Medical Marketing: The Big Business of Healthcare
Healthcare is big business. Americans spend more on medical services and products than consumers in other countries. In 2021 healthcare costs increased by over 4% to $4.3 trillion or $12,530 per person. This now accounts for 19.7% of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The problem is health care costs are growing faster than the economy. Given the events of the past few years, one might think spending increases were related to the pandemic, but this is not the case. Most of the increases in spending were indirectly related to a massive increase in marketing, especially direct-to-consumer marketing. It is estimated over 30 billion dollars will be spent on direct-to-consumer marketing in 2021. Such promotions can be seen in drug advertising with disease-awareness campaigns. These have grown exponentially...