Law and Magic Blog

Will Health Care Insurance Plans Include Complementary/Alternative Medicine Coverage?

So, have you thought about whether any of the health care bills would require that insurance plans cover alternative or complementary medical treatments? No? Check out this story from Newsweek magazine, which suggests that the CAM lobby has already made its arguments to the Hill.

Requiring insurers to cover therapies with unknown outcomes runs counter to the White House's push for medicine with a proven track record. The basic idea behind evidence-based medicine is that doctors ought to use treatments that have the best possible evidence that they work. What counts as the best possible evidence? Randomized clinical trials.... Clinical trials work fine for drugs, where trials can quantify and compare outcomes. But for alternative treatments, things like prayer or even yoga, the evidence gets much less clear; randomized trials are more difficult to conduct. "For drugs you have placebos and double-blinded studies," says Timmermans. "But you cannot have a placebo for testing behavioral interventions." So alternative treatments are essentially on an uneven playing field when it comes to evidence-based medicine. Timmermans admits that "it's not an equal-opportunity methodology."

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Requiring insurers to cover prayer treatment may be a bit too extreme for health-care reform. More interesting to explore though, are other forms of nontraditional medicine, floated in reform bills, that have a stronger claim to an evidence base. Take, for example, complementary and alternative medicine, a field often criticized for unproven therapies. Some 38 percent of Americans use some form of it. Moreover, the field has increasingly embraced traditional research methods. Just a decade ago, the government established a National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The center studies "alternative healing practices"—anything from the use of echinacea to treat colds, to acupuncture for irritable bowel syndrome—"in the context of rigorous science." They use that gold standard Timmermans mentioned: randomized, clinical trials.

Here's a link to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Now, I admit to practicing yoga, off and on, and I think (I think) it helps me feel less stress and it helps me calm down after a long day of magical legalizing. I know it helps my flexibility, but then so would, I suspect, going back to my ballet exercises. I do feel better when I downward dog and make like a tree, even though I don't Om. It annoys the felines. But I don't try to bill my health insurance company for my trips to the yoga studio. I'm not certain there's cause and effect there. Hey, I tried feverfew for my migraines, too, but I didn't see any amelioration there. Zippo. One of my primary care physicians explained that outcome--there's no quality control in the feverfew you buy OTC. Better to rely on the meds the neurologist prescribes, and mirabile dictu, my migraines have decreased significantly over the past few years. Hooray for modern medicine and Big Pharma (waving imaginary flag).

Magical Internet Thinking

From PC Magazine, "10 Most Heinous Hoaxes on the net." Some of them appeal to magical thinking, like the "we captured BigFoot and we've got him in a freezer" hoax. The one about legislatively setting the value of pi to 3? Here's the text of that Indiana bill. Some of the other hoaxes listed are no laughing matter, such as the one that led to the suicide of young Megan Meier. Federal prosecutors charged Lori Drew, one of the people behind that hoax, under the Computer Fraud and Abuse act. A jury found her guilty of three misdemeanor counts, but a judge threw out the verdict this year.

BigAppleCOR Good Without God Ads Will Adorn New York Subways

Reports CNN, groups calling themselves the Big Apple Coalition of Reason have commissioned ads to appear in the New York subway system beginning October 26 with the label: "A million New Yorkers are good without God. Are you?"

According to the Metro Transit authority, it will accept ads that don't contain nudity or offensiveness. Other than that, its walls are open.

According to the BigAppleCOR (get it?) website, the organization that make up the coalition are

[C]ommitted to a more compassionate world; we are working for a more reasonable citizenry and a higher level of discourse; we are striving to increase the quality of life for all; and we find fellowship an integral part of the human condition. Theists and nontheists alike are the same people: we go to work everyday; we have families and friends; we are involved in our communities, state, and country; and we care deeply about life.
 
Big Apple COR aims to inform New Yorkers that there is a community of people who share a rational basis for their worldviews, who attend intellectual public lectures, enjoy philosophy discussions, and socialize. We invite you to visit our various websites, to contact any of those in which you are interested, and to feel free to attend the public gatherings of any of our organizations.

One supporter of the BigAppleCor is magician Jamy Ian Swiss.

Some Magic on "Drop Dead Diva"

In "Grayson's Anatomy," tonight's final episode of the season for the series Drop Dead Diva, the protagonist, attorney Jane Bingum (Brooke Elliot) dreams that she is the star witness in a showdown between the two men who attract her most: colleagues Grayson Kent (Jackson Hurst) and Tony Nicastro (David Denman). Paula Abdul, presiding as the judge, calls on each man to demonstrate why he should win Jane's heart. Tony dances--one interpretation of what lawyers do. But Grayson breaks a magic wand and makes scarves appear. Of course Judge Abdul announces she'll give her ruling after the break, and then Jane wakes up.

This comedy is fun to watch; it takes on real issues of ethics and hot button legal issues, and includes a little of the supernatural, since Jane harbors the reincarnation of dead model Deb, Grayson's fiancee. Lawyers, models, and the afterlife--something for everyone.

The Charm of Making Money

In this week's eSkeptic, Karen Stollznow writes about psychic advisors and the economy. People continue to seek out such advice, especially in rough times. She gives examples of individuals who rely on advice from psychics for business deals and real estate (people wanting to sell their homes sometimes  bury statues of St. Joseph in their yards). She also notes the example of the recently charged Jerome Kerviel, who seems to have relied on psychic advice and ended up in a quite a financial mess. But hope endures.

I've posted about these topics a couple of times already (see here and here). But they continue to enchant.

Freemasonry and Free Association

On NPR's All Things Considered, discussion with Mitch Horowitz, author of Occult America, of Jay-Z, and his interest in things metaphysical. There's something of a link, says Mr. Horowitz, with the Freemasons, and with our Founding Fathers, although it might be tenuous. Interesting.

How Tricks and Illusions Work

From Forbes.com, "The Truth in llusions," explained in an article by Jonathan Fahey, and demonstrated by pickpockets and magicians.

Statues (Not Statutes) For Sellers

I posted a story about St. Joseph statutes a while ago, but apparently they're still hot, so to speak. According to the New York Times' Peter Applebome, some real estate agents are still using the figurines to try to encourage home sales, burying them variously on the grounds of properties on the market.

It’s not completely clear when the tradition began, and devotees disagree over how best to participate. Head down? By the “for sale” sign? In a flowerpot? But it has been adopted by many real estate agents, who suggest that sellers, particularly in this market, give the statue a chance.

Read more here. As for me, I'd rather price my property for the market, hire a good agent, and be prepared to negotiate as necessary.

Picking Those Winning Lottery Numbers: Derren Brown Explains

On September 11th, popular mentalist Derren Brown explained how he "picked" the (British) National Lottery's winning numbers, apparently really annoying some of his fans, but entrancing others.  Channel 4 got a huge share of the audience that hour.

On this week's episode of his series "How to Control the Nation," Mr. Brown says he will keep viewers in their seats. Temporarily, of course, and able to phone in to describe what happens to them. Check out an interview with the mind control expert here.

Woman Falls To Her Death From University of Toronto Building's Roof

The Toronto Star (star.com) has this sad story about a ghost hunter originally from Indiana, who fell to her death from a University of Toronto building on September 10. Leah Kubik was looking for specters with her friend at 1 Spandina Crescent on the university campus and tried to follow him, apparently across the rooftop. She fell to the ground, several stories below, and died later at a hospital in the city.

University spokespeople say they do not understand why the pair was looking for ghosts at that particular location, which is not known for hauntings. "Richard Fiennes-Clinton, who leads ghost tours of the university's campus, said: `This particular college itself doesn't even really have any kind of substantial ghost stories to it. There's certainly a lot of other buildings around the university that do have stories.'"

Read more here.

Update: according to this article in the University of Toronto's college newspaper, The Strand, investigators are now saying Ms. Kubik and the man with her were not ghost-hunting. "Police reported that the couple had been ghost-hunting, but later withdrew the claim. Toxicology and autopsy results have not been released to the press. Neither the man nor the woman was a university student."

Thanks to Tiffany Rad for the tip.