Posted by med_empowered on November 28, 2005, at 16:20:52
In reply to Re: on radio NOW – ''Generation Rx'' » pseudoname, posted by ed_uk on November 28, 2005, at 13:43:52
OK, I live in the US. I've grown up here all my life. Since I've always been lucky enough to have access to decent health care, I guess I have filled my share of RXs, until recently when my views on the whole "a pill for what ails you" concept began to change. But I'm wondering..is it really just the US? Also, it seems like the US rate of pill consumption is probably driven in part by *inadequate* health care and *lack* of comprehensive health care--it seems that in other countries, even if the system kind of sucks (ex: UK, Canada), patients might do better over the long-haul because of an emphasis on *preventive* care rather than *acute* care...the US health care system is inordinately expensive, and pill consumption is high, but that seems to be due in part to the "penny wise, pound foolish" approach of focusing on fixing problems when they arise, rather than preventing them from popping up in the first place.
Finally...there's inequality. Several studies show that social inequality, in the form of gaping chasms between the "haves" and the "have nots" and so forth, tends to lead to a poorer health outcome for *everyone*...and not all of the problems are directly due to things like access to health care (the same trend is observed where there's Nationalized healthcare...its just somewhat less pronounced). So, while I think this guy has a valid point--pill consumption is pretty high in the US--he's kind of missing the whole picture by narrowly focusing in on the influences of Big Pharma, etc. When you're talking about psychiatric treatment, this gap between the haves and have nots becomes even more apparent. (Minorities are more likely to be dx'd "schizophrenic" than affluent whites; lower-class/lower-middle class and minority children are more likely to be referred for treatment for "ADHD" or "conduct disorder"...tranquilizer prescriptions are higher in areas of the country with the highest rates of poverty, etc.) It seems like talking about the effects of class on health (or class in general) makes one suspect in the US...recognizing that social class does, in fact, exist and impact people in their daily lives in the USA means rejecting the Horatio Algier myth and the myth of American egalitarianism/meritocracy. Its about as bad as proclaiming one's love of socialism.
poster:med_empowered
thread:582967
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051126/msgs/583055.html