Re:Acute inflammatory response via neutrophil protects again...
by IMTDb on Thursday May 12, 2022 @06:26AM
(#31351824)
My main points is that I do not believe that it's OK for the state to be paying for things that have not proven their efficacy. My whole relatives are MD Doctors (father, 5 sisters, wife and best friend) and they all agree that we are lacking funding for the health sector as a whole, so paying for people beliefs isn't a priority.
On top of that, it puts the state in a weird situation because it has to decide which beliefs are OK (acupuncture fixes fibromyalgy is an OK belief -> reimbursed) and which one aren't (getting a PS5 fixes depression is not and OK belief -> not reimbursed).
People are absolutely entitled to have their own beliefs, but if a treatment hasn't shown any efficacy, we should aim for a close to 0 spending of the public health sector on it.
I feel that creating a state controlled millilitre water bottling company would make some placebo available at virtually no cost, so could be a nice way of offering some effectiveness for free, but acupuncture isn't.
Not sure if that's what you meant: In Germany, e.g. acupuncture (and other specific types of homeopathic treatments) are reimbursed by public health insurance, for specific conditions. Exactly because they can induce a significant beneficial placebo effect on average while having less risks, and being cost effective.
BTW, depending a bit on jurisdiction, placebos are routinely given even in hospital care. If you have family/friends who are doctors, do ask them.