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I'd listened to the podcast and yes, it was pretty horrifying. Dialysis costs are 1% of our GDP- not 1% of healthcare but GDP.
Dialysis clinics are run mostly by two providers in the US. The most insidious trick I learned was the creation of a "charity" called the American Kidney Fund, which gets 80% of its donations from Fresenius and DaVita, the two biggest players in dialysis. They persuade patients that they'd be better off with private insurance rather than Medicare- more convenient facilities, better treatment, whatever. (End-stage renal disease treatments are covered by Medicare regardless of your age.) No money for ACA premiums? The American Kidney Fund is here to help. Fresenius and DaVita win because private insurance reimburses dialysis at about 3 to 4 times the rate Medicare does. One economist estimated that they gain $3.50 for every dollar they put into the American Kidney Fund. While it takes a load off of Medicare it increases overall costs and increases the premiums for anyone with ACA coverage.
They also discourage the use of home dialysis units which are far more convenient for the patient- they run while you sleep so you can hold down a job instead of going to the dialysis center 4-6 hours at a time a few times a week.
I can't remember if they got into prevention but Type 2 diabetes (which is the underlying cause of many cases of kidney failure) is an epidemic in our country. I live in an area with mixed demographics and in the grocery stores in the poorer section of town I see people with their carts loaded up with sweet carbonated drinks (high-fructose corn syrup, even worse than regular sugar) and Little Debbie snack cakes. Some are obese and on scooters. And yes, there's a dialysis center less than a mile from my house. We all pay for this.
If you want to read a good book on metabolic syndrome, which starts with overloading the body with sugar and leads to end-stage renal disease and elevated risks for all kinds of bad stuff, I highly recommend "Fat Chance" by Dr. Robert Lustig.
I can't remember if they got into prevention but Type 2 diabetes (which is the underlying cause of many cases of kidney failure) is an epidemic in our country.
Renadyl is probiotic that acts like a 3rd kidney, these bacteria feed off waist in the blood that your kidney's would normally have to filter out. Helps with gout(uric acid) also. - link
Life extension recommends P5P, a special form of vitamin B, for the kidneys. Most of your better multivitamins use this form. They mention several other nutrients, milk thistle is another one I would consider as its also good for the liver - link
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The formation of advanced glycation end-products (AGE's) is a well-established factor in the onset and progression of kidney disease.
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A formidable AGE antagonist is the vitamin B6 compound pyridoxamine. A plethora of research confirms its power to halt formation of AGE's
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High blood pressure, elevated blood sugar, NSAIDs (such as ibuprofen), certain medications, and high-protein diets are the most common threats to kidney health.
Davita.com is a good kidney resource, like eating an alkaline diet to help the kidneys - link
Videos out there that economics is also why cheap drugs like Ivermectin(few dollars) arent being approved for Covid, yet more expensive drugs like Remdesivir($2500+) get fast tracked. You can compare the 2 https://c19ivermectin.com vs https://c19rmd.com/
I knew someone when we lived in Denver whose spouse was an executive with DaVita. Her stories about going to company events were pretty interesting. Their founder/CEO was a real character who used to dress up in costume and lead them in cheers etc.
The telling part was that my friend's husband, like many of the Execs, considered the organization a Venture Capital company whose product line just happened to be health related, rather than a healthcare organization that happened to be a large national company. His work background was all over the map and he had no prior healthcare experience. I would contrast that with an organization I worked for for several years, which was a publicly traded national oncology practice management group, whose Execs were primarily a mix of physicians and people who had worked in healthcare for years. I may not be describing it well enough to illustrate the difference, but in my mind, there's a big distinction that has to do with culture and understanding of mission.
Last edited by Texas Ag 93; 04-28-2021 at 05:25 AM..
I knew someone when we lived in Denver whose spouse was an executive with DaVita. Her stories about going to company events were pretty interesting. Their founder/CEO was a real character who used to dress up in costume and lead them in cheers etc.
The telling part was that my friend's husband, like many of the Execs, considered the organization a Venture Capital company whose product line just happened to be health related, rather than a healthcare organization that happened to be a large national company. His work background was all over the map and he had no prior healthcare experience. I would contrast that with an organization I worked for for several years, which was a publicly traded national oncology practice management group, whose Execs were primarily a mix of physicians and people who had worked in healthcare for years. I may not be describing it well enough to illustrate the difference, but in my mind, there's a big distinction that has to do with culture and understanding of mission.
And the goal is to MAXIMIZE profits.
If their pool of customers decreased, that wold be a very very bad thing. So they absolutely want people to be sick.
I didn't find anything eye-opening at all in the article.
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