Future Now
The IFTF Blog
Health: Not-So-Personalized Medicine
"Judging from current commentary, personalized medicine--from custom-designed drugs to individualized health care plans--could be the future of health care in the United States. Personal genotyping promises individually tailored regimens for everything from cancer therapy to nutritional supplements. Growing access to personal diagnostics gives individuals more information about their own bodies than ever before. Employers, looking to rein in health care costs, are keenly interested in consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs), and some consumers, armed with the Internet, welcome the consequent increased choice and control.
However, several counterveilling forces are at work and while engaged consumers will unquestionably demand more flexibility and choice in health care, they may also decide that flocks get better care than free agents.
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