The California State Senate, fed up with low quality “Standard of Practice” health care in the state, Friday, June 1, 2000, passed a Cancer Reform Bill sponsored by California Citizens For Health, and backed, not surprisingly, by the California Medical Association (CMA).
Opinion by Tim Bolen
The bill eliminates the requirement in California that all cancer treatment be “limited to chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery.” Health Activists predict the death of the cancer chemotherapy, and the cancer radiation mega-industries in the U.S.. Sales of chemotherapy cancer drugs reached 8.4 billion dollars in 1999 – yet cancer deaths are at an all time high.
California is said to be the tenth largest stand-alone economy in the world, and the battle for health care dollars is fierce in the state. Governor Gray Davis, who joined the fray after his election, is removing (by not renewing) fourteen of the existing eighteen California Medical Board Appointees. The last four’s terms run out next year – and they too will be replaced. The terms, for the old board members, run out June 30th, 2000.
Governor Davis’ appointments, and the passage of this bill, represent a disaster for so-called “Quackbuster” henchmen. The National Council for Reliable Health Information (NCRHI), formerly called the National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF), and their sister groups, were dealt the most humiliating blows of their existence with these actions in California.
And this, right on the heels of the Minnesota and Arizona reform laws…
Former Medical Board Member Alan Schumaker – also President of the Federation of States Medical Boards (FSMB), called by some “a Quackbuster front organization,” recently tried to push through an “anti-alternative medicine California Medical Board declaration” – to no avail.
Current Cal Med Board President Ira Lubell (one of the remaining four), who records show, may be a close business associate of self-styled “quackbuster” Wallace Sampson, could not get Schumaker’s declaration passed by the existing board. Lubell is under close scrutiny by California Health Freedom activists.
The California “Cancer Reform Bill” heads for the California House of Representatives this week. Easy passage is expected.
John Renner, current NCRHI President, might have to call a meeting of the 25 people (total) who attended their “National Convention” at a Super-8 motel in Missouri, this last April – so they can all lay down on the floor together, and kick their feet…
The backing of the bill by the CMA is not a surprise to health freedom activists. Many activists believe that the CMA (the second largest MD organization in the US) attitude is because, unlike the American Medical Association (AMA), the CMA is still controlled by practicing MDs – and the AMA is controlled by the medical industry – a different thing entirely.
The battle for the future of health care took an unusual turn in California last year when health freedom activists, the CMA, lawmakers, and Medical University leadership joined forces against, what many believed, was the “quackbuster controlled” California Medical Board in the “Robert Sinaiko, MD, case”. Despite this alliance, and warnings to the Medical Board, members arrogantly yanked Sinaiko’s license, and shut down his business.
The backlash against the board’s arrogant action in the Sinaiko case has only begun. One of Sinaiko’s chief witnesses on his behalf, Phil Lee, MD (formerly Assistant Secretary of Health in the Clinton Administration), was said by the Med Board “not to be credible,” as a witness. Lee, went on to become one of Governor Gray Davis’ top health advisors…
Now, if I had Phil Lee’s job, I know exactly what I’d be advising the Governor about… To tell the truth, Phil lee is a very good man, and a good American – and I’m sure he’s advising the Governor quite well, all by himself.
Next in California? Maybe we’ll copy Minnesota’s new law – it sounds very, very, good…