Totally agree. Type 2 diabetes is almost always a self-inflicted condition, like lung cancer from smoking, both onset and treatment. There is a genetic factor, but that just increases conditions for onset. I know of zero Type 2 people who are, (not were) athletes. No, golf does NOT count. There is a cure: stop eating potato chips and pasta all day, and go do something.

My wife is type 1, and it irks me that the two afflictions even share a name.

Now, type 1 cures are discussed. I actually know someone who was cured by accident, and they are studying her. As FFA says, the cure might erode margins too much, so it is behind artificial pancrease/full auto pumps (and insulin, and test strips and injection site kits, and and and...)

I know libs who mean well. But they are still destructive all the same. Get on it, Ripley.

Type 2 Diabetes has LOTS of Cures. Mostly not eating sugar/carbs. It's a form of carbohydrate poisoning, and insulin resistance.

Even the ADA website now says that a low carbohydrate diet can be used to treat T2D.

There is a cure. Dr. Jason Fung (The Fasting Method), gets over 80% of T2D off all their medicine in under 1 year.

The problem is... Who profits from FASTING or EATING LESS or EATING LESS Processed Food?
Nobody! So it is under-represented as a cure.

In fact, Dr. Fung explains that he preferred an Atkins type diet, but his patients were on Government Assistance and Could not afford to eat quality whole foods that much. So... Fasting came up, and it turns out it works! Then you eat less, but only eat low-carb. And it's amazing how fast T2D starts becoming controlled.

Dr. Bernstein did it for himself, and I believe he is a T1D, who uses low carb to control his glucose levels!
https://www.amazon.com/Dr-Bernsteins-...

Almost ALL Progressive Diseases are LIFESTYLE Diseases!

it's funny, I heard that EVERY 3rd party payer system INVITES FRAUD.
And it makes sense. If you are paying the doctor directly... Exactly where would the fraud come from?
(Maybe the doctor watering down the drugs, but that is self defeating, unless an insurance company always sends you more!)

I get it. But where do we draw lines. Before licensing and inspections, the fires among houses were amazing and wiped out blocks.

We need to learn and move on. Don't get me wrong, a license is NO guarantee of quality.
And they are CURRENTLY USED to keep competition away.

But I've been to Alternative Medicine Doctors for a long time, trying different ones. It's very hit or miss.
But it's my choice. I think YELP like systems would help. More doable in todays world.

Worse... BTW... Look at what they are doing to the FLCC (Pierre Kory, etc) doctors who have it CORRECT!

Not a good example, Type II is largely curable by diet and exercise. No one is looking for cures for the most part. There are is some progress in injecting cells grown to produce insulin into a human pancreas and it looks promising. But what I'm saying is beside your point.

+1000. This has always been my thought too. Insurance has eroded people's sense of responsibility for their health. Just like welfare erodes the responsibility to work. Right on Captain.

Good idea. Now we must convince the rich medical doctor class to convince Congress to do this and reduce their salaries. It's always the foxes guarding the henhouse. They eat as much as they want.

Yes, bad living habits can contribute greatly to a wide number of problems, but not everyone who ends up with cardiovascular disease sits on the couch eating ice cream. I'm 70 and never spent a night in the hospital in my life until a few months ago I was caught by surprise and had a quintuple bypass. My heart and valves are in excellent condition, but the plumbing around it started blocking up for some reason and I never knew it until I developed shortness of breath and a few other symptoms over the past year. Yes, I used to smoke cigars, but quit 9 years ago and the doc says my lungs are clear today. I always kept active by pumping iron and roller blading all the way into my 60s. [Side note: I came home one morning (3/4/2013 to be exact) from blading and felt short of breath, figured it was the cigars so I threw away all I had left and never went back]. When I gave up blading about 5 years ago, I signed up at the gym and did resistance and cardio at least 3 or 4 times a week before C-19 hit and made going to the gym nearly impossible. I ate healthy most of the time and was only moderately overweight (I did have more muscle than the usual guy my age and still do so I run a little heavy anyway). So I did a few things wrong, but did a lot more right than most guys and ended up getting a bypass anyway. The 27 year old in the room next to me in recovery and the ex-marine a few rooms over would seem very healthy except, like me, the plumbing stopped up. Sh-t happens. Side note: The docs say I could go another 70 years before needing this again, LOL. I'm working on it - back to the gym as soon as the pecs can take it. Just thought I'd share a piece of my story.

Agree. I'm basically self-insured & get a 30% - 40% discount for cash. I just ask for the cash price - I never negotiate. That's a lot of mark-up for the money changers.

and pharma funding med schools.

Docs often say there's no cure without really knowing. The best docs refer & consult w other top docs.

Maybe this would work in the real Galt's Gulch, but you would never see it happen out in the world. It is too corrupt at this point. I agree, it is a good idea. There are so many good ideas that just won't happen, I'm afraid.

Agree. In the US the doc who diagnoses correctly the first time gets paid less. Misdiagnosis is more profitable & harms patients, and is very common.

The point is that systemic change is needed - shift in incentives. Won't be easy, but could be implemented gradually. i.e. Drugs that indisputably only treat symptoms would be the first targets.

Why no cure? Was research funneled into treating the symptoms because it is where the $ is because of patent laws?

There were no good intentions; nothing but traitor lies. NIFOITOWTBS

The problem with the FDA is the first letter- Federal. Government doesnt do ANYTHING well, mainly because it is based on bureaucratic powers, not self correcting free market power. Bureaucratic power tends to be self serving to the bureaucracy itself, and has no elements of competition to correct mistakes.

I used to be in the medical device business, but got OUT of it because of the FDA. It was a tremendous bureaucracy in 1990 and required that no one could sell anything unless it got approval from the FDA in advance. This so increased the cost of new product introductions that the only people who could afford to do a new product were the BIG companies (maybe thats why they all supported increased regulation).The only real supporter of the consumer IS competion, and government forbids competion in its regulation schemes.

Take their regulatory role away, and ONLY provide information, with fraud consequences.

As a Free Market type guy, I don't care if companies offer Medical. Dow Chemical offered a free gym because it was good for the employees!

But the challenge is in the model. Gov't overall, should be OUT of health care.

But I have changed my mind a bit...

I believe ALL EMERGENCY CARE should be free to our citizens! Nobody should need insurance because they had an accident. Stuff Happens. But this DOES NOT COVER LIFESTYLE issues and diseases!

So, if you are morbidly obese and have a heart-attack. That's on you. And if you need LIFESTYLE Insurance, that should be on you as well. Nobody needed Insurance to stay healthy, until the Food Industry and the Medical Complex fell into Cahoots.

Lets separate those. Allow the insurance companies to charge whatever they want to insure people for NON EMERGENCY Care (lifestyle). And QUICKLY the free market will come to ALL of the right conclusions. Because you may require someone be in ketosis, if they want your coverage, and they have a specific risk profile.

Simply letting people understand that their HEALTH has been their LIFESTYLE is 90% of the problem.

You get in a car accident. Let's fix you up. you need to lose a foot because you are an UNCONTROLLED Type II Diabetic. Well, I hope you have insurance. And if you can't afford insurance, then you have more money to spend on WHOLE FOODS, which typically reverses Type II diabetes, and can prevent needing those future surgeries.

Show me the incentive... I will show you the result! The current incentive is to allow SICK people to get SICKER and have others pay for it! Imagine where that leads... "Right where we are".

The savings we would have as a country with a Free Market, LifeStyle driven approach. Which Doctor you going to see... The one who has you on 7 diabetes medicines, or the one who helped you brother lose the weight, and get off of all of his medicines?

I harp on Diabetes, because it is THE driver in our health care. #1 cause of Blindness in America. #1 Cause of Amputations, and the BIGGEST Cause of Cardiovascular Disease. TOTALLY Caused by our diets! [And the numbers have been there. During WWII when food was not available, cases of Diabetes Dropped significantly... Imagine That!]

Aeronca, I never really thought about that, but that kind of makes sense. The American Bar Association sets standards for law schools, but each state sets their own licensure requirements for attorneys (starting with having to graduate from an ABA-approved law school). Individual membership in the ABA is optional and basically only provides discounts on training and resources. Most states now require a standard bar exam that is the same from state to state. So, the national organization sets the standards for the training of lawyers, but each state sets its standards for licensing lawyers, for the practice of law within the state, and for disciplining and disbarring attorneys. Most states have agreements that, if you are licensed in certain states that have similar standards, and you have a minimum amount of experience practicing law (usually 5 years), you can be licensed in another state by being recommended by an attorney who is licensed in that state, passing a background check, and paying a fee.

I don't see why the AMA couldn't become something similar. Set the standards for medical schools and hospitals, where the training goes on, then let individual states license and monitor the practice of medicine.

Just a thought.

I wouldn't get rid of it. The whole existence of the FDA was brought about in 1906, or 1911? when kids were being poisoned to death by cough syrup containing sulfanilamide. The FDA has saved lives. The whole overbearing regulatory system was worth it I think, in the 1980s when the Tylenol batch at Bayer corp was poisoned with cyanide. 7 people died, but because of the system, and the CEO of Bayer, only 7 people died. They were able to alert the public and reclaim every tainted bottle. And, people still take Tylenol made by Bayer. That is phenomenal. The FDA is not all bad. But it is filled with revolving door corruption. It isn't protecting us anymore it's protecting Pharma. Let's just hose the bums out and refill it. How? I dunno.

Get rid of the FDA for a starter. Let anyone buy whatever they want. Social media could do a better job than the FDA. Let the free market determine the best drugs.

Misanthropic-Shrugger I had a similar thought. As long as medicine is treated like any other business and the work is done by private hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, etc., patents are a necessary evil to provide the financial incentive to make the investment to do the research. On the other hand, if research and development are limited to "public" (i.e., government) hospitals, you get into all sorts of other issues (I don't want my taxes being spent on that type of research, etc.).

I used to work for a government program that penalized cost-cutting measures by taking back any money that was left over at the end of the fiscal year AND deducting that amount from the next year's budget (you didn't spend it this year, so you must not need it next year either). I always thought a better system would have been to leave the budget alone and maybe give a small percentage of any money saved as a bonus for efficiency at the end of the year, providing certain standards of performance were met (thus rewarding meeting high performance standards while saving money). But government is not known for appreciating efficiency.

Anyway, it would seem like some sort of monetary reward for breakthroughs in research would be a reasonable replacement for patents. You still get money and prestige for results, but the medicines and techniques developed belong in the public domain.

I don't know. I'm not a doctor or a researcher, but it seems like there has to be a better way.