Health Care Cost

Failed Promise

The early (1850-1900) promise of modern drug medicine was like a gold rush as investors rushed to chemistry as the salvation of making life easier for mankind. The flow of money to develop drugs doomed many thousands of years of health care experience that no longer seemed needed.

Miracle Drugs

The so-called miracle drugs such as penicillin, antibiotics and corticosteroids are now causing more harm than good as modern bugs outwit them. Thousands of pharmaceutical medicines have been deserted as their effectiveness disappeared. There remains thousands of new drug applications still being spread into society that will eventually fail as it is proven over and over again drugs cannot cure.

Big Money Intervention

What caused this episode in history? The natural approach to health care was particularly damaged in 1910, when the Carnegie Foundation published the Flexner report. That document criticized many aspects of medical educations in schools that did not recommend drugs. Following it was government action to pass laws to outlaw any medical doctor to practice medicine outside of the chemical model.

To protect the privilege to be a medical doctor extensive schooling in the use of drugs and surgeries followed by licensing were required. Then rules were written to prohibit anyone else from rendering health care.

Society Pays

A troublesome reality revealed The Flexner report was authored in essence by the American Medical Society to protect its members from competition. That report laid the groundwork for the loss of choice for American’s for health care alternatives in the 20th century. It also planted the seeds for steady rise of the cost for health care as competition was eliminated. They succeeded, modern health care costs are beyond the reach of most individual American’s and is paid for by society.