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I have multiple chemical sensitivities, along with millions of oter Americans. ! out of every 3 Americans is adversely affected by chemicals, and by chemicals I am talking about products made from petroleum, everything from the products used to clean houses generally marketed, the materials that went into building the house or apartment you live in, the prescription drugs we are told are going to make us better, will cure what ails you, to exhaust from automobiles and trucks.

The toxic load on my body from years of exposures to chemicals I was exposed to while working as either a landscaper, or carpenter finally forced me to stop working. I went from a person who would work 5-7 days a week, could be counted on to be at work ontime and finish the job, to a person who could barely work 2 hours straight without having to take a nap for 3-4 hours.

After not being able to find employment, I spent 18 months, and my own money on alternative medicine to rebuild my immune system and go back to work. I never was able to and finally appied for Disability only to find I didn't have enough points, those 18 months of taking care of myself, and afer 4 1/2 years I was awarded SSI, which comes with Medicaid.

I have been on Medicaid for about 3 years now and have not been able to get treatment for my chronic illness through Medicaid. Every doctor I have seen who understands  this illness, every treatment I have recieved, every alternative medicine I have taken, has been paid for out of pocket. I recieve $637.00 per month from SSI, I get an additional $167.00 from EBT for food, of which I can only eat organic foods due to the high chemical contents in processed foods. Of the $637.00 I spend half on housing,I also have auto insurance to pay for, clothing, of any at all. I spend the remainder on herbs, supplements, alternative medicine doctors, who do not accept Medicaid, on tests that Medicaid will not pay for. (The testing that Medicaid will pay for is 20 years behind the curve on diagnostic worth. This statement comes from a Staight AMA certified doctor who works for a large practice that does take Medicaid, but cannot find any way to get the needed test done through Meidicaid)

Basically the system, for any person who has chemical sensitivities, whether the person has Medicaid, Medicare, or private insurance, cannot recieve the appropriate care due to the cavalier dismissal of MCS as a recognized illness by the AMA, the Pharmecutical Industry, Private Healthcare, and the Chemical Manufacturers. Typically a person who has MCS has a compromised immune system, the phase one and two liver detoxification pathways are compromised to the point they are not recognizing good from bad, and will block up, not allowing anything to pass, which then causes a myriad of other problems in the immune system, which then triggers the rest of the body to shut down, to rest, until such time as the body can process the toxins, or at least move them to other parts of the body where they get stored for indefinate times which will continue to cause problems as they are continuing to cause damage to teh immune system and other parts of the body.

One of which is the brain, which is how the medical community at large is able to state with some authority, however ignorant it is, that MCS is wholy a psychological problem. What they refuse to recognize is that if these toxins were not in the brain, affecting it as would any other chemical substance, such as alcohol or restricted drugs, if they were to make this connection they would see that these chemicals in the brain are causing erratic behavior most commonly associated with a chemical imbalance in the body, which is why there are people who go to see psychiatrists.

Furthermore, if they were able to make this connection between the amounts of chemicals a single person has been exposed to and the effect these chemcals has had on the persons body, the persons immune system, how either a single large exposure, a long term exposure to small amounts of chemicals, or any combination of them, leads to a compromised immune system.

The best treatment that any physician can come up with regarding MCS is to not be exposed to chemicals, to find a way to live his or her life in a way in which chemicals are not in their environment. But, they never discuss where on earth this place may be, or how one could afford to live in such a lace if it did exist.

Does this answer your question, or do you need more? I am trying to keep this short, but it is a very complex problem that very few take the time or efort to explore. So, the short answer is that the medical community is not, at this time, recognizing MCS as a illness, thusly, millions of Americans are not recieveing any appropriate treatment for this disabling chronic illness.

Please feel free to contact me with any further questions. 

Ron Dunham 

I am certified as a Family Nurse Practitioner, Family Psych/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, and a Physician Assistant.  I have practiced as a mid-level health care provider in Southeast Nebraska since 1985 at various clinics and health care facilities.  Fulfilling a lifelong dream, in Dec. of 2007 I opened my own practice in Beatrice Nebraska called New Beginnings Health Care Center to provide health care for rural citizens of SE Nebraska as a Nurse Practitioner. 

Getting this outpatient clinic up and running has been almost impossible.  The regulations governing medicare, medicaid, and other insurers make health care nearly inaccessible to the public and impossible to offer as a health care provider. 

Health care is over-regulated by the government, third party payers, and other health care providers.  While it has been an uphill battle, I am beginning to see more patients in my clinic, expanding services offered, and I hope to be able to offer rural patients outpatient health care options. 

All the young, healthy people of the world who don't need much medical attention should have a way of getting simple, inexpensive services without putting such a drain on time and resources that could be devoted to those who really need them.

First I am opposed to a national health care system... there are too many will bilk the system.... which is ultimately funded by the taxpayer.

Suggestions to start positive change:

Respect the PATIENT, LISTEN to them and make them feel as if you care rather than treating them as an account to service.  One way is to inform a patient about the length of time they will have to wait to see a doctor/health provider, another is to educate yourselves on alternative medicine.  A number of people prefer a more natural approach to their health care,  another is to speak in plain terms and act as if the patient you are with is the only PERSON you will work with today.

FOCUS on preventative care.  Reactionary or catastrophic health care is an extremely lucrative business... and it shows.  It is SO much easier to prevent, than to have to 'fix', a problem. It is easier to treat a problem when it is caught in it's early stages and the chances of catching something early would be better with a preventative approach.  Far too many people do not go to the doctor until they 'cant stand it anymore'.  Eating health foods is a VERY good place to focus work/education... doctors and patients, educate yourselves on the additives/processing/ingredients in the food that is consumed.

Why not utilize ONE standard health form to be used across the industry... and make it understandable to the common individual, available in elctronic form, and hard copy.

When billing people for service provided make it as simple as possible.... i.e., include the bill for the doctor, hospital, drugs, operation, etc, on ONE bill.  The current system of every entity sending a patient a bill is designed to confuse, and anger people.... and it creates stress at a time when one least needs it.  This could possbily be tied to the universal form.

I feel that most of these suggestions would be much easier to implement than a national plan that will HAVE to create 'categories' to choose from. If that happens we will be worse off than we are now... and still have to pay the bill.