Health in Modern Day America
From who pays for health care to what gets defined as an illness, health in modern day America is undergoing
radical rethinking. What is the optimal health care system? Who defines what boundaries separate illness
from health and who determines these boundaries? What is the ethical role of the physician in a patient's
treatment? What is the role of the patient in her/his own treatment? How much does America rely on drugs
as treatment for illness (think about the number of Prozac‐type drugs on the market)? Are Americans too
interested in the "easy way out" with drug treatment? According to statistics from CBS News and the Pew
Research Center, America is 4.6% of the world population yet we consume 42% of the world's prescription
medicines. The average American sees ten pharmaceutical ads each day. 20% of the work done by ad
agencies is in naming syndromes for pharmaceutical companies and every dollar spent on advertising by
those companies results in four dollars for the pharmaceutical company. In light of these facts, how much is
health care driven by pharmaceutical companies? By insurance companies? Are people who don't easily fit in
with society's dictates treated differently by mainstream America?
radical rethinking. What is the optimal health care system? Who defines what boundaries separate illness
from health and who determines these boundaries? What is the ethical role of the physician in a patient's
treatment? What is the role of the patient in her/his own treatment? How much does America rely on drugs
as treatment for illness (think about the number of Prozac‐type drugs on the market)? Are Americans too
interested in the "easy way out" with drug treatment? According to statistics from CBS News and the Pew
Research Center, America is 4.6% of the world population yet we consume 42% of the world's prescription
medicines. The average American sees ten pharmaceutical ads each day. 20% of the work done by ad
agencies is in naming syndromes for pharmaceutical companies and every dollar spent on advertising by
those companies results in four dollars for the pharmaceutical company. In light of these facts, how much is
health care driven by pharmaceutical companies? By insurance companies? Are people who don't easily fit in
with society's dictates treated differently by mainstream America?
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