Participants: James Marcum & Charles Mills
Series Code: UP
Program Code: UP00048A
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00:18 Today, we're going to SHOCK a few people.
00:20 We all know that smoking is BAD for you, VERY BAD, 00:24 but SHOULD YOU be financially penalized because you smoke? 00:29 Stay tuned... 00:32 I'm Dr. James Marcum 00:34 Are you interested in discovering the reason why? 00:37 Do you want solutions to your healthcare problem? 00:40 Are you tired of taking medications? 00:43 Well, you're about to be given the Ultimate Prescription 00:50 No matter what you think of the "Affordable Care Act," 00:53 No matter what you think of those in 00:54 power in Washington, D.C., 00:56 no matter what you think about taxes, 00:58 there's a matter that has come to light recently 01:00 which needs to be addressed... 01:01 It has to do with smokers and their rights as citizens. 01:05 Dr. Marcum, what do we need to know? 01:08 This is something that we need to talk about, 01:11 especially now that the "Affordable Care Act" 01:13 is coming into being. Yes 01:16 Years ago, we spent a lot of time and effort as a country 01:20 and as health carers talking about smoking 01:23 and it needed to be. 01:25 Smoking, if you think about it, just to review to let 01:27 everyone know it raises the chance of 01:29 cardiovascular disease including heart attacks, 01:32 raises the rates of stroke, raises the rates of 01:36 many types of cancer, raises the chance of aneurysms, 01:40 lots of problems associated with smoking... 01:42 not to mention lung disease, lots of problems with smoking. 01:48 Even though we really worked hard at this - still, 01:52 1 in 5 adults smokes, 1 in 5, 20%, 01:56 and this level is even higher in lower income houses, 02:01 those that aren't making as much money. 02:03 Now recently, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, 02:07 in an Associated Press article... 02:10 He wrote this article, Charles, he says, "Law may leave 02:13 smokers without insurance. 02:16 The "Affordable Care Act" will allow insurance to charge 02:20 some smokers a 50% higher premium beginning 02:25 in January 2014" So that's just some smokers. 02:30 "This could cost a 55-year-old nearly $4,200+ a year. " 02:35 Now, workers that are on the job could avoid the penalties 02:39 by joining smoking cessation programs, 02:42 and that's why we want to really talk about this today 02:45 because we could have a lot of people wanting to learn about 02:48 health having big financial implications, 02:52 and here, we have as a group, as people, a way to reach out 02:56 and help them quit smoking, 02:57 and also touch them doing it for the right reasons. 03:00 I don't think monetary reasons are necessarily the RIGHT 03:04 reasons MAKING someone do it, infringing on their freedoms, 03:08 but if this might help them see a greater truth, 03:10 this might be worth it. 03:11 So anyway, more and more people are going to come in... 03:14 Now these different plans operate under different rules 03:18 and what we're going to see, there's going to be available 03:21 tax credits available to low income brackets to help them 03:26 to quit smoking cigarettes. 03:28 Currently, right now, insurers are not allowed to charge 03:32 more for those who are overweight; 03:35 they're not allowed to charge more for those with 03:37 chronic pain, bad heart, but SMOKERS - WATCH OUT! 03:42 They're going to get charged for this. 03:43 Now don't get me wrong, I want everyone to have good health. 03:48 But I also believe that individual rights 03:51 as long as others are not being hurt, that's important too. 03:55 And, what about the health hazards 03:57 that we get from losing our freedoms? 03:59 What if someone starts telling us what to think? 04:02 Or what to believe? Where does it end? 04:03 I want people to quit smoking, but I want them to do this 04:08 because they CHOOSE the right path. 04:11 Living in fear of the government mandating 04:14 different things on us also creates a 04:17 health problem as well. 04:18 Remember those fear circuits get turned on, 04:21 and fear doesn't do a body any good. 04:24 So again, I suggest we love people and not judge. 04:27 Now, I'm going to put some important statistics on smoking 04:31 as we talk about this today. 04:35 Most people, do you even know 04:36 anyone that still smokes, Charles... 04:38 Unfortunately, I do. 04:41 Okay, you do, well, I'm glad that you do. 04:43 Most people nowadays don't even necessarily know people 04:47 that smoke because everyone sort of isolates themselves 04:50 into different socioeconomic groups based on cigarettes, 04:54 and in a way, if you think about reaching all the people we can 04:58 with good health message with the news about loving people 05:03 and loving them into health and loving them to a 05:05 relationship with the Creator, we have to reach ALL people. 05:09 ALL people, everywhere! 05:11 So we have to find ways to not only talk to people, 05:14 but to find ways to meet these. 05:15 One of these ways might be through a television program. 05:18 Hey, what you're saying here is we shouldn't discriminate 05:21 against people who smoke or people who have low 05:24 metabolism... it's sort of like a preexisting condition. 05:31 Well yeah and sometimes they choose these conditions, 05:35 but where do we draw it? 05:36 Do we say it's a mental health problem? 05:39 Or if they're born with this, where do we draw the line? 05:42 And I try to think of, well, how would Christ 05:44 approach this, you know, the Ultimate Physician. 05:47 He would find a way to reach these people, 05:49 to love these people and it might be through a simple 05:52 television program; 05:53 it might be through a 5-day plan; 05:56 it might be through opening up programs where 05:58 people can come in; 05:59 it might be through an interactive program... 06:01 Now, it's hard to interact with smokers, I admit 06:03 because most nonsmokers don't want to hurt themselves 06:06 by interacting with them. 06:07 And this 5-day program you're talking about is a 06:10 tried and true program put on by the Seventh-day Adventist Church 06:14 to help people stop smoking in 5 days. Yes 06:16 It's been around and there are "Breathe-Free Plans" 06:18 There are many other plans. 06:20 The bottom line is we're going to have a window 06:23 to reach 1 in 5 people that really need to be helped, 06:28 how do we say who needs more health help... 06:30 Someone that carries extra weight; 06:33 someone that has a high blood pressure problem; 06:35 someone that has this problem or that problem... 06:37 Well, a lot of people are going to have this problem, 06:39 and they need help and they need people to 06:42 love them and not judge them 06:44 and help them along that path. 06:46 So you're saying that this extra financial burden is 06:48 a JUDGEMENT on them. 06:50 I think so - no one else is getting that. 06:52 And how would you feel, Charles, if next year, 06:55 they said, "Well, you know, I don't like the way 06:58 Charles Mills rests! I don't think he rests 07:01 the way we like it or I don't think the way he thinks, 07:04 I like that" - where does it end? 07:07 You know, where does that end? 07:08 Or, he carries extra weight or he doesn't eat this or that. 07:11 Not that I'm condoning certain things, 07:14 but I also think freedom is very important. 07:17 In fact, if you look in the Bible, 07:19 God works on the love of liberty and letting His people choose, 07:23 even when they're not good choices. 07:25 But He wants to love us and help us make good choices 07:29 and give us the power to make good choices, 07:31 not DEMAND that we make good choices. 07:33 At least the government is making allowance 07:36 for someone who does smoke to take a program 07:39 and it's paid for by the government, is that right? 07:42 Well, some people can... if they have an employer 07:46 that will do that - yes. 07:47 So certain low income groups do have that plan intact. 07:51 But there are some good things, there are some dangerous 07:54 things I see out there, but we have to, 07:57 no matter what's out there, we have to sort of say, 07:59 "Well, how can we help the world with this?" 08:01 And the first place... What an opportunity this is... 08:04 Yes it is, but still it shocks me that still 1 in 20 people 08:09 today still smoke cigarettes. 08:12 ...1 in 20, is that the right 08:14 What did I say, did I say that? 08:17 1 in 5... 20% - that's a large number of people! 08:23 Lots of people we still can reach. 08:24 A lot of heart attacks, strokes, cancers, lung disease, 08:29 we can help lower those risks. 08:31 And so the government comes along and says, 08:32 "Look, if you're going to be smoking, it's costing us 08:35 more money to TAKE CARE of you" 08:37 So I can sort of see why they're doing this, 08:39 but it is a form of discrimination because 08:42 obesity is going to cost them more money; 08:45 heart disease is going to cost them more money... 08:46 All these things - chronic pain, diabetes, 08:49 this is all going to cost more money, 08:50 all of them are preventable. 08:52 Where do you draw the line? 08:53 Exactly! Where do you draw the line, 08:54 so that's an issue but now that this issue is here, 08:57 we need to sort of use this as an opportunity 09:00 to find out ways we can meet people that are smoking, 09:04 and it's hard because people that don't smoke are the ones 09:09 that should be talking to these people, 09:11 and yet we don't like to get down there because 09:14 we get the secondhand smoke and we get the same risk they do. 09:17 We don't like to eat at the same restaurants 09:19 or go to the same places, we don't even sit in the 09:22 same places... We separate ourselves from them. Exactly! 09:24 They've almost isolated themselves. 09:26 They're almost like lepers! Yeah! Yeah! 09:28 Almost like lepers! Yeah, true 09:29 So we have to find ways with programs, 09:33 with computer programs, with apps, 09:35 whatever way we can to reach these people, 09:38 and also say, "Listen come, leave off the cigarettes 09:41 just for a few hours, while we can talk to you 09:43 because we're not comfortable taking that... " 09:45 ...that extra cigarette toxin into our lives. " 09:49 Well now we have to educate smokers also that there is 09:52 help available, but please, when you come and take this 09:55 help, respect our desire not to have that environment around us. 09:59 We can help you, but please don't bring that environment 10:01 into our lives by blowing in our faces 10:04 or being around us while your smoking. 10:05 Right, and this is going to open up a whole new realm... 10:10 It's according to how we treat these people as they do it. 10:13 You know, we've got to love them and really work with them 10:16 and realizing this is the most addictive substance out there... 10:19 And in starting with it, the first thing I would start 10:22 with in helping someone quit smoking would be education. 10:26 And I'm going to throw out some statistics there that will just 10:29 blow people away! 10:30 I haven't talked about these in years because we haven't talked 10:33 about smoking for years. 10:34 It used to be there were programs all over, 10:36 we were always talking about smoking. 10:39 ...20 minutes after a smoker quits smoking, 10:43 the blood pressure and heart rate start to go down. 10:46 Smoking is a stimulant, a stressor that we've talked about 10:50 ...20 minutes - lower your blood pressure, lower the heart rate. 10:53 ...8 hours after a smoker quits, the carbon monoxide, 11:00 that's the part that binds to oxygen, decreases and you 11:03 start getting oxygen throughout all of your tissues again. 11:06 That's pretty exciting! 11:08 ...24 hours after a smoker quits, 11:11 the risk of myocardial infarction starts to decrease. 11:15 24 hours - you start lowering the risk. 11:17 ...48 hours after a smoker quits, 11:20 2 days, the nerve endings start to improve, 11:24 and your taste starts to get better, the nerves, 11:27 the cigarettes affects all that, the different chemicals 11:30 in the cigarettes. 11:31 Two or 3 months after a smoker quit, the chronic cough 11:36 goes away, the cilia start to move better, 11:39 get all that stuff out of there. 11:40 In one year after quitting cigarettes, 11:44 the risk of a myocardial infarction, a heart attack, 11:47 decreases by 50% 11:51 So if you take 10 people, half of them quit smoking, 11:55 they can lower their risk of heart attack by 50% 11:58 That is pretty great health benefits from not smoking. 12:02 So the first thing I want to encourage people 12:04 as when we're reaching with smokers, 12:06 if you have to be a smoker, the first step would be to 12:09 educate yourself. 12:10 We're going to need to make some changes. 12:12 Educate yourself about what smoking does, 12:14 and later on in this program, we're going to talk about 12:17 some plans or things that we can do to share with you 12:20 that might help you not only quit smoking yourself, 12:23 but maybe talk to your friend or neighbor 12:25 in how to approach them to help them as well. 12:27 One of the first questions that we're going to be 12:29 talking about on the other side of the break here 12:31 that has come into heartwiseministries. org 12:33 is electronic cigarettes. 12:35 This is a big thing, they are everywhere. 12:37 Are they unanswered? 12:39 Does that take care of the problem? 12:40 We'll discover the answer to that question and many more 12:43 on this topic of cigarettes on our return, 12:45 so everybody stay RIGHT where you are. |
Revised 2014-12-17