If they are paying for it, they are going to tell you how to "manage" your health. And they are not going to allow those who choose to avoid drugs and surgery to maintain their health with vitamins, herbs, and exercise. Rather, you have to take your chemo (if that's what they want you to have), no matter how miserable it makes you feel. Plus, that wastes huge amounts of money--anyone that has noticed the sky high prices of prescription drugs can attest to how much it costs.
If these drug makers had to compete on even footing with vitamins (and people were free to objectively post their results, good or bad, on a public forum so all could see whether a vitamin or herb can actually help or not), they would have to lower their prices. Additionally, other drugs to treat the same problem would appear. True, people will have to accept the risk that it might not work. However, if results were honestly posted, people would be able to make their own decisions on which drug (or herb, or vitamin--or nothing) is best for their case. Which would drive down drug prices, and in turn driving down medical costs for everyone. Hence, everyone would benefit (and not just from lower prices--lower prices and better products).
Supposed we had socialized computers back in the early 1970s. Everyone would be given a computer by the government, and the makers would be tightly regulated. You would have about 4 KB of memory (or, maybe 8), a monochrome monitor, floppy disc drives, no hard drives of any kind, no ability to upload or download videos or audio, and no Internet as we know it. And it would cost something like $100,000 or more (in 1975 dollars, no less). Computer makers would be wasting money trying to squash the competition instead of upgrading the product--no incentive for the $5,000 16K computer would exist, and we would never get up to 64K for $599. Let alone 8GB for $900.
I would prefer having a few people risking their lives on unproven products (voluntarily taking those risks), having the results objectively posted for all to see (so everyone could benefit), and end up getting better and better products at lower and lower costs. That would free up the emergency rooms for true emergencies (accidents and trauma cases), because most other medical conditions that generate emergencies would be much better treated. Ultimately, that would also drive insurance costs down, making it affordable for the average customer.
