If only diagnosis were as simple as taking a heart rate, BP, temperature, and respiration rate.

it’s a lot more complicated than just data
sure, more data is helpful but not enough
I work in Silicon Valley, arguably the area with the most educated and motivated folks in US of A. If it were as simple as “giving out info to people”. My own observation – giving out info is woefully inadequate.

people know about smoking, eating well, and exercise is good for health (it’s not brain surgery). yet, incidence of obesity and diabetes is climbing every year. Billions are spent every new year on exercising equipments which are excellent dust collectors.

Also, a lot of different disorders have the same symptoms: chest pain for GERD, costochondritis, heart disease, bronchitis. Some are harmless, while others are lethal. You are going to trust an app with your life? Your child’s life – let’s say she has fever with red tongue (would you know to look at the tongue)?

what about medicine? I have hypertension, let’s order some antihypertensive from the local pharmacist. Dose? frequency? type? duration? monitoring?

all kind of education and intelligence in general populace. Who’s qualified to diagnose? Would a construction worker or a mail carrier make wrong diagnosis as opposed to a neurobiologist researcher.

also, baby boomers are reaching their golden years. Not sure if less MD’s is a good idea.

just off the top of my head….

[quote=scaredyclassic]I bet if we eliminated 75 perc. Of med. Services human lifespans and outcomes would be similar[/quote]

Yes. The worried well use a lot of services.
Healthcare is like a food buffet. People consume a lot because they can. The results aren’t pretty and speak for themselves.
Private system we have is misallocating resources.

I don’t get people who like to take pills. I avoid. Never have to take painkillers.

And new study said patients are more honest with their smart phone apps than with their doctors.

[quote=scaredyclassic]I bet if we eliminated 75 perc. Of med. Services human lifespans and outcomes would be similar[/quote]I somewhat agree with this, scaredy, and know several people (yes, boomers) who shun conventional medicine whenever possible in favor of (unreimbursed and uncovered) homeopathic medicine. In some cases, I think shunning traditional medicine (whenever possible) could lead to a longer lifespan.

However, the average Joe and Jane 6p likely has not adopted a strict enough lifestyle to “maintain” themselves without medical intervention, especially when they reach the age of 55-ish. For example, most people would be bored with eating cooked steel-cut oats with flaxseed 6-7 mornings per week and living mostly on raw food (salads and vegetables). And most people don’t have the discipline to hit the gym for weight training, lap swimming and go to yoga class, etc, 3 or more times per week. Fortunately, in So-Cal (and probably other locales such as urban CO) there are also a lot of non-gym activities in place for boomers, including hiking and skiing clubs and running/walking clubs. Hence, there are a LOT of fit (even very fit) boomers around me.

The same can’t be said for the population of mostly flatlanders in this country who end up getting “shut in” under air-conditioning for most of the year and have a food culture which is more oriented towards the meat and dairy industries located in their states.

We in Cali are very fortunate to have an abundance of cheap produce available year-round which is grown here or in MX. This isn’t the case in most of the rest of the country.

[quote=FlyerInHi][quote=scaredyclassic]I bet if we eliminated 75 perc. Of med. Services human lifespans and outcomes would be similar[/quote]

Yes. The worried well use a lot of services.
Healthcare is like a food buffet. People consume a lot because they can. The results aren’t pretty and speak for themselves.
Private system we have is misallocating resources.

I don’t get people who like to take pills. I avoid. Never have to take painkillers.

And new study said patients are more honest with their smart phone apps than with their doctors.[/quote]Agree. And $40 month for a Y membership is a LOT cheaper than one single brand-name prescription (for pain pills?) per month. And if you actually use it, it works better, too :=0