A new study out of Brandeis University estimates that Americans spend billions of dollars each year on medical care for treatment of conditions that are simply part of being human.
“Estimating the Costs of Medicalization,” by sociologist Peter Conrad, recently published in the journal Social Science and Medicine, indicates that over the past several decades, people are seeking medical treatment for “disorders” that really aren’t medical conditions. These include menopause, pregnancy, impotence (now called “erectile dysfunction”), anxiety, male pattern baldness, weight and body image problems, sleeping issues and sadness.
“We spend more on these medicalized conditions than on cancer, heart disease or public health,” Conrad said.
According to the study, the medical community is quick to diagnose “normal life conditions” as medical conditions and prescribe costly treatment such as medication, therapy or intense medical monitoring. Conrad and his researchers estimated that such treatment amounted to $77.1 billion in medical spending in 2005, or almost 4 percent of the nation’s healthcare expenditures.
“Some researchers attributed medicalization to the growth of medicine's professional jurisdiction, increased consumer demands for medical solutions, and the pharmaceutical industry expanding markets for drugs,” he said.
Conrad even called into question that diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, saying it is used too often as a means of placing normally fidgety children on expensive stimulant drugs like Ritalin. And the ongoing debate over whether fibromyalgia is a legitimate condition has pitted physicians against each other for roughly 25 years.
“By estimating the amount spent on medicalized human problems, we've raised the obvious question as to whether this spending is 'appropriate,’” he said. “The next question is whether we can more directly evaluate the appropriateness of these medical interventions and consider policies that curb the growth or even shrink the amount of spending on some medicalized conditions.”