We’ve all felt it—our healthcare system is failing us. It’s expensive, inefficient, and often does more to manage sickness than promote health. If you’ve ever been stuck in the loop of doctor visits, referrals, prescriptions, and still no real answers, you’re not alone.
I was listening to the podcast Modern Wisdom Episode 912, Brigham Buhler, an ex-pharmaceutical rep turned healthcare entrepreneur, lays out the root causes of why our system is so broken. His insider perspective confirms what many of us have experienced firsthand: Big Pharma, insurance companies, and corporate interests are running the show—not doctors, not patients, and certainly not common sense.
I’ll break down the key points from the episode and, more importantly, talk about what we can do to take back control of our own health.
The U.S. Healthcare System Is a Business- Not Healing
At its core, American healthcare is not about making people healthier—it’s about making money.
• Medical expenses are the #1 cause of bankruptcy in the U.S. – No other developed country has this problem at this scale. It forced me to file at age 28, a year after my first heart surgery in 2007.
• The average American spends more on healthcare than any other country—yet we’re ranked among the worst for life expectancy and chronic disease.
• Doctors are forced to see 40+ patients a day, with 6-minute visits where they can only prescribe and refer, not treat the whole person.
Buhler describes a system where doctors don’t have the time or resources to treat patients properly, and the system is intentionally built to keep us dependent on medication, insurance, and endless medical bills.
What This Means for Us
We need to stop assuming the system will help us and start taking personal responsibility for our health. The healthcare industry is built to react to disease, not prevent it. That means we need to be proactive, ask questions, and explore alternative paths to healing.
Overprescription and the Broken Pharma Model
If you’ve ever felt like doctors just throw prescriptions at you instead of looking for real solutions, that’s because the system is designed to work that way.
• 34 studies have shown that placebos perform nearly as well as antidepressants, with only a 2-3 point deviation in effectiveness. This should make us all rethink what these are really doing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antidepressant
💊 1 in 2 Americans is on at least one prescription medication.
💊 General Population: Approximately 66% of adults in the United States use prescription drugs.
💊Older Adults: Prescription drug use increases with age. For instance, adults aged 65 and older have higher prescription drug usage compared to younger populations.
💊Gender Differences: Women are generally more likely than men to use prescription drugs. This gap is more pronounced in younger populations and narrows with age.
💊Medications that were once meant for short-term use (like opioids or acid blockers) have become lifetime prescriptions for millions of people.
Buhler explains that pharmaceutical reps are trained to sell, not heal—he used to be one himself. Drug companies fund medical schools, sponsor doctors’ research, and shape treatment guidelines to ensure a lifetime of dependency on their products.
My Own Experience with Overprescription
I’ve lived this.
• I went from one specialist to another—from neurosurgeon, endocrinologist, gastroenterologist, and cardiologists~each treating their own little part of my body like it was disconnected from everything else.
• Not one doctor looked at the bigger picture.
• I was prescribed meds that led to side effects, which led to more meds, and more side effects. Some hardcore stuff like Xanax, OxyContin, Carisaprodal, Lithium, Adderall, just to name a few. Handed out like candy. Diagnosed with ADHD, bipolar, depression, anxiety, just labels put on me to get me out the door. I had a subdermal hematoma which is bleeding of the brain and a craniotomy back in 2009. Also three open heart surgery’s in 2007, 2012, and 2014. Hate to say tmg his but I think anyone would be depressed from recovery from any of those surgery’s. That’s only a few. I’ve 18 total now, but thats a lot on the human body and all I needed was someone to give me a game plan or a way to get off the OxyContin- not handed more drugs to cope. What I have learned now and had 10 years in the industry of healing is this.
The body isn’t separate parts—it’s a connected system. Everything starts with metabolic health, digestion, and stress management. Most doctor’s wont tell you this- no money- no incentives. Just doing what they are trained to do. Please don’t get me wrong, There are great and wonderful doctors out there! I had one after being in this repeatedly broken system for 7 years. Dr. Strategos broke all this down to me when I was pretty far gone. He literally had a tremendous part in saving my life- So thank you Doc Stategous! Lets get back to the podcast and how we can start looking to take control of our own health!
The Car Maintenance Analogy—Why Prevention is Everything
Buhler talks about how we treat our health like we treat our cars—but in the worst way possible.
If you own a car, you:
✔️ Change the oil
✔️ Rotate the tires
✔️ Put in good fuel
✔️ Check the engine light when it comes on
You don’t just wait until the engine blows up to do something about it.
But in healthcare, we do the exact opposite:
❌ We wait until our blood sugar is out of control before addressing metabolic issues.
❌ We wait until SIBO is destroying our gut before making dietary changes.
❌ We wait until Candida overgrowth turns into a chronic illness before trying to fix it.
❌ We let stress run us into the ground, then wonder why we develop high blood pressure, autoimmune diseases, or Type 2 diabetes.
What This Means for Us
By the time a disease is diagnosed, it’s been brewing for years, even decades.
✅Heart disease from making poor food choices won’t rear its head for 40-50 years.
✅Type 2 diabetes is the same thing. compounding choices
✅SIBO might start in your 20s but fully manifest in your 40s.
✅Candida could begin in your 20s and wreak havoc by your 30s.
✅Autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular issues, and high blood pressure don’t appear overnight-they develop slowly over time.
That’s why proactive health is the only way forward.
Alternative Therapies That Are Actually Helping
The system doesn’t want you to know this, but there are real solutions out there—ones that don’t involve a lifetime of prescriptions.
✅Ibogaine – Used to reset the brain, especially for addiction and trauma recovery.
✅Ketamine Therapy – A game-changer for PTSD, depression, and neurological healing.
✅Kratom – A natural pain management alternative that’s helped people get off opioids.
✅Microdosing Psilocybin – Helps with mental clarity, emotional resilience, and neuroplasticity.
✅AI Health Tracking (ChatGPT, wearables, etc.) – Instead of waiting months for a specialist, track your own symptoms, analyze patterns, and make informed choices before things get bad.
✅Peptides & Bioregulators-The future of regenerative medicine, supporting everything from healing to hormone balance
5. Taking Back Control—It’s On Us
The biggest takeaway from this podcast?
We are in control of our own health.
✔️ Fix your digestion – Everything starts in the gut.
✔️ Control blood sugar & inflammation – The root of most chronic disease.
✔️ Manage stress & nervous system health – Because stress is the silent killer.
✔️ Question everything – Don’t just take a prescription and move on.
The system is not built to heal us. That means it’s up to us to take ownership, ask better questions, and take our health into our own hands.
Final Thoughts: The System Won’t Change, But We Can
Brigham Buhler’s insights confirm what many of us have already figured out: the system is broken beyond repair.
But instead of waiting for it to fix itself, we need to:
✔️ Get informed
✔️ Be proactive
✔️ Take steps now to prevent chronic illness before it happens
We don’t have to accept this broken system. We can do better.
I always tell myself “If you want to see a miracle, be the miracle”
Comments