Between 1980 and 2003, the amount Americans spent on prescription drugs quietly rose from $12 billion to $197 billion, a seventeenfold increase. But what all this spending has done for us is not entirely clear. A World Health Organization report released a few years ago put American longevity at 77.3 years, Canada’s at 79.8, and Japan’s at 81.9. Meanwhile, we spend substantially more on health care – and far more on drugs – than these and other longer-living nations. As Melody Petersen points out in “Our Daily Meds,” a sobering, scrupulously researched polemic, medicines not only cost a bundle, they save far fewer lives than we think – in fact, it is estimated that one American dies every five minutes from a prescribed treatment.
Prescription for disaster: drugs, lies, and greed – The Boston Globe
The Chronic Disease Industry in America is designed at it’s core to bleed us dry of our hard earned money. Pills and scalpels do not cure chronically unhealthy behavior. I hope the American public quickly realizes that spending $13,000 a year on Sick Insurance isn’t the wisest investment. We should be spending $13,000 a year on Health-Optimizing Services that prevent our need for the Sickness Industry.
The most affordable, wisest investment in your health is small micro-decisions on a daily basis to eat well, exercise, and have amazing relationships with your friends and family. That’s much cheaper than $13,000 a year.
Thanks for sending along the link Noah!