Big Pharma’s Corrupt Secret Mantra

You arrive at a physician’s office at 9:55 for your 10:15 appointment to make sure you’re not late. You fill out a long questionnaire in the waiting room while listening to Muzak.

Forty-five minutes later, a nurse calls you in and sets you up in a lifeless exam room. They tell you a physician will be in to see you soon. You wait and wait and wait. You get increasingly worried about what’s going on with you. You just want to talk with someone.

After 20 minutes of sitting there by yourself, a physician comes in. Looking down at their notes, they say to you in a monotone voice, “I’m sorry to keep you waiting. We’re running a little behind.” You had already figured that out.

You’re nervous, and a little angry, but you don’t say anything. You know it doesn’t matter.

Without looking at you, the physician starts asking you questions. Unfortunately, they’re asking you the same questions that were on the questionnaire you diligently spent 10 minutes filling out in the waiting room. Oh, well.

Finally, they ask you why you came in to see them.

You sigh and start to describe what’s going on with you.

Eleven seconds in, they interrupt you. (According to a scientific study with results published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, physicians listen to their patients for an average of 11 seconds before interrupting them. (1))

Are physicians jerks? Of course, not. Most physicians really want to help people. Most physicians are very smart people with a lot to offer.

They only listen to you for 11 seconds because big pharma has got them by the stethoscopes.

Big pharma exerts influence on physicians starting in medical school (2), and they never stop (3). Big pharma deftly indoctrinates physicians with their corrupt secret mantra:

“Test, pill, bill.”

Physicians are taught early (2) and often (3) that the way to run an efficient, highly profitable medical business is:

“Test, pill, bill.”

Take notice:

1. Nowhere in this mantra is, “Be a good listener.”
2. Nowhere in this mantra is, “Guide people as they work toward improved wellness.”
3. Nowhere in this mantra is, “Support people as they work toward improved wellness.”

Nope, there are only three words in big pharma’s corrupt secret mantra:

“Test, pill, bill.”

“Test, pill, bill,” turns physicians into well-educated, well-paid PEZ dispensers. They test you for something, they give you a pill, they send you a bill. There’s no denying the efficiency of it all.

Big pharma is a $1.2 trillion industry. Trillion with a “T”. This makes big pharma more financially powerfully than all but 12 countries in our world. Big pharma’s annual revenue is on par with the gross domestic product of Australia, Brazil, Canada, Russia, and Spain.

Of course, big pharma isn’t running this racket alone. Medical-insurance businesses are in on it. Hospitals and other medical businesses are in on it. Other middlepeople get their cuts too.

What can you do about this? What can you do to make things better?

You might be thinking you could use your power as a citizen to write letters to the government officials who represent you.

That’s not going to do much because big pharma spends about $1.5 billion a year contributing to the campaigns of and lobbying government officials. Remember, big pharma is as financially powerful as Russia. To put it mildly, your letters, um, don’t carry much weight.

The only way to live free of the clutches of big pharma and their “Test, pill, bill,” system is to opt out.

You don’t keep telling an abusive person to stop abusing you—you get the f*** out of there.

Forget that letter, and do something that’ll actually make things better: Walk away from “Test, pill, bill.”

And walk toward something better. As more and more of us walk toward a better system, we’ll eventually make “Test, pill, bill,” obsolete.

I practice within this better system every week as do many other wellness professionals including an emerging number of medical professionals.

Our mantra is:

“Ally, empower, thrive.”

Our mantra compels us to:

1. Work within business models free of the influence of big pharma and their minions
2. Work within business models that are people-centered and wellness-centered not profit-centered and sickness-centered
3. Work within business models that make plenty of time and energy available for listening to people, guiding people, and supporting people

“Ally, empower, thrive.”

How about a system of wellness professionals who ally with you and help you become empowered to take great care of yourself so you can truly thrive?

How does that sound?

(1) Eliciting the Patient’s Agenda—Secondary Analysis of Recorded Clinical Encounters. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 2018, 10.1007/s11606-018-4540-5.
(2) Association Between Academic Medical Center Pharmaceutical Detailing Policies and Physician Prescribing. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2017, 10.1001/jama.2017.4039.
(3) Pharmaceutical Industry-Sponsored Meals and Physician Prescribing Patterns for Medicare Beneficiaries. JAMA Internal Medicine, 2016, 10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.2765.

About Jason Gootman
Jason Gootman is a Mayo Clinic Certified Wellness Coach and National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach as well as a certified nutritionist and certified exercise physiologist. Jason helps people reverse and prevent type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other ailments with evidence-based approaches to nutrition, exercise, stress reduction, holistic wellness, and, most importantly, lasting behavior improvement and positive habit formation. As part of this work, Jason often helps people lose weight and keep it off, in part by helping them overcome the common challenges of yo-yo dieting and emotional eating. Jason helps people go from knowing what to do and having good intentions to consistently taking great care of themselves in ways that help them add years to their lives and life to their years.