"We do not have a health care system in the United States; we have a sick care system"

"As the lead Senator in drafting the Prevention and Public Health section of the bill, I view this legislation as our opportunity to recreate America as a genuine wellness society – a society that is focused on prevention, good nutrition, fitness, and public health.

The fact is, we currently do not have a health care system in the United States; we have a sick care system. If you’re sick, you get care, whether through insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP, community health centers, emergency rooms, or charity. The problem is that this is all about patching things up after people develop serious illnesses and chronic conditions.
We spend a staggering $2.3 trillion annually on health care – 16.5 percent of our GDP and far more than any other country spends on health care – yet the World Health Organization ranks U.S. health care only 37th among nations, on par with Serbia.

We spend twice as much per capita on health care as European countries, but we are twice as sick with chronic disease.

How can this be so? The problem is that we have systematically neglected wellness and disease prevention. Currently in the United States, 95 percent of every health care dollar is spent on treating illnesses and conditions after they occur. But we spend peanuts on prevention.

The good news in these dismal statistics is that, by reforming our system and focusing on fighting and preventing chronic disease, we have a huge opportunity. We can not only save hundreds of billions of dollars; we can also dramatically improve the health of the American people."

Senator Tom Harkin on the new Health Reform Bill

Joanna Moncrieff: The Myth of the Chemical Cure

"...although ideas like the serotonin theory of depression have been widely publicised, scientific research has not detected any reliable abnormalities of the serotonin system in people who are depressed.
Second, it is often said the fact that drug treatment "works" proves there's an underlying biological deficiency.
But there is another explanation for how psychiatric drugs affect people with emotional problems.
It is frequently overlooked that drugs used in psychiatry are psychoactive drugs, like alcohol and cannabis.
Psychoactive drugs make people feel different; they put people into an altered mental and physical state."


This is absolutely true. Pharmaceutical companies put the information right in their products. Package inserts and patient information on SSRI's and other psychoactive drugs often list "altered mental status" as a side effect.

In fact, altered mental status is listed in the
Merck Veterinary Manual!

In some countries physicians are not even required to tell patients about such adverse drug effects; legally, they are permitted to leave that job to the pharmacist who fills the script. Once you have decided to fill a script, it may already be too late.


BBC Link
Dr. Moncreiff's site at University College London
Article from news at UCL
Link to her book