Health Or Medical?

I decided to visit the BBC Breakfast website this morning for some inspiration.

So I clicked on "Health" expecting to see at least one article about health! As I write this, there's not even one.

Yes, there is an article on fibroids, paracetamol, foetal kick charts, chlamydia and the old standby, swine flu! And a headline announcing that "it is up to doctors to fight for the future of the NHS".

That's "medical" not "health"! All of it. Every single one.

We have successfully conditioned the entire population to see "health" as "a lack of health". Which is quite brilliant because it then means that there is a captive market for all those drugs and all those technological advancements we are so proud of.

This would be perfectly acceptable if the drugs and technology were making us all healthier. But they're not. All the health system does is manage the fallout.

For life!

Then we are told we are living longer and we should be delighted that we are fortunate enough to live at a time in history when all this is possible through the marvels of modern medicine. Strike that ... I mean modern health care.

If "average life expectancy" has increased (and that's what we are told, so it must be true), then why are people getting Alzheimer's in middle age? And why are young kids getting type 2 diabetes?

Was there a shortage of drugs? Or could it be that people are getting sicker, earlier and the powers that be are showing us numbers that are actually misleading?

That couldn't happen, could it?

I am not an actuary and I'm too lazy to dig long enough to get to the bottom of all this, but here's what I think.

Hygiene standards have improved over the last 100 years, which means that infant mortality has been reduced. This, I would think, is the major factor.

Added to this, sick people that would have died quicker 100 years ago, are now being kept alive by expensive drugs and expensive life support equipment.

And yes, these two things are good. Of course they are. Good, because we can cheat the grim reaper for longer, which keeps the immediate families a lot happier and the doctors firmly committed to the hypocratic oath.

And good for business too ... dare I say it.

Imagine if those same beautiful people lived longer because they led healthier lives and did not spend their twilight years dependant on a plethora of medications.

Imagine if our health care systems focused on getting people off drugs, outside in the fresh air and sunlight and eating foods that their bodies were actually designed for ... then going to sleep without the assistance of pills or a late night tipple.

But hold on, that would be bad for business.