Is the goal of health care actually to make people healthy? Its debatable. Look at insurer denials of coverage, defensive medicine and pharmaceutical advertising and you wonder what's really going on. Of course there's the other side of the coin too, the obviously patient-care oriented side; payer-sponsored PHRs, convenience clinics, and cheap generics just to name a few.
The point is that health care is so massively complex that rarely do all parties involved have one set goal in mind. Maybe it makes sense they don't. Different incentives lead to different pursuits, but there has to be something everyone's trying to accomplish?
Here's a thought, the goal of the industry is to make health care more affordable and accessible for consumers while keeping costs down for suppliers. Cost-efficiency. Delivery. Patient care. I believe this can serve as a good litmus test for what is really relevant to the advancement of health. Economists use ratios such as cost/life year gained to measure the cost-effectiveness of specific medical interventions. But it doesn't always have to be this rigorous. Next time you see a drug ad, presidential campaign ad, or policy ad on TV, question the incentives of the sponsors and see if they match with the overall goal above.
The emerging consumer-driven health care trend means we should get more involved. It all starts with perspective.