I’ve embarked on a journey to build my own parallel medical system that is somewhat outside the current medical ecosystem which I believe to be fundamentally broken. I’m not talking about alternative medicine such as herbs, teas, magic crystals or copper bracelets but new startup medical firms that have a science based but different perspective on how to provide patients with alternatives to conventional and expensive health care.
Why The Journey?
Let’s face a simple reality, the current health care ecosystem is not only broken from a financial point of view but it’s done little to nothing to address huge health problems in society. For example, why are diabetes rates exploding and going to be catastrophic according to The National Library of Medicine by 2030? If we have the best doctors and medicine in the world, why is this a growing problem? It’s not just diabetes, there is an explosion of colon cancer in young people, why? How have doctors, insurance and patients been led astray with such modern advances in care and technology?
Function Health
A new startup called Function Health is offering 100+ lab tests for $499 and they currently have a waiting list but I plan on joining the program as soon as it’s available. The firm plans on having a dashboard that allows a patient to monitor their health via lab tests annually to see how things are changing.
Tiny Health
Tiny Health is another startup that is offering lab test for your gut biodome. I wrote about gut biodome in a post recently including mentioning the film “Hack Your Health: The Secrets of Your Gut” which made a compelling case about most diseases being linked or caused by the types of bacteria in your gut.
I’ve already ordered my kit $249 + tax and will write about the results in a future post.
On Demand Lab Tests
Labcorp has ondemand lab tests now that offers specialized tests for a variety of analysis. I may use this as an alternative to Function Health if the wait list is too long so we’ll see what happens with them.
MRI Scanning
A friend of mine recently went to a full body MRI scan and gave her a clean bill of health. She was worried about possible tumors after having a bump in her body and doesn’t have insurance so she sought out her own care.
The company Prenuvo offers full body MRI scans for $2499. There are many other companies offering this service so it’s important to shop around if you plan on doing it.
I found a company named MDSave.com that helps find cheaper MRI scans and other procedures without the use of insurance so that there’s no red tape and lower costs.
DEXA Scanning
Earlier this year, I got a DEXA scan that measures body fat composition and bone density. I paid $110 and was happy with the results and got a digital copy of my scans. My purpose in getting this scan was to determine how much body fat, muscle and changes to bone would happen after taking Zebpound over the next few months. I plan on going back in the late Fall to get myself scanned again.
DNA Tests
One of my siblings and one of my kids got one of those DNA tests done and they do offer some information on what you should be eating based on your DNA profile but I didn’t find any information in those reports compelling. Of course, over time and perhaps with AI these tests and recommendations will get better so I’ll keep an eye on them.
International Medicine – Medical Tourism
I am doing all of this in anticipation of potentially moving overseas but one of the reasons I’m contemplating the move in the first place is the ridiculous broken cost of the U.S. medical system. It’s only a matter of time before Medicare goes broke so it’s best to build a medical network outside the U.S. now and prepare by having a full spectrum report of my health profile now.
Share The Wealth
The purpose of this post was to show you what I’m doing to escape the current medical system paradigm, if you have something to share to help others, let us know in the comments below.