Tough act to swallow
By Theresa Flaherty, Managing Editor
Updated Tue February 28, 2012
It's only fair that I follow up my earlier Paula Deen blogs with an update. According to this story, the Queen of Butter has dropped two sizes, which she attributes to walking 30 minutes a day and cutting her portion sizes in half (yikes, how big were they?).
What I like about this is that she made some lifestyle choices to get healthier, rather than relying solely on medication for her blood sugar (I use insulin, so can't speak to how some of those Type 2 meds work). Its one of my biggest pet peeves in healthcare, the whole treating with drugs after the fact, rather than prevention or addressing other ways to treat certain diseases.
Yeah, yeah, it's easier to take a pill for some people then do the hard work.
I spoke with Bruce Roberts, formerly of the NCPA, last week about his new venture, RxAlly. Bruce said that 40 years ago, we didn't have nearly the plethora and sophistication of drugs that we have now. That's both good and bad. When people just want to take a pill, they aren't really helping themselves (I speak broadly here, folks, medicine is a good and useful thing).
But what does that rush to prescriptions mean for you? Bruce also told me that there is an estimated $300 billion lost to improper use of medication each year. $300 billion! That's tough to swallow. That money could be used for so many other things. Like paying for prevention or offsetting a little program called competitive bidding.
Theresa Flaherty
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