Suzanne Somers, the loveable darling of TV’s Three’s Company and more recently, a controversial advocate for alternative medicine, got a lot of flack about her Wall Street Journal column published Monday denouncing The Affordable Care Act as “socialized medicine.” The Journal offered a lengthy correction of her most egregious errors, but even that couldn’t stop the pile-on from reporters criticizing her numerous, dubious claims about the Canadian health-care system and the effects of Obamacare on seniors.
We reached out to Somers directly to get her take on the frenzy elicited by her column. Somers said she was unavailable to talk, but she did reply to some questions via email. In her response, published in full below, Somers shrugs off the controversy, defends her knowledge on health-care, and calls for a return to the time when Americans could “dream big.” Click here for our fact-check of her original column.
This is the first we’ve heard from you on Obamacare. Why did you decide to speak out now and in a WSJ.com forum, “The Experts” that’s usually pretty uncontroversial?
The topic regarded retirees and I began to think about those in my life who are retired, particularly the women who read my books and benefit so greatly from this new way to age. My answer reflected what they could expect relative to their health care.
Aging is about worn-out parts. The “machine” breaks down, and now that is coupled with advances in science that prolong life. I practice true “health care,” as in going to the doctor when I am healthy to insure that I remain so. Living longer for someone like myself and my constituency allows for a superb quality of life. We have learned how to remain in good health by avoiding pharmaceuticals unless absolutely necessary, replacing declining hormones, and supplementing mineral and vitamin deficiencies as required and determined by lab work. It comes with a penalty; this kind of health care provided by alternative doctors is not covered by any insurance plan. In other words, I am penalized for choosing an alternative approach to health, but there are enough of us who do without other things to afford this care.
For those retirees who have gone along with the allopathic approach (disease care; waiting until they are sick to start taking steps to fix what has gone wrong), requiring more and more drugs, the health outcome most likely will not be so rosy. The present paradigm of aging is typically decrepit and frail, one (or more) of the “Big Three”—cancer, heart disease, dementia/Alzheimer’s; wheelchairs and oxygen tubing; and finally, the last stop, the nursing home. With this big coming tsunami of sickness with this older age group, who will pay for it?
I am controversial because I don’t push drugs. I am considered controversial because I lecture on eating organic food, sleeping eight hours a night, exercising moderately and replacing one’s hormones lost in the aging process with natural bio-identical hormones identical to those made in the human body, rather than the pharmaceutical synthetic hormones made from horse urine.
I believe everyone should have health care, just not this new approach to health care.
Did you expect it would be such a controversial column? How do you feel about the reaction your column has received?
All my medical research comes from using my celebrity to get to the best and the brightest cutting-edge doctors, scientists, and professionals who have generously allowed me to pick their brains. My talent is being able to synthesize this information to become understandable to myself and then therefore to the layperson. It’s been a very successful formula.
The books I’ve written focus on the deteriorating health of the people due to the greatest environmental assault in the history of mankind. This toxic assault accelerates aging and stimulates decline in body chemicals, leaving our immune systems defenseless. I’ve read countless books on how the body works, how the brain works, how to detoxify or die. I’ve thoroughly studied the dangers of low and high thyroid and its connection to the health issues we are all witnessing. My list goes on an on. I always have three or four books going at a time. My work is verified and respected by the doctors who have stepped out of the “standard of care” medical box. I work with orthodox, integrative, and alternative doctors.
You said, “Most frightening of all, your most intimate and personal information is now up for grabs.” What did you mean by that?
I value my privacy. Does anyone in America really believe our personal medical information will remain private? The current Internet sign-up problems are not encouraging.
Is there anything else you want to say?
I grew up in an America where individual beliefs were respected. Both sides of the aisle worked together because there was a common vision. As Americans you could dream big. I was an abused child with a big dream. As I hid in the closet night after night escaping the violence, I visualized a time where I could be on a big stage. I saw it. I dreamt it. And because I was an American, I worked hard and achieved my goal. I now live a life filled with love and happiness.
I hope for all Americans that we can return to a time where we all can dream big and accomplish good together.