BONUS CONTENT: Twila Brase full interview

Twyla, I want to start out by reading a quote in the foreword of your book big brother in the exam room by Greg Scanlon who is the founder of consumers for healthcare choices and author of MythBusters. Why health reform always goes awry and he was talking about Obama care. The affordable care act in the and the national mandates that go along with it and he writes this was imposed by a bipartisan click that use the hysteria of the 2008 recession to create a command-and-control takeover of the entire healthcare system. The effort was fueled by a self interested industry that enriched itself on the nearly 40 billion of taxpayer dollars that have been appropriated is resulted in worse care. Rising costs less competition and destruction of the trusted relationship between patients and physicians. All this despite the near unanimous protest of the people actually responsible for clinical care. So let's start out today Twyla by asking the question, what is the state of the affordable care act or Obama care right now and why hasn't Pres. Trump been able to keep one of his campaign promises to dismantle and destroy it. The law is pretty packed. One thing that is a problem for them is the fact of the prices for premiums continue to rise.

The deductibles are high. The prices continue to rise in the trying to figure out what to do with it because the money isn't there and in an unending resource and the people who are paying the prices for the premiums are still crying out for help. And so that is its Achilles' heel and Congress is trying to deal with that.

But deceptive. That way, that the trying to deal with it and which is something called reinsurance which I can mention, but I think in the bigger question of what you're asking alike, why isn't it going away. I would say that Obama care was put into place because of Medicare. That's kind of a weird thing to say but Medicare is a trajectory of unsustainability eight years from now is when it is scheduled to go bankrupt.

Eight little years and so I believe that Obama care was put into place in order to have Medicare not fail on the Democrats watch.

It was a way to move toward single payer so that we can all have all that we can all be in a centralized program with centralized dollars and so they'll never have to say Medicare failed and now you can hear them say Medicare for all right this was all in my opinion about moving in that direction, and the Republicans feel it as much as the Democrats they don't want Medicare to go belly up on their watch either and so they're looking at the health plans that have been put in place through Obama care as their Savior of this problem. I believe that either party really. Despite all of their everything that they say really want to get rid of the affordable care act because they need a Savior for Medicare and Trump Trump may not understand this but he surely hears from people in his own party who are concerned about Medicare and who want the health plans to stay in places as they have been empowered through the affordable care act and at the end of the day. The reason he can't do it is because he's not kidding you can't get rid of the affordable care act. You can try to undermine pieces of it which he has done successfully and he's moving toward, but he can't. You can't end a lot you can't repeal the law without Congress repealing the law so from our perspective, we are were not so sure that Congress is ever going to do it. Which is why you would talk before, which is why we started the wedge of health freedom because you can keep those laws in place and keep Medicare in place and have it go sort of belly up.

But as long as you give people a way out. Right is not going to matter. You have Obama care, and if people aren't actually something to it anymore for a variety of reasons. Those laws can stay in place, but this is like nobody has to follow them anymore and that sort of where we think it's possible that we have to go as we talk before the sort of what our family is doing right now were were operating one of the Christian medical hearing organizations which we love and were were operating. I guess you'd say outside the Obama care system. The affordable care act nationalized system of healthcare so we really have been thankful for that. Sounds like this is what the wedge is you're talking about will will do as well and in the past week or so. There was an article that came out about the health insurers which are not really help ensure their health plans that real insurance companies which are only there for you no catastrophic coverage. That's not what the health plan is so health plan is really running this entire system and so there was an article that came out and said that this is a bull market for the insurers. In other words there just want one ensure they the stock prices going up for thousand percent right. So Obama care gave them the entire market. And then this one investor who/investors.

He said you know Wall Street investors. They're not worried if we go to a single-payer system and why are they worried they are worried if we go to Medicare for all because as far as they're concerned it will be Medicare advantage for all know for you and your listeners.

You may not understand what that really means it Medicare advantage is the HMO the health plan version of Medicare. So the federal government gives his money to the health plans and a senior citizen sign up with these health plans and health plans are the ones that have the money and decide to the network and all this they essentially run it for the federal government. So as far as these Wall Street investors are concerned.

If we get single-payer, it will be run by the health plans they're making little the caboodle's of money off of the power that they already have through the affordable care act, and in that case, we really have a single-payer system American-style are socialized to some American-style be run through the health plans you might be signing up for its it feels like it's private but it really isn't. It's a public-private partnership which which looks private but is totally public probably is with us today.

The president and cofounder of the citizens Council for health freedom. Also the author of the book were to be talking about right now. Big brother in the exam room and the subtitle is this the dangerous truth about electronic health records. The same may seem like sort of a narrow niche of the topic, but let me just read a couple paragraphs that come really in your book, Twyla. You say that you HR or electronic health record is the preferred mechanism to impose socialized medicine. Socialized the data socialized the control socialized the doctors socialized the system.

This book describes not only the dangerous to patient safety but also shows all third parties who pay our medical bills, government employers, health plans, say, our medical data is there's an these third parties also say they have the right to control the practice of medicine because they pay the bills and the way they control doctors, medical decisions and access to care is all through the E HR electronic health record so give us an overview. This is the focus of your book about electronic health records. What is the purported benefit of them. But what is the major downside that you cover in your book health record computer exam room or the computer that's at the bedside, computer version, a digital version of the paper medical record it's much, much more than that one physician calls it a command-and-control structure through which every medical decision must pass and and so it's you know it said data collection system.

It's a data reporting system and the only things that a doctor can choose it due to a patient are things that are in the electronic health record. Now they might be able to know bypass that if they can't find a checkbox for what they want to do, but it makes it very difficult for them and so what I'm saying about electronic health record of today is that it's really meant to put outsiders into the exam room to control the doctors decisions ration care and limit access to medicine and treatment and data and conduct surveillance creating profiles of the patient and profiles of the doctor and penalizing the doctor according to how the doctor practices and whether the doctor practices. According to the way the computer has set up for him or her practice or according to the way the doctor says is best for the patient and sometimes was best for the patient is not the way the computer once it done.

And so then it can become a black mark on the doctor for not following the protocol that the hospital put in the computer that health system put into the computer and so this is not how people think of electronic health record. I just want to do a little caveat here and say I make that clear in the book I'm talking about the government imposed electronic health record.

There were doctors that had electronic health records that works for them before this special government system was imposed and but when the Congress did this for this into law four weeks after Pres. Obama was inaugurated.

This is a specific kind of electronic health record and so I call it the government E HR, the government electronic health record. It has to be certified by the government to do the things that government wanted to do.

It's not like the electronic health records. The doctors had before which work for the doctor work for the patient.

These of electronic health records that work for the outsiders for the third parties for the government for the health and insurers for the health plans this this is a very different system than what was before and so the benefits the purported benefits are that data is accessible data can be put together and analyze.

You can have access to your medical records to a portal with a can do population health, which is to look at populations of patients as compared to individual patients that has its own problem and that they want doctors to be thinking about their population rather than the individual sitting in front of them and make decisions according to the population and in person at the money according to the population so and I explained, population and health in the book because I think people need to understand this is the drive toward socialized medicine is this drive to population health as compared to taking care the individual sitting in front of them in the exam room. This is such an important thing to understand about how that leads towards socialized medicine government control, but the dangers homages explain the dangers quickly the date of our privacy because all of this information is being put into the electronic health record and her hip which does not protect privacy.

Does does not protect privacy under hip.

All of these entities at one axis to our information can have access for any variety of purposes, which may have nothing to do with clinical care may have to do with selling the data making money off the data profiling the patient, the doctor penalizing the doctor ration care all that servicing right so the privacy thing but it's also a patient safety concern because the FDA admits that patients have died because of this health information technology errors caused by the electronic record have caused harm to patients. I doctors can't find information on patients because there's so much to look through and I can't figure out which screen to look at it and they have they have been errors because they have to pull down the pulldown menu and temp answers 250 items in the pulldown menu.

Maybe what they wanted. At the very bottom and after trying find it down there right other safety issues as privacy issues and then there's physician autonomy issues so as I started this at the beginning, this idea that the document to treat you according to his or her critical thinking skills. According to the knowledge base, but the computer doesn't have that treatment or doesn't allow that treatment for that particular diagnosis so there's that concern the other concern is that there is really a drive here to take away access to physicians and have the computer be in charge. In other words some position would input all of these treatment protocols into computer would standardize them and say for these diagnoses.

These are the treatments even though every patient is very unique. I'm a mentor so every patient is very unique and what might work. Might work for 80% of Asians but not 20. But it makes it difficult for those 20% of patients to actually get the care they need. But the idea here is that a doctor puts all of this and or a group of doctors agree that these will be the protocols and then the patient only gets a nurse practitioner or a physician's assistant who will look at the patient input the symptoms that will create a diagnosis in order that will come treatments and yet that physician assistant and the nurse practitioner net. None of them have had medical training. They are not doctors they are not physicians they cannot practice medicine they mean. And even though the best questions asked to give the answers. That's where this is being driven as well and so these these dangers to privacy autonomy access to a doctor and safety are all part and parcel of the mandate government mandate to use a government certified electronic health record in the exam room to this in great detail in the book I would highly recommend this book for anyone who has an interest in the healthcare system in your own healthcare and I deftly knows what you're talking to you go to the doctor now. You don't necessarily see a doctor. You see a nurse truck.

Petitioner you see a physician's assistant.

Some of these things you're saying. I'm sure being experienced by many listening today. The title the book is big brother in the exam room.

The dangerous truth about electronic health records you can find this book linked in our website is also for sale on Amazon okay now some the things you mentioned in your your last answer Twyla about the difference between a medical system that caters to the individual. The patients need versus the collective youth about a computer making decisions will behind the computer is someone is the government someone a person who setting the parameters for how someone must be treated according to government mandates you're really getting into a worldview situation government controlling more of our lives than was talking specifically about the healthcare system more people in our country, especially the younger generation favor more government intrusion. I will call for more government control over the lives of citizens is called socialism. When you have an educational system. Twyla media on many of the political class were being elected in advocating for this what's going to change people's minds. How is this not going to happen were government is going to be getting more and more control over people's health care decisions so I threw socialism as they just went and lived in… Venezuela for a while to just check out what the system is like when when socialism rains to its to its maximum in and people can have access to care, they cannot access the food you write that mean yeah that's where socialism can go II think you know it is entirely possible that as I said we build the system outside of whatever the government does and there will be people stuck in the government system and more socialism but you know you can't.

If you can't socialize the doctors if we if we open these escape hatches. I like to call them escape hatches right and then doctors choose to be free. More more doctors choose to be free.

Other doctors look outside of the socialized system ago you asked that I can like that freedom to write and then more more than break free and in this country you have to up in the Constitution to say that they couldn't break free and so you know I think it's all about breaking free moving back to cash and no I think this is all about breaking free. But at the end of day when you say worldview and we think about Christians this think about where did healthcare come from where did medical care come from right so Jesus as the great physician part a big part of what he did was he healed people and you know and and people came to him for that. But this, this is an up ending of what the medical profession is supposed to be. It's supposed to be a mission. It's not supposed to be a business and the fact that we have are moving away from the mission and making it a business making doctors into data clerks and data reporters and having them focus all their time in gathering the data and clicking the boxes and following the protocols, all of that is moving completely away from the very beginning of the very purpose of the practice of medicine.

They will really work moving towards a time where the doctors and patients become pawns to all the agendas of the out profiteering agendas. The political agendas of people outside the exam room and the two people who matter most. Inside the exam room are you are getting short shrift in this I feel like it's so important you must retain the mission of medicine patient lives are at stake. Their quality of life is at stake.

You know, the determination of when they have value is at stake is whether they will be care for is at stake you know so all of this is so important that we maintain the escape hatches and and broaden the options of people to go outside the doctors and the patients to go outside of the system that is moving towards socialism and retain the constitutional rights that we have here to be free and to not be in the socialized healthcare system agrees with this today on the Christian rule view sees the president and cofounder of the citizens Council for health freedom of an excellent website you can find out more at CC each freedom.org just a final question for you Twyla. People will listen to the conversation today. What do I do with this information you know I have trouble affording my healthcare people in a lot of different situations.

Some have pre-existing conditions maybe can get into a Christian, a hell sharing organization what you want people to do with all the information you've given us a what can they do to the find out more about how to get the best healthcare most freedom is at the best cost so I would check out hell sharing and of course any time you're in a system like this are some people who will find it difficult to find their way out.

But if you have the option check out hell sharing organization will only list all six of them.

The major ones on our website.

look@thewedgejoinedthewedge.com and see if you can find a physician in your area that is taking only cash, check or charge which it's much more affordable and that doctors working for you, not the insurance company, not the government because it's it's just a direct relationship and then you know the book really asked planes the danger that people are but it also has as its very last part. It has specific action steps to take to protect yourself in the exam room and to assess legislators for certain things to help you get your safety, privacy, safety and privacy rights back and to not answer questions that will make it more difficult for your doctor to treat you are allowed make it more difficult for them to profile you know there is what I have really concrete examples in the book of what to do for patients for doctors for state legislators and for Congress. So for separate lists and then take care take care with the consent forms that use I look at them carefully if they are coercive, saying you know you only get treatment if you sign that you will share your data for this this this this this this this you call our office and figure out how to answer those forms are not answer those for that's part of what's in the book as well. And then we're looking at just different policies that will bring people more freedom back.

So for for people with pre-existing conditions. I understand the concern but we have to move back to real insurance, real insurance, which is there for people who don't have the conditions already, but we would like to move further than that. We would like to have pre-birth health insurance that parents can buy for their child. Before the birth of their child and that can then be owned and passed off to the child at maturity so that there is never a problem of being stuck with a pre-existing condition from a family policy or being stuck with a pre-existing condition from an employer's policy and that's the two typical places that people get stuck with pre-existing conditions so you know, so our organization is looking at big solutions to get the big problems, but the it's always difficult for some people, you know, that kind of stuck in the middle and you know that just reality, but we have to choose freedom or socialized medicine and no freedom. And you know I'm hopeful that more people will choose that they want to be free and have a relationship that's with her doctor. That's individualizes their patient care and that of affordable price.

Just one more question about the person who is working for Corporation in the have their family healthcare plan from that the corporation provides them with the really don't like it.

What that's person supposed to do if they're part of a company that provides health care for the more times they settle for because they like it. It's free, so to speak, or to that person.

Do that person should talk with their employer and see what the possibilities are that the amount of money that is being used to pay for that compensation. Whether that amount of money can be provided to the worker because then the worker could take that money which is really their compensation. It's it's money that is not ending up in their pocket. It's money that's being given to a health plan of the employer's choice, but it is their compensation so if they were given that money in wages they could choose something else they could choose an insurance product that they like. They could choose to go. Hell sharing. I they could choose these new short term limited duration policies if they would prefer that for you know for like one of their family members. So all of those are options that they have to get the employer to agree to give them the money in cash and this is one thing that I would say that people don't understand and you must like you said, you know, for free, and that is exactly how it feels right but but it's unbelievable the amount of money that an employer is paying for an individual and that kind of money I can remember this one woman who said that her employer was paying $20,000 a year towards this policy will if the individual were given $20,000 more in cash a year would they choose that policy with a choose a perhaps a higher deductible, would they choose hell sharing what they choose, heal some other option if they had their full compensation in cash and so I think that that is something that we need to have employees starting to ask their employers because the fact of the matter is that lots of employers would just as soon be out of the insurance business and would prefer to just be in whatever their businesses know if they're selling cars they prefer just to sell cars yell at the end of the individual get their own insurance and that's where our organization would like to drive coverage we would like individual ownership and therefore you have employers completely out of it it in my book. I do talk about the timeline that got us to the point where we have third parties paying their bills and it starts in 19 for in the 1940s with the war board during World War II. Deciding to let employers offer health insurance and that was the beginning of the problem that were in place and I would just recommend that listeners today with questions about healthcare want to get out of the system. The main Obama care system to to go to your website. Twyla CCH freedom.org.

Give your office a call. There are ways to get on our family had to go through this were so thankful for the help you provided the Council you provided. When we are going through the Twyla and we appreciate the fact that you've dedicated your career to health freedom. It's a major part of one's life.

If the government controls from the time you're born to the timer died in your health, your health is a major thing at the big deal when you've really fought for liberty solutions.

I would say to healthcare as we thank you for that and thank you for coming on the Christian real view we wish all God's best, and grace to you and also our congratulations on your new book big brother in the exam room