If Web3 is meant to reduce the control major corporations have over our data and our access to information, medicine is undoubtedly one field that urgently demands the use of web3.

Start by considering the broad injustices of the current US medical system:

Cost- Prices for treatments and procedures are arbitrary because companies hold all the information and customers hold none. When the product is lifesaving, patients pay what is asked. Web3 has the potential to create access to accurate data on viability of treatments. Web3 also has the potential to allow comparison of prices between providers and create pricing competition that will stop the cost of medicine from inflating further.

Safety- Pharmaceutical and medical device companies are driven by profit, not interest in patient wellbeing. Patients are completely at the mercy of major corporations, thinly protected by often under-informed physicians, who produce and heavily market unsafe or ineffective products. FDA standards for drugs require the products be “safe and effective”. Safe is sometimes assumed based on studies of similar versions of the product, requiring no new studies. Effective can mean any relative improvement in condition, no matter how miniscule. The vetting of medical devices has multiple loopholes that cause innumerable deaths. Imagine an internet where doctors and patients have full access to the viability of any and all medical products.

Records- Hospitals and clinics are required to store data on an EHR (Electronic Health Record) system. This is a government mandate for the sake of patient security and wellbeing. These EHRs are not necessarily compatible with one another. EHRs can be expensive, but because they are required, medical professionals often pay the fees demanded. Free EHRs are available, but are provided by companies who collect and use patient health data. All EHRs are used to funnel more business towards affiliated companies. For example, an EHR will default to a certain brand of medicine because it is owned by a specific pharmaceutical company that has ties to the EHR. This may result in higher prices for the patient, and the doctor is unaware they are being used to funnel more business towards a specific company.

Americans are currently held in a medical chokehold by massive medical, insurance, and pharmaceutical corporations. The power of information has the potential to break that hold.