Shocking truth behind true A1c goals

Insurance companies manipulate the recommended A1C goal range for patients with type 2 diabetes to benefit themselves and doctors. They incentivize doctors to keep the goal between 7% and 8% or higher to optimize profits, even though a lower goal would reduce complications. Doctors are limited to prescribing medication from pharmaceutical companies, and insurance companies rarely cover the cost of alternative treatments or supplements. The American College of Physicians recommends a higher goal range than the American Diabetes Association, influenced by a desire to increase pharmaceutical and doctor profits. Patients with uncontrolled diabetes spend more healthcare dollars, so higher A1C goals benefit doctors and insurance companies. Patients should question their doctor's recommendations and prioritize their own health. Insurance companies should prioritize patient care over profits. Test, test, test. The shocking truth behind the A1C goals. Why doctors believe the biggest lie is patience. You all hope that our doctors have our best interest in mind when treating us. Well, mostly that is true, unfortunately. Sometimes doctors are forced to prioritize their own financial gain over our health by insurance companies. How? Did you know that the recommended A1C goal range has been manipulated by insurance companies to benefit themselves and the doctors they work with? Not every doctor participates in their dirty game. I don't, but especially HMO plans have doctors in their plans. In their palms, let's call it. In this video, we will explore the shocking truth behind why family doctors tend to believe a big lie when it comes to A1C goals. Firstly, it is essential to understand the recommended A1C goal for patients with type 2 diabetes. The American Diabetes Association recommends a goal of less than 7%. On the other hand, American College of Physicians, ACP, recommends between 7% and 8%. But you and I know that 6% or lower is the best. And it's not just my word. Studies have shown that every 1% increase in A1C above normal raises the risk of complications from diabetes by 30%. Therefore, it's no surprise that patients and their families are curious about why these recommendations are not more stringent. The answer is dishonest and brutal. The insurance companies incentivize doctors to keep the range, the goal, between 7% and 8% or more to optimize their profits. If the goal is set too low, then the doctors who have patients failing to meet the A1C target will look like they are doing a poor job, which could affect their bottom line. The doctors who comply with the insurance companies are rewarded with bonus money. What's even worse, the patients suffer from severe complications such as kidney disease, eye disease, and heart disease, and even amputations. Secondly, let's take a look at treatments for type 2 diabetes. The pharmaceutical industry and doctors, they have a complicated relationship. Did you know that doctors are only allowed to prescribe medicine from a pharmaceutical company? Now, pharma, the big pharma, makes people believe that doctors who support natural supplements are not ethical. That is far from the truth. These companies that produce insulin, metformin, and other medications are often the primary beneficiaries of doctors' treatment plans. Moreover, insurance companies, they seldom cover the cost of alternative treatments or supplements that can help in diabetes management. Which is significantly cheaper, in reality, than the prescribed medications. But the reason for this is that the supplements are usually not patented. It's been known for centuries, right? You cannot go try to patent something that is known to humanity for so long. But there is little benefit to pharmaceutical industry and insurance companies to promote them, or to inform patients, or to educate doctors, or to educate patients. Thirdly, let's look at the ACP, American College of Physicians' recommendations on keeping A1C goal between 7 and 8%. The recommendation is higher than the ADA, the American Diabetes Association, and they recommend less than 7. So why, first of all, right? Lowering the goal range to less than 7% would significantly reduce the incidence of diabetes-related complications, even high blood pressure, vision loss, neuropathy, blindness, stroke. All of these severe complications can occur when the blood sugars are consistently high. Here we can see the ACP's recommendations are influenced primarily by a similar desire to increase pharmaceutical and doctor profits. Fourthly, studies have shown that patients with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes spend more health care dollars than those with well-managed diabetes. Now, by incentivizing doctors to set a higher A1C goal, ACP type of organizations ensure that the doctors will continue to receive more payments from patients with uncontrolled diabetes because they will have more problems, more health problems. They will keep coming. Meanwhile, patients have to pay out of pocket when their doctors prescribe the medication to attain their A1C goal, or if they recommend a supplement, the insurance company will not cover it. They have to pay entirely out of pocket for those holistic, natural approaches that they actually work. Now, the insurance industry benefits from keeping patients in a vicious cycle of diabetes-related problems. They want to visit doctors because if they're not sick, if you're not sick, you're not going to need insurance, right? And if the doctors are not there, there will be no insurance companies. It's a complicated relationship. So you need more medications to treat only so much, but not 100%. So you're still sick, right? It is devastating to learn that the family doctors might be, you know, prescribing higher A1C goal for you, saying that, oh, you're okay, you know, 8% you're okay. To profit from their patients' illnesses rather than treating them with integrity. Ask your doctor, if you were a diabetic, would you want your A1C to be 8%? Ask that question. What's your goal for yourself? Now patients deserve the best care possible, and doctors should not be incentivized by the insurance profits, the insurance bonus money, to make decisions that can potentially harm their patients. As patients, you must always remember that we have the right to question our doctor's recommendations and do our research on alternative treatments as well. In addition, insurance companies should prioritize patient health care instead of their own profits, which I don't see happening anytime soon. Together we can fight against these financial incentives, pushing doctors to lie to their patients and provide, so that they can provide the best care they can. Believe me, doctors want to give you the best care possible. The insurance companies and all of these other financial players are blurring the vision of your doctor. So you and your doctor work together to get over all these hassles. Thank you for watching, I'll see you in the next video.