Overmedicated America
Americans spend a fortune on healthcare, but it doesn’t seem to be making us any healthier. In fact, all the trend lines point to an increasingly obese, overmedicated, comorbid population. Why is this happening, and what can we do to reverse it? Johns Hopkins Medical School professor Dr. Marty Makary prescribes a remedy.
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Script:
America is sick.
And getting sicker by the moment.
Is it any wonder, then, that health care costs continue to surge out of control, outpacing every other sector of the economy?
Starbucks pays more for health care than it does for coffee beans!
General Motors pays more for health care than it does for steel!
Seventeen cents of every dollar spent in the US goes to health care; that’s one-sixth of all spending. 48% of all federal spending is related to health care. Not surprisingly, as of 2018 health care became the biggest business in the country.
And, the killer —literally — is that we’re not getting healthier.
Why is that?
Complex question.
But we can boil it down to two things:
One: We don’t pay enough attention to our own health. Strange, our health is our greatest asset, and yet we often abuse it. We eat food that doesn’t nourish, avoid basic exercise, and ignore sleep.
Two: We doctors don’t pay enough attention to basic patient needs. The healthcare system rewards us for doing things to people, not for people.
The result: a very expensive system to treat the most obese, medicated, comorbid population in the world.
Let’s look at these problems a little more closely.
Obesity.
According to data from the National Health and Nutrition survey, 2 in 3 adults were considered to be overweight or obese. That was in 2014. This is a serious problem in and of itself. According to a CDC study of the Covid pandemic, 78% of hospitalizations were among those overweight or obese.
Overmedicated.
10 years ago we doctors prescribed 2.4 billion drugs. Last year it was nearly 5 billion. Did disease really double in the last 10 years? No. It’s just easier to push pills than to push real solutions.
Comorbidity.
Let’s take Type 2 diabetes as our example. It’s been rising at an alarming rate, especially among young people. According to the CDC, new cases are increasing at a rate of 4.8% per year. This disease can lead to harmful and expensive complications like heart attacks, kidney dialysis, and even amputations.
Two groups are unhappy with how we treat these conditions.
Patients and doctors.
Surveys show rising levels of patient dissatisfaction with the medical care they’re receiving; while other surveys reveal rising rates of physician burnout.
So, what does the future look like?
More sickness? More procedures? And more pills at an ever-increasing cost?
Well, if we keep doing the same things we’ve been doing that haven’t worked for the last twenty-five years, the answer is yes.
But that’s the very definition of insanity.
We need to take a fresh approach.
It will require the combined efforts of two groups.
Patients and doctors.
The best way not to become a patient is to be healthy.
Healthy people rarely need pills or expensive surgery.
Over 75% of health care costs go to chronic diseases. As a doctor, I can tell you that the hard part about chronic disease is not telling people what to do, it’s helping them do it. That takes time.
It’s almost impossible in quick ten-minute office visits where doctors have to bill for everything they do.
Again, the treatment of type-2 diabetes is an excellent example.
It’s a chronic disease for which people either take a medication or insulin injections. Yet most people with type-2 diabetes can come off their insulin simply by changing what they eat. When a disease can be cured by a lifestyle change, medication should be the last resort not the first.
This requires a partnership between doctor and patient. Both have to make a commitment to get to the underlying cause of disease rather than simply treat symptoms.
Fortunately, there’s a new wave of health care professionals who want to make this approach a reality.
We’re treating diabetes with cooking classes, not just insulin.
We’re treating more back pain with ice, stretching and physical therapy than surgery alone.
For the complete script as well as FACTS & SOURCES, visit https://www.prageru.com/video/overmedicated-america
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As an American I disagree with the statement that we have the finest healthcare in the world.
McDonalds and the US pharmaceutical industry do not want Americans to be healthy. So keep eating those burgers and swallowing those pills, people!
People know what to do to be healthy. It's just doing it…or not.
Quite literally if people went keto or keto light in their diet we would solve so many of our health care issues. Just keep your carbs low, overall calories to a decent range for your body size and acitivty level and if you don't have an active job make sure you execrise 2-3 times a week or a walk everyday with some lifting if possible. Its genuinely that easy but we are literally just eating ourselves to death and the medical world has been doing literally all the wrong things from the beginning.
This guy’s an even bigger laughing stock than Jimmy Kimmel
“Do you know the definition of insanity”
Holyshit pragerU made a good video? What world am I in?
they feed us poison so we buy their cures while they suppress our medicine
In addition to what was said by the doctor, there are all senior citizens amongst us than ever before. And as a percentage of the whole population, the seniors citizens size as a group is bigger than ever before.
NOT EVEN AN ACCREDITED KINDERGARTEN. #PRAGUERU = #DOMESTICTERRORIST #UNIVERSITY
People really love the idea of a “magic pill” …. So much easier. 😔
This is only good prageru i have seen
If your country was not run by rightwing maniacs like the majority of the people on this channel, you could have a medical system like European countries or even the NHS.
I read the comments here, and it is clear Americans can't even contemplate the idea of "sosialized medicine", because they instantly think of the extreme costs that would entail, the tax bill would be unsurmountable.
Which is correct, if America were to implement publically funded healthcare tomorrow, the country would go bankrupt.
Then surely the same applies to the European counterparts?
Nope, the amount of money the European healthcare systems use per capita is a fraction of the cost of the American one. But how is that possible? Is European healthcare simply more efficient? Or are Europeans simply far healthier, resulting in a considerably lower cost?
No, it's the same tech, same procedures, same bunch of sick people. The difference is that prices are controlled. Which is to say if Big Pharma wants to command a price that is 100x the cost of manufacture and development, then they can't do so. It's illegal. I.E there is a limit on how much profit Big Pharma can command. Same thing with the hospitals themselves, they are not for profit, so you don't pay for outrageous things such as holding your baby after giving birth! You can say, they are functionally for service, not profit.
For as long as you guys have a phobia against anything rhyming with "social", you'll keep screwing yourself over. A country does not necessarily degenerate into dictatorships just because one has publically operated infrastructure.
"the finest healthcare system in the world" wow Americans pretending they are the greatest instead of working on their flaws..
realy impressive how prageru avoided the topic of big pharma raising their prices at the same time to make more profit and abusing patent laws to avoid competition.
Benzodiazepines are handed out like candy.
I didn’t seek medication. It was sold to me from my doctor who was concerned I wasn’t getting enough sleep. I was a family caregiver. “We prescribe these to pilots, because they can wake up alert”
Weaning off this medication was a horror show.
They charge thousands for medicines that cost a couple dollars to make
Blaming ppl not the system smh
I wonder why going to hospital isn't popular
Usually I don’t agree with PragerU ideas and videos, but this one is accurate and brings a great message
4:54 How? It’s so expensive. Other countries have free healthcare.
"The best way to not be a patient, is to be healthy"
Blaming the victim, REEEEEEEE
As a “professional patient,” I wholeheartedly agree. People need to take better care of themselves within the health they are given genetically. In addition, doctors need to cultivate better patient relationships and reduce bias. But let’s not confuse this with radical self-reliance only. Big Pharma price gouges and is not regulated, and our insurance companies also are cost-prohibitive, Americans need to take care of themselves and make healthy choices, but they ALSO need to be able to live a lifestyle that allows them to do so. If they are penalized for taking sick days at work, or their workplace discourages an unhealthy balance or pays too little, Americans can’t access the means to take BETTER care of themselves from the beginning. Many don’t not out of a “character flaw” but out of an inability to afford and access doctors in a timely manner.
And this doesn’t scratch the surface of what happens to Americans who are disabled enough that they cannot work. This population needs the greatest access to healthcare but instead is pushed into forced poverty and give up some of their rights in order to access BASIC medical treatment just to survive. Usually this population requires the most expensive medical solutions that are not remedied by individual intervention alone, and yet they are expected to live on less than $2000 a month.
No! We must have goverment-run healthcare. That will fix everything (Tongue firmly planted in cheek)!
Well said, however people just want a pill. You fix me Doc, I’m not willing to change.