There is a long-standing debate on the question whether the use of homeopathy saves money. Homeopathy fans usually insist that it does. Even the Smallwood report commissioned by Prince Charles claimed that the NHS could save pots of money, if GPs only used more homeopathy.
And it is true, of course: on average homeopathics are cheaper than drugs. Therefore, replacing drugs with homeopathics would be a cost-saving. But, in healthcare, we cannot think like this; if we did, this logic would tell us that not doing anything at all would be even cheaper.
Somehow, we need to factor into the equation the effectiveness of the interventions that we are evaluating. The way to do this is to conduct proper cost-effectiveness analyses. And the reliable evidence from such assessments fails to confirm the notion that homeopathy might save us money.
So, why did I entitle this post HOW TO SAVE MONEY WITH HOMEOPATHY?
Because, it is true: you can save money, if you adhere to my instructions!
If you or a friend of yours are ill and therefore tempted by the numerous claims of homeopaths, please follow this simple step by step procedure:
- Go to your library, find a reliable book (I recommend this one), inform yourself what homeopathy truly is and absorb in the fact that a typical homeopathic remedy contains exactly zero active molecules.
- Read a bit further and check out what the best evidence from rigorous clinical trials tells us about the effectiveness of homeopathy.
- Go to a pharmacy that specialises in homeopathic products.
- Ask the pharmacist which homeopathic remedies she recommends for the ailment you suffer from.
- Ask the pharmacist to tell you what these would cost.
- Tell the pharmacist what you have just learnt about the evidence.
- Ask her kindly not to mislead customers in future.
- Go home.
- Repeat 3 – 8 as often as you can.
I think you have to agree that by following my instructions, you have saved exactly the amount of money that the pharmacist quoted.
PS
And for those for whom this advice comes too late, because they already have at home a selection of homeopathic remedies, I have the following cost-saving trick: use them for sweetening your tea or coffee. This saves you the cost of buying sugar – every little bit helps!
One Response to How to save money with homeopathy … yes, really!
Leave a Reply to RichardR Cancel reply
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Your step-by-step money-saving plan can even be considered a form of (meta-)homeopathy!
– First, you seek out something that is physically present, offered under one or more claims (indications), and costing money (i.e. homeopathic ‘remedies’). But whatever you do, DON”T BUY IT (yet).
– Secondly, you dilute the indication with scientific research and common sense, as per your Step 1. Do this repeatedly, and don’t forget to shake your head at the utter silliness of homeopathy on each dilution step.
– What you end up with, is merely a fictitious (mental) imprint of the indication, and one that will run contrary to the actual indication – in other words: EXACTLY the alleged mechanism of homeopathy!
– As a result, you will of course not feel like spending even a single dime on the ‘remedy’ you chose for your research.
– And yes, you can dilute the homeopathic indication even further by spreading this method.
Then again, homeopaths will probably claim that this dilution process only makes their claims more potent…