Medical marketing. From CPGs to CRM and health scare tactics. Part 2

By Gonzalo López Martí – Creative director, etc. / lmmiami.com

• There’s a fine line between mastering the art of healthcare marketing and unleashing an outbreak of hypochondria.
• Or en epidemic of Munchhausen syndrome (google it, it is a pretty scary mental health condition).
• Adding fuel to the fire is what we could call “the healthcare payment paradox”: the fact that, in most cases, patients do not pay for their treatments and prescriptions.
• When it comes to healthcare in most developed countries, usually someone else foots the bill (at least psychologically): a health insurance company or the government.
• Enter the open bar phenomenon.
• The expense account illusion.
• A consumer who, in his or her mind, is shopping with someone else’s money.
• A marketer’s dream come true.
• Problem is, why do we think healthcare is so prohibitively overpriced in the US of A?
• Hey, healthcare is a right, right?
• Of course.
• No one can stop you from seeking the care you want or need.
• Which doesn’t mean that you “deserve it”.
• Let alone free of charge.
• This might be the big conundrum of modern civilization: the equivocal difference between having the right to something versus being entitled to it.
• The growing pressure of the freeloading class.
• Sigmund Freud advised his fellow therapists to never treat a patient for free if they want their services to be taken seriously.
• You get what you pay for.
• Either out-of-pocket, through a monthly insurance premium or through taxation.
• On a related note, Spain’s 2019 life expectancy became the highest in the world: a few months short of 86 years.
• Runners up: Japan, Italy and Portugal.
• One big reason: Spain’s acclaimed public healthcare system.
• Public as in free of charge for everyone.
• (Other alleged reasons seem to be related to the tight-knit nature of Spanish families: emotional stability seems to boost one’s health and longevity).
• The problem: public healthcare is a serious burden for taxpayers.
• It seems to be prone to waste.
• Once again: the open bar syndrome.
• People go to the doctor for a casual chat and hoard in their bathroom cabinets a bunch of free medicines they don’t need.

You can read Part 1 CLICK HERE.