Real Health Care Progress

From Leeds Dental Institute in UK comes news of a breakthrough in  dental care. Read here:

Filling without drilling: Pain-free way of tackling dental decay reverses acid damage and re-builds teeth

ScienceDaily (2011-08-23) -- Researchers in the UK have discovered a pain-free way of tackling dental decay that reverses the damage of acid attack and rebuilds teeth as new. The pioneering treatment promises to transform the approach to filling teeth forever. ... > read full article

It's interesting that a country where health care is free for everyone is where this breakthrough takes place. The US spends more than any industrialized nation on health care. Here our research and development is initiated by drug companies cooking up an endless supply of ever more expensive patented drugs with dangerous side effects. There's little testing of herbal or natural medicines here because those aren't profitable for the pharmaceutical industry.

Dental health care is extremely expensive in the US. In our bizarre patchwork health "care" system, dental care is not covered by Medicare, covered only minimally by Medicaid in some places. Except for cleaning and xrays, private insurance sticks the patient with most of the costs of dental care.

American dental "care" means big profits for dentists, shoddy dental chain clinics and dental insurance plans. On behalf of some of its most unfortunate victims, our dental care industry generates big profits for their personal injury lawyers.

Healthy teeth are not profitable. Not for Big Insurance, not for medical malpractice lawyers, not for health industry lobbyists or the politicians they bribe. Healthy teeth profit only the smiling consumer who avoids thousand in bills, millions in headaches, and untold hours of suffering, up to and including death.

Want to build a better democracy, increase workers health and productivity, improve consumer credit ratings?

Cut the ties between peoples' health care and the Medical Industrial Complex. One national Health Plan. Medicare for all.