harm it! Not to be used in place of your judgment but in  addition to... Even though I daily watch people become healthy with the information imparted here nothing works 100% of the time for 100% of people...

I have always felt that I had to know all sides to a problem and then make a decision for myself and I hope that will be your attitude as well! 

IF YOU HAVE A HEALTH QUESTION 
Mailto:lenasanchez@q.com?subject=QandAquestion   

Be sure to give at least your first name, if it is a question you want answered in person feel free to give me a call at 928-636-9425

Thank you for your confidence and inquisitiveness! 
Lena

=> IN THIS ISSUE!

> QUESTION OF THE WEEK<
> THOUGHT FOR THE DAY<
> MOTIVATOR STEVE GOODIER<
===========================

QUESTION #1
 
I am thinking about donating blood plasma but I was told that it could effect my health.  I'm 27 years old and do not take any medications. I suppose my diet could be better but I try to eat well? I would like your thoughts on this?
Rob
 
ANSWER:
 
Hi Rob,

Thanks for your question. Donating plasma will not harm your health unless you have a medical problem that would prohibit you from doing so, which doesn't seem to apply to you. To donate too often can be detrimental to anyone with serious circulatory issue as pulling that much blood from the body puts a strain on your body to rebuild and replenish back to normal. But an honest and reputable blood bank will not allow that to happen... You admit to needing a better diet so in order to be absolutely sure you are healthy and your body is at it's top peak of performance I recommend taking a daily totally absorbable, quality ionic balanced mineral complex and meganutrient vitamins daily for at least a week to ten days prior to giving plasma. I don't know of a health food store around us that carries sea based balanced minerals but your might possibly if you live in a large city. If not, you can get them online at our herbal_pharmacy.htm  under the names "LIFE TRANSFUSION IONIC LIQUID MINERALS" & "ELECTRO VITA-MIN MEGANUTRIENT FORMULA."

Do not take pill form of either minerals or vitamins as it is a waste of your money because very little is absorbed from pill form! Talk to any person who works in a city sewage filtration plant and they will tell you that some of the vitamins they scrape out of the filters every week still have the name on them, that fact alone explains how effective they are?  Liquid, capsule or powder forms are a must for best absorption to be effective and give you what you pay for. Minerals should be no less than 74 minerals and trace minerals as for maximum balance.
 
Good luck in your giving.
 

Lena

QUESTION #2:
 
This isn't exactly a health question but could effect my health if things are as they appear to be. I hope you will take the time to answer as I suspect others have my same concern. I am 75 years old and a senior with Medicare. I take your liquid minerals, Mind Power for my brain, Circulatory support and Nattokinase for my heart hoping to stay healthy but I know nothing can prolong life forever and if at some point I should need to use my Medicare I want the best coverage possible.  I must say I have felt so much better, with more energy and mentally strong since starting your supplements six months ago.
 
My question? I am watching all these ads on TV saying that our Medicare Advantage is going to be cut and if that happens what does that mean to us old folks?
 
Lil
 
ANSWER:
Lil, I almost didn't publish this answer but another person asked the same type of question so others must be questioning the same thing...

I don't know if you actually have Medicare or a Medicare senior policy administered by an insurance company... There is a BIG DIFFERENCE... Since you didn't say but I'm going to assume you have simple regular Medicare but will explain the differences for my readers, who might not know.
 
I want to commend you for being smart with your health at your age... You are very smart in your supplements as every healthy person over the age of 50 could benefit from those things to stay healthy. I do hope you are getting your daily exercise and sunlight as those two things can also do wonders at keeping you healthy and nimble while aging.
 
To understand the differences;

With Regular Medicare, not Medicare Advantage, a single-payer health insurance plan administered by the government not an insurance company, you can see any doctor of your choice that takes Medicare. You can utilize any facility, hospital, Radiology, etc. that does testing or treating.  You are not limited to a list of providers. Yes, not every doctor takes Medicare but all hospitals and radiologists do honor and bill Medicare. You have an up front financial responsibility before your benefits take effect, then you pay 20% of Medicare Allowable thereafter. I haven't used mine in many years now so I don't know what the upfront cost is at this time but last time I used it it was $565 and then 20% of the charges thereafter, which was still lower than the copay with advantage plans. I only keep Medicare active in case of an emergency if my husband fails to honor my wish of DNR or I need to see a chiropractor.  I have a Living Will with a DNR directive under any circumstances but he can panic at times and may have me taken to a hospital even though I would not wish that.
 
I see those same Medicare Advantage ads on TV and become livid each time because I look at the bottom of the ad immediately to see who sponsors it. So far all I've seen are ads sponsored by insurance companies and politicians. Those politicians who either have been lobbied by the drug and insurance companies and buy into their lies or are looking to become a lobbyist for them after leaving office.  I've yet to see one of those ads with honest or truthful statements, only half truths, all I see is fear tactics being transmitted... You should take note that they do not say "your Medicare Advantage WILL be cut".  What they do say it "Your Medicare Advantage MAY BE Cut." an all together different meaning... Both drug and insurance companies would most likely suffer some loss of money if the health initiative should pass as written and especially if it should include a public option plan to compete with their Advantage plan forcing them to become a bit more honorable and lower their charges, therefore lowering health costs. With that said you can bet they don't want you to favor it, hence their rhetoric and innuendoes, hence the misleading advertising! 

Since there are six lobbyist - paid for by the Pharmaceutical and Insurance companies - bombarding every single politician in every state and Washington DC, I do not expect anything to improve in our health care system! As those lobbyists, drug and insurance companies stand to lose money if it happens so they are very actively brain washing the politicians and those of us who are not checking them out.  That's a 6 to 1 disadvantage for us because a large number  of those lobbyists are past senators, congressmen and House of Representatives no longer in office and they have easy access to the current leaders, whether Democrat or Republican...

If those pharmaceutical and insurance companies would spend the billions of dollars they pay the lobbyists on our health care we could have 100% of the people in the U.S. covered. Since they can't afford for people to get healthy as they would go broke, they can't afford to do that... Of course I too am not sure that everyone having health insurance would be good as more people would die from hospitalization's gone wrong, overuse and abuse of prescription drugs and unneeded treatments as those death numbers are already more than double the number of street drug and automobile accident deaths!  It's a Catch 22 situation!
 
If the drug and insurance companies can afford to pay those lobbyists six figure incomes per person - which they do - you know they are getting awfully rich from our infirmities! I know one lobbyist that gets $500,000.00 per month from them and disguises himself as one of us and sadly the majority of people are buying into him as legitimately caring about our welfare.
 
I don't want to use their scare tactics but I do want you to have the facts!
 
Medicare Advantage - as the ads are stating - is a senior HMO/PPO private insurance based health plan - depending on each insurance company and how they wish to administer it whether it is an HMO or a PPO - is NOT regular MEDICARE and very misleading if you don't understand that. Advantage plans are administered by private insurance companies not the government! The government pays them so much a month for each person enrolled in the Advantage plan, whether they see that patient each month or not!!! Wouldn't it be nice if each of you paid me that way for my supplements when you only buy them every few months. Yet you would pay me the same every month that you now spend every few months. I could get wealthy on that premise!  Of course I cannot work for someone who would do that as it is ripping off people and I have a conscience... on top of that monthly amount paid the insurance company you still must pay the HMO or PPO a co-pay every visit, usually $15 to $35 depending on which plan you chose...
 
Understanding HMO's & PPO's...

An HMO stands for Health Maintenance Organization; and from my experience in working with them I can tell you that their whole goal is to pay out as little as possible for a person's health care regardless of what is paid to them by the government monthly.  They are paid monthly and maybe you only see the doctor 3 or 4 times a year. Quite a coo for them!
 
A PPO means Preferred Provider Organization. Both are basically the same just that with an HMO you cannot usually go outside their plan for treatment unless you pay 100% of what that outside provider will charge.  A PPO gives you the option of going outside the plan but usually you will pay 60% to 80% of what that provider will charge and the PPO will only pay 20% to 40%. In a senior HMO or PPO your monthly Medicare premiums go to the insurance company administering the plan plus a bit more from the government. If you have a senior HMO, which is what Medicare Advantage is. Restricting you to using only the doctors who are considered providers of the plan or you must utilize the facilities that have contracted with them for testing, treating, etc... Heaven forbid that you should be on vacation and have an accident. That could cost you thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars since the majority of those senior HMO's have no contracts outside their state!

Medicare Advantage has nothing to do with regular Medicare or losing any NECESSARY MEDICARE COVERED SERVICE unless that insurance company, who is the Medicare Advantage contractor decides to not cover it, or you are out of area they have that option! What those insurance companies are trying to do is scare the pants off people and want them to oppose any changes to what now exits as they are making Trillions of dollars off the governments (us) Medicare program...
 
If everyone had affordable insurance it could still be a disaster so we are in a quandary... Why? To those who believe their doctor knows what best for them at least 20% of them, who follow their doctor's recommendations and have the testing, treating and evaluating done, those very things kill them.

Let me tell you what I know up close and personal about insurance company funded senior plans. I was manager as well as the Referral and Quality Assurance chair person in one large 99.9% HMO, PPO, EPO clinic in Southern California and was praised for my ability to keep treatments inside the contracted pools. I was taught well by the insurance companies... These HMO/PPO/EPO clinics have slush funds/pools for doctor's visits. Slush fund/pool for certain types of treatments. Slush fund/pool for out of plan treatments, doctors, etc. The left over fund/pools go into the pockets of the insurance company at the end of the physical year who reward the Medical director for the medical clinic with a huge bonus - depending on the percentage remaining in the fund/pools. This is the reward for keeping treatment costs within the contracted providers. Doesn't always give the patient the best care, as I found that the doctors who would settle for the low payments were not ones I would see personally as they could not survive in their own private practice because they were mediocre at best. After the first year of watching what was happening with the patient care I worked very hard to be a patient advocate to assure the patients got the best that was available to them but at the end of three years that clinic wasn't happy with my straddling the line and working for the patient as much as I did.
 
Also what most people are never told is that Simple x-rays, MRI's, CAT Scans, etc. can kill some of those patients having them done... With HMO/PPO/EPO plan the dollar is the goal and some very questionable unregulated paramedical providers are contracted with and outside the control of anyone, with no to very little quality assurance accountability... Just know that anything that requires a dye or ingesting anything to undergo a treatment can have severe consequences to 20% to 30% of people and if the wrong person is doing them death can easily happen.
 
As an example: I almost became one of those statistics a couple of times in my early years of life when I was so conventional medical brain washed to believe their recommendations and they would do the best for me, so I went along with whatever was recommended. I have life long health issues from those simple tests and a kidney IVP scan almost killed me - well it sort of did - as I arrested shortly after they injected the dye into my vein, but was revived and survived, the right doctor was available, with some heart damage left over... I was very lucky when I had my uterine cancer that chemotherapy and radiation had not yet come on the scene or I may have died at 29 years of age because I would have done what they said at that time. I had nobody to tell me that 60% to 80% of people undergoing chemotherapy and/or radiation will die from the treatment not the cancer, even though the death certificate will always say cancer killed that person. Nor did I have anyone around me that could tell me that natural treatments are 80% to 99% successful at curing cancers of all kinds, if started before undergoing chemo or radiation...
 
What I've been able to ascertain from reading the proposals on the health initiatives proposed that the so-called Medicare cuts up on the - read on .gov site - they are attempting to give us seniors more options in controlling our health care and not become a victim to services not required, which now happens as billions of dollars of medical testing and treatments are not for our benefit and NOT AT ALL NECESSARY to give you a healthy life.  This has been termed by some brainwashed by the insurance and drug industries as -Euthanasia... - I do not see it taking away anything that is to benefit us and in fact I see some things being added back that has been taken away in past years.  I see it giving us control over our medical treatment where now a doctor can order anything he wants and if you say no they can do it anyway or harass you so much that you give in or simple scare you to death until you say yes. This costs the taxpayers billions of dollars daily. Especially bad at doing that is the nursing homes or rehabilitation facilities over medicating over hospitalizing patients and excess tests, x-rays, scans, etc. as well as over-treating and over medicating patients! With what I watched in nursing homes and rehab is millions of things being done that could save us tax payers billions of dollars and certainly give a patient quality of life over what they now get.
 
Of course what is written up in today's healthcare  initiative at this time isn't even going to resemble what will be the final one, if it should ever happen. So it is way to early to panic and most certainly not listen to insurance and drug industries attempts to scare everyone to death, which is what is happening. By way of those ads and news releases disguised as news!
 
Those ads are there to scare you into contacting your politicians and getting them to back off any health care changes as it is detrimental to their pocket books? With the strength of the pharmaceutical and drug industry here in the U.S. I don't see much happening in the way of change, no matter how much our president and others want it changed.
Lena

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Thought for the Day
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Faced with the choice of having your wisdom teeth out or waiting to see what happens, might not be as complex a choice as it seems..

A Finnish study has found that the wait-and-see approach works most of the time.

The department of oral medicine at the University of Helsinki in Finland had qualified oral surgeons evaluate 81 college students. The surgeons then predicted that 75 percent of the students would have to have their wisdom teeth removed within the next five years.

But when those same students were followed, only 59 percent actually needed surgery. The rest did fine without it. And even when the dentists predicted the need for complex surgery, most of the wisdom teeth could be removed via a simple extraction.

Reporting on the study, the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery noted that the need for wisdom teeth removal seems to decline during the early adult years.

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MOTIVATOR
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BLUEBIRD OF HAPPINESS

A sign in a pet store read, "If anybody has seen the Bluebird of Happiness, would you please notify this pet store?"

Happiness seems to be in short supply for many people. If the results of recent surveys can be trusted, there is a general decline of happiness in today's world. And people were not all that cheerful a few years back! It was Oliver Wendell Holmes who stated, "I might have been a minister for aught I know, if a certain clergyman had not looked and talked like an undertaker." (I have to say, though, that some clergy and undertakers I've known could teach the rest of us something about joy.)

Joy and happiness are not always the same things. Happiness can be thought of as more of a temporary, emotional condition, often based on outside circumstances. Joy, on the other hand, is deeper. It is often contentment in spite of the unsettling present. We can be basically joyful, regardless of a particular unhappy situation that we may be enduring. It is sometimes just a matter of keeping perspective on our troubles, and especially when those troubles seem to be in long supply.

You may know the story of the man who had a marvelous way of keeping joy in his life. He was a carpenter. He followed the same ritual every day when he came home from the job. He stopped by a small tree in his front yard and placed his hand on a couple of branches. Then, when he walked into his home, it was as if a magical transformation had occurred. All of a sudden, the stress was lifted from him. He became energetic and joyful, able to fully interact with his children and his wife.

He explained it this way: "That tree is my trouble tree. When I come home I stop by the tree and, just like I leave my tools in the truck, I leave my troubles outside of my home. I hang them on that tree before greeting my family. Anything that does not have to come in my house stays outside. Anything that I do not have to deal with at home, I leave on that tree. And in the morning, I stop by the tree and pick up the troubles I left there in the evening."

Then he adds, "It's a funny thing, though. Every morning I always find fewer troubles remaining than I hung the night before."

Here is a man who has no doubt seen the Bluebird of Happiness. Chances are, it is nesting in a tree just outside his home.

There is wisdom in knowing that some problems can wait until tomorrow. And more wisdom in knowing what to hang on the tree and what to bring in. Managing daily problems well is vital to maintaining joy.

....................
Steve Goodier Publisher@LifeSupportSystem.com  is a professional speaker, consultant and author of numerous books. Visit his site for more information, or to sign up for his FREE newsletter of Life, Love and Laughter at http://LifeSupportSystem.com

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