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CHOICE

Today we have some choices for care that we didn’t have when I was a child.

If you are thinking you could be a candidate for a knee replacement or a shoulder replacement, you have more choices in most circumstances now.  Have you ever considered a stem cell injection?  Or a shot of protein rich plasma, called PRP?  When I weigh a shot, which is how stem cells are given, or a surgery, I think the shot is a great deal less invasive.  Yes, it is possible it won’t work.  But a replacement might not work either.  After a stem cell injection, you can still have a replacement if you need it. The only glitch is that insurance will not pay for stem cells or PRP and they are pricey.

There are many complaints about the costs of health care (I call sickness care).  And yet, a great deal of the costs could be eliminated if people were given stem cell and PRP shots instead of replaced parts.  You see, the powers that be don’t really want to decrease the health care bills.  “They” say stem cells and PRP  are experimental.  How long do they have to be done before they are no longer classified as experimental? Is it possible that big pharma does not want them considered regular care?  I mean, how much medicine would you need with a shot?  Think about it!

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Stem Cell Therapy

You will never be younger than you are at this moment.  There is no time like the present if you want to save some of your stem cells for use in the future.

The younger the stem cells are, the more active they will be.

As stem cell therapy becomes more popular, you are more likely to want to choose stem cell therapy instead of a knee replacement or shoulder surgery.   We as insurers should make our voices heard.  If you are part of an insurance group, the insurance company “should” try to cut costs as well as poor outcomes.

In Denver, a hip replacement costs about $57,000.  A knee replacement costs about $48,000.  You can get stem cell therapy for less than $10,000.

The insurance companies will say it is an experimental procedure.  How long will they need to perform these procedures before they are normal practice and not experimental?

Just consider the poor outcomes from surgery.  I don’t have to write about it as you have friends and stories that are as good as mine.

There is always the possibility of problems from surgery.

And the rehab for the joint replacements are not fun.  It is hard work.

As it stands now, anyone who wants to try the stem cell therapy has to pay out of pocket.

How much more is  your insurance is because they won’t pay for stem cell?

Why don’t insurance companies cover stem cell?  You could always have the surgery if the stem cell doesn’t work, but there would be far fewer surgeries and far fewer poor outcomes.

I don’t  do these procedures so I don’t have a horse in the race as they say.  But common sense says surgery carries a lot more problems than stem cell.  Here is an article from a Dr. who has done stem cell for 20 years.  Enjoy!