I personally found this talk by Ivan Oransky, editor of Reuters Health, effective. I don't think, as some of the comments at TED alluded to that he is suggesting that proactive measures in preventing diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke and heart attack are not useful.
What he is saying is that, by creating medical classifications of pre-diabetes, etc., we are giving many more people medical conditions that they otherwise would not have had and that these "conditions" require medical intervention. And this expands the health care system and ultimately spirals health care costs out of control. What drives some of this is not so much health concerns and values of human thriving but, instead, parochial economic interests from medical sector as well as pharmaceutical sector. We have created a system where we have convinced people that they have to come because they might have pre-conditions.
Part of the problem is that we are making people worried unnecessarily. By focusing on simple messages, rest, exercise, stress free living, we can improve the overall health of our communities.
What he is saying is that, by creating medical classifications of pre-diabetes, etc., we are giving many more people medical conditions that they otherwise would not have had and that these "conditions" require medical intervention. And this expands the health care system and ultimately spirals health care costs out of control. What drives some of this is not so much health concerns and values of human thriving but, instead, parochial economic interests from medical sector as well as pharmaceutical sector. We have created a system where we have convinced people that they have to come because they might have pre-conditions.
Part of the problem is that we are making people worried unnecessarily. By focusing on simple messages, rest, exercise, stress free living, we can improve the overall health of our communities.
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