How much is Too much?

Over at California Medicine Man, several of us folks are having a mini-debate about how helpful it is for patients to research their medical conditions and treatment.
I�ve long been a proponent of consumer-driven health care, which has come to mean different things to different people. In my neck of the woods, CDHC means coupling high deductible health plans with tax-advantaged savings accounts, thereby empowering the insured/patient with the financial ability to make informed health care decisions. Implicit in this concept is the idea that, once empowered, the insured/patient will want to make the most cost-efficient decision, and will seek out as much information as possible in order to do so.
From where will this information come? Well, a variety of sources. First and foremost, the patient should be willing and able to ask the provider whether or not a given course of treatment is necessary, or whether there are more cost-effective measures that can be taken. Another resource would be, of course, the internet. Still another would be the myriad of �self-help� books about medicine in general, and a given condition in particular.
This in turn leads to other questions: How will the provider respond? How will a patient/insured know what questions to even ask? Given the ofttimes overwhelming amount of information available on the web, how does one determine what�s true and what�s not? In short, how much information is too much?
It seems to me that an educated consumer is a happier and healthier consumer. But there must be some line that, once crossed, leads to a diminishing understanding of the condition or treatment at hand. Certainly, it�s helpful � and important � to ask the provider about alternative protocols. And I think that places like WebMD can be helpful for superficial information. But I�m less certain about how much deeper one should go in such research. At some point, I think this will lead to information overload, and the insured/patient may ultimately be so confused that he chooses to do nothing.
And that is NOT �a good thing.�

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