Health care today is an individually-consumed good that produces benefits for everybody.
But there is a problem–”health” is subject to interpretation. By the patient. By the doctor. By the nurse. By the judge or the lawyer or the jury or the neighbour or the parent or the secondary school counselor or the teacher or the boss that sends/does not send the kid home.
Health care consumers know this. That’s why individual consumers are taking ownership of their health care-online. They post and participate in sharing side effects, suspicions, and successes with medications, diets, and treatments.
Online, there are no national boundaries limiting the information about medicines and health care services. Consumers price shop, compare experiences, and exchange advice. But not with everyone. Consumers prefer to talk to each other-consumer trust other consumers, in health care as in all other consumer goods.
Consumers do not trust the professionals-at least, not directly. Direct to consumer (DTC) advertising is despised. Expertise is suspect.
But experience is king. If a pharmaceutical has good word of mouth online, it attracts a dedicated and appreciative following. Consumers are “pulled” to the medication by positive reviews, rather than pushed a drug by DTC.