ACSH friend Dr. Henry Miller and economist Vasilios Tsimiklis wrote a spot-on piece published on forbes.com detailing the rising health care expenditures in industrialized countries and the necessity for individuals to be responsible for disease prevention and treatment. But, they say, whether it involves eating smarter and exercising more, or at the very least following a doctor s directives and filling and taking prescribed medicines, many individuals simply won t comply.
Instead, people tend to exhibit many self-destructive behaviors. These include choosing not to have children vaccinated with the influenza vaccine, not taking blood pressure medications as prescribed and failing to comply with doctor-prescribed medicines overall.
But it gets worse. According to the authors, we are continually surprised by the willingness of people to put their health and lives at risk by refusing to do the tried and true but at the same time trying unproven natural remedies and other quack cures advertised in magazines and on TV. And those same parents who refuse to have their children vaccinated are instead devoting their energies unnecessarily to fearing plasticizers in toys and pesticide residues in food.
They conclude by saying, We need greater public awareness and education to induce individuals to play a more active, insightful role in their healthcare.
We couldn t have said it better ourselves. This is definitely worth a read.
