Posts Tagged ‘pharmaceutical industry’

Medicine impending danger to the public is that it is going to take over every aspect of our lives.

Medicine

Medicine is the looming giant is our mists. There isn’t a human function that can’t be made better by a prescription. From pregnancy, ADHD, toenail fungus, erectile dysfunction, dry eye, pre-diabetes, pre-high blood pressure, pre-high cholesterol readings, behavior problems, bed wetting, pain relief, sleep aids, acid reflux, depression, addictions, constipation, and rashes.

The recent history of allopathic care is one that has evolved to define and treat everything as a medical problem. Most common conditions can be traced to lifestyle. As such are not meant to be treated as medical afflictions. The medical community is standing guard over every human function by introducing pharmaceutical solutions.

Research Into The Cost    

Researchers, let by Brandeis sociologist Peter Conrad, evaluated 12 conditions that have been medicalized by physical organizations, and for which there were medical spending data. The other conditions considered in the study were anxiety, and behavioral disorders; body image; male pattern baldness’ normal sadness, obesity, sleep disorders, and substance-related disorders.

Conrad and his colleagues analyzed medical spending on these types of problems. The payments to hospitals, pharmacies, physicians, and other health care providers, and discovered that they accounted for $77.1 billion in medical spending in 2005-3.9 percent of total domestic health care expenditures.  

 ”We spend more on these conditions than on cancer, heart disease, or public health,” said Conrad. “While medicalzation is unlikely to be a key driver of skyrocketing health care costs, $77 billion represents a substantial dollar sum.”

The Danger Of This Trend

The danger of this trend is in medicine’s growing jurisdiction.

Children can be taken away from parents and put into the states custody if the parents refuse certain treatments.

There is an increase in consumer demands for medical solutions for lifestyle generated problems. More Americans think that health is in an encapsulated, blister packed, shrink and cello wrapped substance. They want the fountain of youth coming from the latest technology. The new consumers think the right ingredients are in packaged cartons with label warnings. What’s in it  for the pharmaceutical company is unlimited opportunity to boost their bottom line. Novel approaches to health are not in a tube, pill, or formulation.

The pharmaceutical industry is expanding into the areas where they see a potential profit, and where there is the greatest opportunity for growth.

When $77 billion is considered unlikely to be a key driver of skyrocketing health care cost, than the spending is out of hand. Our dependence on a pharmaceutical solution is hands down one of the biggest threats to our physical and financial health.

It is fiction to think that health care is about you. What healthcare has become is an unlimited source of income for the medical and pharmaceutical industry. Success of this sector relies on the bottom line, as much as producing something for you. To make money the research and development department, as well as the treatments, are not required to make you well.

Their commitment is to finding a source of investment, so they can pursue useless studies and band aid treatment. The rules and guidelines for this scientific research come from the same sources that produce it. Most of these studies yield very little useful information about solutions that work. Fundamentally they come to some of the strangest and weakest conclusions for determining what the study means.

To illustrate this we have various studies to see the effect of vitamins on various chronic conditions. The scientific community sees chemical renditions of whole food as a biological equivalent, and test synthetic vitamins as if they will show the same results as utilizing the original source.  The best laboratory is the human bodies, which will response very well to nutritional adjustments.

What health care has become is a giant waste of resources, by using funds to analyze and transact useless studies. We are highly dependent on studies that carry the risk of creating potential problems for those that believe them. Under scrutiny these studies would take a big hit, and the demand for these would collapse. The bureaucratic machine that allows these has been aggressive in backing, and allocating the funds to further this type of scientific advancement.

The studies are flawed; the model for them is unsuitable for creating a basis for robust health. The odds of anything changing in the near future are slim to none. Healthcare is a business, and it’s purpose is to make a profit. Investors are interested in boardroom discussions not in methodology. What it has become is an investment opportunity. The most important ideas come from the executives who know how to ensure their companies survival. The long haul amid companies’ competitive battles is for profitability above all else, this is what healthcare has become.