In February 2009, the Institute of Medicine, once leery diabetic. He had all the risk factors for heart disease,”
of all things alternative, held a momentous two-day summit, says Guarneri. She enrolled him in a $2,800, three-month
Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public, inviting weight loss and exercise program (covered only in part by
600 policymakers and practitioners to explore where this insurance). “He lost 168 pounds and he went from taking
new form of medicine is taking us. Days 16 drugs to three. Just with that single
later, a congressional health commit- individual, the system saved enormous
tee was calling on Weil—once a dark amounts of money.”
horse among his medical colleagues—for
“No amount of
testimony about how to fix the nation’s
crumbling healthcare system.
ideological argument
Money Talks
His answer: Stop focusing so much
In 1997, after years of quietly teach-
ever changed anything.
on making our current system more
ing and practicing integrative medicine
accessible via insurance reform, and It was when pocket-
in Arizona, Weil was propelled from
instead, create a new system.
relative obscurity to the cover of Time
“What we have is not a healthcare
books started getting
magazine. He has since become a go-to
system at all; it is a disease management
squeezed that people
resource for both lawmakers and other
system,” advises Weil. “Making the cur-
doctors seeking healthcare advice.
rent system cheaper and more accessible
started paying attention. Weil believes that money, or lack
will just spread the dysfunction more
Things are going to
thereof, made it happen.
widely. What we need is a new kind of
“No amount of ideological argument
medicine.” get a lot worse, and
ever changed anything,” he reflects. In
this case, “It was when pocketbooks
when they do, the
started getting squeezed that people
Integrative,
not Alternative
wisdom of what we
started paying attention. Things are going
to get a lot worse, and when they do,
Mary Guerrera, a medical doctor and
are doing will become the wisdom of what we are doing will
director of integrative medicine at the
even more apparent.”
become even more apparent.”
University of Connecticut School of
During congressional testimony
Medicine, stresses that integrative is not
before the Senate committee on health,
just another word for alternative. ~ Dr. Andrew Weil
education, labor and pensions last Feb-
“Alternative medicine indicates
ruary, Weil joined heart physician and
something to be used in place of. In-
health guru Dr. Dean Ornish and others
tegrative is a term that has emerged in the past decade to
in rattling off a stunning list of statistics:
reflect a bringing together of the best that conventional and
The United States currently spends 16 percent of its gross
alternative medicine have to offer,” says Guerrera, who
domestic product on health care, more than any other coun-
went on to study acupuncture and holistic medicine after
try in the world, yet its health outcomes are ranked 37th
completing her conventional medical training in the ‘80s.
in the world by the World Health Organization. In 2006,
She explains that because one person can’t be an expert
insurance companies covered 1.3 million coronary angio-
in everything, integrative medicine hinges on the idea of
plasty procedures, at roughly $48,000 each, and 448,000
team care. For instance, a cancer patient might see her spe-
coronary bypass operations at a cost of $99,000. Yet, things
cialists for chemotherapy and surgery, and then be referred
like nutrition counseling, exercise programs and stress-re-
to an acupuncturist for treatments to help with nausea or
duction classes, which studies show could prevent as much
pain management, as well as a nutritionist to help her re-
as 90 percent of all heart disease, are typically not covered
store lost weight. A patient going into surgery might practice
by insurance.
mindfulness-based meditation beforehand, which has been
That, remarks Weil, needs to change, and he’s optimis-
shown to hasten healing times, decrease hospital stays and
tic that it will.
thus, save money.
“We need to transform medicine so we are not so de-
“Integrative medicine is team-based, collaborative care,”
pendent on these high-tech expensive solutions for every-
Guerrera explains.
thing,” concludes Weil, who outlines his plan in his new
Cardiologist Mimi Guarneri is medical director and
book, Why our Health Matters: A Vision of Medicine That
founder of the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine, a
Can Transform the Future. “We need doctors who know
multi-disciplinary center that offers care for people with
when and when not to use them and who are trained to use
heart disease, pain, weight management needs, cancer,
other kinds of interventions. That’s the great promise of inte-
diabetes, stress and women’s health issues. She notes that
grative medicine: It can bring effective, lower-cost treatments
the center receives 3,500 patients a month, many of whom
into the mainstream.”
arrive seeking relief from costly drugs or surgeries.
“One patient came to me who had just had a bypass.
Lisa Marshall is a freelance writer in Colorado; connect at
He was 330 pounds, suffered from sleep apnea and was
LisaAnnMarshall.com.
8 Rockland & Orange Counties www.naturalawakeningsro.com
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