Our medical system makes money from treating ill people, not from avoiding the need for treatment.
The only player in the system who benefits from healthy people who do not need expensive treatment are health insurance companies. Ironically, people trust doctors more than they do their health insurance company.
Although doctors have a moral responsibility through the Hippocratic Oath to make people as healthy as possible, financially they are driven to make sure that people pass through the medical system before getting better. Ideally, for doctors and pharma, you get sick, pay and then you are healthy. Even better if you just keep coming (diabetes and other chronic diseases). Even better if, when you don’t go through the system, you suffer massively, because then you’ll pay much more.
— The Individual: minimise pain and effort, maximise instant pleasure
— Health Insurance Workers: Insure healthy people, get rid of sick people and expensive treatment
— Pharmaceutical Company Workers: Sell Drugs
— Scientific Researchers: Publish papers with positive results in prestigious papers
— Doctors: Treat sick people
— (Private Doctors): Maximise need for expensive treatment
— (Public Doctors): If they are paid per patient, maximise number of patient visits they have in a day
— Hospital Staff: Treat lots of sick people
— Medical Devices Companies: Sell more medical devices
— Public Health Finance Workers: Keep job
In Ancient Chinese medical systems you would pay your doctor every month when you were healthy, much like we do to health insurance companies. When you stopped being healthy, you would stop paying. This meant that they doctors have a strong incentive to keep you OUT of treatment.
Many health insurance companies are buying up hospital and keeping doctors in house to try and reconstruct this system. But there are still huge trust issues.
There is a paradox. Individuals and health insurance companies would both benefit from sharing data and using predictive analytics. However, they resist putting the cards on the table because individuals are scared of being compromised in their access to health treatment.
I have built a business model and accompanying software that bridges this paradox, meaning both health insurance and individuals gain through preventative medicine.
Email me at [email protected] for more info.
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