Annual Physicals May Do More Harm Than Good

America spends more per capita on health care than any other developed nation, yet Americans are among the sickest citizens of the developed world, ranking only 50th worldwide for life expectancy. Americans also rank near the bottom for everything from infant mortality to obesity, heart disease, and disability. A growing number of studies suggest that part of the problem is actually excessive medical intervention. Americans are receiving — and paying for — an enormous amount of unnecessary and/or ineffective medical tests and treatments. According to a report by the Institute of Medicine, approximately 30 percent of all medical procedures, tests, and medications may be unnecessary, at a cost of more than $750 billion a year. The worst part is that this overtreatment is making Americans sicker rather than healthier. While most people have trouble believing it, there's actually an inverse relationship between money spent on health care and wellness in the US. While studies have highlighted a wide variety of unnecessary treatments, one of the most recent investigations suggests even annual physicals may do more harm than good. The annual physical is the number one reason for doctor's visits, and each year one-third of Americans file into their doctor's office for routine weighing, measuring, and more often than not, some sort of medical testing. The cost of annual physicals and the tests performed amount to about $10 billion each year. But are Americans getting enough of a return on this massive investment?