Unfortunately, if I understand it correctly, those Insurance companies want nothing more than for you to go to these quack healers - it costs them less than legitimate treatment would.
You guys haven’t read March of the Morons, by C.M. Kornbluth, have you? It shows the future that, as a childless 49 year old with considerably above average IQ, I have helped to create.
The Marching Morons
[/nitpick]
I just heard that asshole hawking his “Natural Cures” book on the radio. I like Air America, but why are half their commercials some kind of scam? (Trudea, a medical fraud named Wendi Friesen, get-rich-quick schemes, etc.)
John Edward. John Edwards is the former Senator and VP candidate. I remember this by thinking of the S at the beginning of “Senator”.
I’m not worried about The Marching Morons, but that’s a subject for a whole other thread (and probably has been).
Actually, insurance companies don’t want you to go to quack healers, that’s why they pay percentages of claism provided by real medical practitioners.
Although, to my dismay, my large insurance company did recently set up a network of “alternate practitioners” wherein you could get a discount. Acupuncture, Naprapathy, Massage, etc.
Bring on the Faith Healers!
-Cem
I’m gonna take issue with some of your post. It’s true that some alternative practitioners are frauds, plain and simple, but there are a few that are not. There are, for example, ethical chiropractors who will do spinal adjustments to relieve pain and who will refer you to “legitimate” practitioners if they can’t help; that is, if they do x manipulations and you’re still in pain, they’ll refer you to PT or to a physical medicine/rehabilitation specialist for further evaluation and treatment. Massage therapists can help induce relaxation, which is useful for some people with chronic neuromuscular problems. IOW, if you’re prone to spasm, as I am, it’s cheaper to send you to a massage therapist every week or two at less than $100 per session than it is to send you to physical therapy for the same services at well over $200 a visit. (Believe you me, I’d love my insurance to cover a good MT.)
I agree with you on the naturopathy, acupuncture (at least until more studies are in), homeopathy and the other quackery. I just wanted to point out that not all chiropractors and MTs are full of shit.
Robin
I actually had great success with clearing my sinuses with acupuncture when I lived in L.A. and was chronically congested. And if my insurance hadn’t paid for it, I would never have tried it. As it was, it saved them a bundle of money – an acupuncture visit every couple of weeks versus doctor visits and prescriptions was far cheaper in the long run.
Same with massage therapy. I slipped and got some nasty back spasms, and after a month of severe pain when nothing else would work, a great massage therapist had me feeling better in two visits.
So I wish my insurance would cover those now!
I work in a bookstore and I’ve had this guy smirking at me from the best seller table for a couple of weeks now. This is so down right creepy that when I got home last night I missed this thread entirely and hijacked another one just to bloviate.
Customers still walk up to the counter amazed that we stock the book that they assure us “They™” are working tirelessly to suppress. :rolleyes:
Ah, but scammer also starts with S. Which one are you going to remember now smart guy?
It’s okay. The world needs ditch-diggers, too.
Of course you see the world as dull unimaginative and full of self-involved people… you live in Fricken Calgary!! 
Oopsy. Well I suppose I can remember that John *Edwards * has an s, but I can’t bring myself to pay enough attention to John *Edward * to give a half a rat buttock about how his name is spelled.
And swindler, scumbag, snake-oil salesman, shifty sham-meister, and snow-job slinging shitface.
For what it’s worth, the new film from Mike “Office Space” Judge, called Idiocracy and due later this year, is about a guy who travels to a future in which (as I understand it) everybody has become stupid because society at large has removed the incentives not to be. It’s apparently sort of like Futurama among the Pakleds, or A Connecticut Yankee in King Bozo’s Court.
Not to mention sharper, scoundrel, shyster, shark, scallywag, shucker, sneak, shell-game artist, shady dealer, sinister storyteller, and slimy son-of-a-bitch.
Ah, you got me there.
When I saw the thread title regarding “thinning the herd” I figured it was going to be about this story (courtesy of today’s Columbus Dispatch):
*"Tommy Byers, 19, was struck and killed by a train in Lexington, Ky., early Tuesday after running away when University of Kentucky police attempted to cite him for underage drinking.
According to Lexington police, Byers — a 2003 Coffman grad who received a track and cross country scholarship at Kentucky — was among 200 to 300 people attending an off-campus party a day before classes were to begin…According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, UK police tried to cite Byers and an unidentified friend for alcohol-related charges, but both fled by foot. The friend surrendered and was arrested for intoxication.
A few minutes and a few blocks away, Byers was hit by a 32-car train traveling 30 mph on a Norfolk Southern track. Police said he may not have heard the train because he was using his cell phone.*"
“Hey dude, I’m fleeing from the cops right now. Say, where’s that bright light coming from?” 
Good to see Kevin Trudeau getting slammed. Can’t let him get away with spreading the word about those cures we’re going to keep secret.
Bwa-ha-ha-ha!
Natural was #2 on the USAToday Bestseller list today, right below the new Harry Potter. Wow, 2 fantasy novels in the top 2. :rolleyes:
I don’t know - the power of placebo is strong. There probably are a whole lot of people feeling better when using his “cures”, not even realizing they’re doing it for themselves. Which doesn’t make him any less of a con man, of course.