Chronic Care: The Pill for Profit

The medical industry strategically introduced the birth control pill in the 1960s as a gateway to long-term medication adherence, shifting focus from acute to chronic conditions. This transition facilitated a large-scale medicalization of chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease, driven by substantial pharmaceutical funding of research that often skewed perceptions of these conditions as genetic rather than preventable. Concurrently, the 1970s witnessed a rise in psychiatric medications like Valium, reinforcing the trend of pilling patients for profit. The emergence of chronic illnesses surged notably in the 1980s, coinciding with socioeconomic changes and the decline of tobacco prevalence. Major tobacco companies, leveraging their market dominance, began acquiring food companies, marking a shift in how the industry approached consumer habits and health outcomes.