I don’t spend much time on Facebook nor do many of my friends. Since my private life is apparently so boring Facebook fills the gaps with sponsored posts and a lot of advertisements. A day ago, I began noticing that many of the ads were for health-related products and services. Perhaps Facebook began feeding me ads for health products because I lingered over one for too long, but I’d like to think that Americans are truly interested in taking a more active role in their health care.
The first advertisement that caught my eye was for KardiaMobile 6L personal EKG. It’s a portable heart monitoring device that pairs with your smart phone. The Christmas special deal was $69 with a free year of monitoring (including provisions for some virtual consults with a cardiologist). The subscription price is $99 a year after the first year. The website claims the product:
- Records EKG leads I, II, III, aVL, aVR, and aVF
- Detects AFib, Bradycardia, and Tachycardia. More detections are available with KardiaCare, including PVCs, Sinus Rhythm with SVE, and Sinus Rhythm with Wide QRS.
The fine print cautions that it does not check for heart attacks. Presumably a medical professional could read your ECG and detect the tombstoning ST-segment elevation – known as the Widowmaker – indicating a deadly myocardial infarction is imminent. Why the device will not alert you to call an ambulance is most likely due to FDA regulations that would prevent more robust devices from being sold over the counter. I’ve known quite a number of people who died from sudden cardiac arrest and services like this possibly could have saved them, but the FDA doesn’t want consumers to have too much control without permission from a doctor.
Soon after the KardiaMobile ad an advertisement for Conneqt Health appeared. The firm claims the CONNEQT Pulse is the world’s most advanced home arterial health monitor. Another product that Facebook tried to sell me was a Frontier X2 continuous ECG monitor. The advertisement claims you can monitor your heart health, heart rate variability, strain monitoring, breathing rate, body shock, training load and VO2 Max estimate. The Frontier X2 looks like a device you would wear for endurance training rather than to monitor heart disease.
Genetic analysis is a growing field that is well represented on Facebook. Nucleus Genomics advertises a genetic test that claims the equivalent of 800+ screenings for a variety of health issues. The firm claims to review 1,000 times more DNA than 23andMe, a leading competitor. Another DNA service offered Whole Genome Sequencing for 15,000+ conditions for $299. The website is Sequencing.com. The technology is amazing. The cost of DNA sequencing 25 years ago was $100 million, but only $299 today.
Also on Facebook were advertisements for DNA cancer screening tests. One was Galleri, a cancer screening test that identifies DNA fragments shed by developing cancers. I wrote about Galleri last year. Galleri claims an 88% accuracy rate for participants with a cancer diagnosis among study participants. The field of genetic cancer screening is only a year or two old, but competition is heating up fast. Another ad was for Jscreen. Jscreen provides at-home genetic cancer tests for $49 that looks for DNA fragments from a variety of cancers. Another genetic screening test that advertises on Facebook is 20/20 Gene Systems’ OneTest for Cancer, a DNA analysis for multiple cancers.
Another health product advertised on Facebook was a blood glucose monitor from Abbott Labs called Lingo. It too is a tiny piece of hardware that pairs with a smartphone, that includes an algorithm with nutrition coaching. The cost starts at $49. Another ad was for Visionary Wellness & Imaging. A CT heart scan is $99 and a full body CT scan is $999.
There were also at least two ads for smart watches that track heart health and oxygen saturation levels in the body. Lifeline Screening using ultrasound advertises on Facebook as does Walk-in Lab. I’ve used Lifeline and I use Walk-in Lab every year for my annual blood tests. There was also an ad for a body composition testing and another ad that would measure gut health by analyzing your microbiome. All the advertisements I mentioned appeared on my Facebook feed in only about 30 minutes of scrolling.
Consider this: medical prices rise at three times the rate of consumer inflation. Yet, the private sector is capable of creating medical goods and services at mere fractions of the cost of traditional medical care. DNA sequencing that would have cost in the millions two decades ago is now offered through Facebook at $299. Consumers could enjoy even more high-quality health services at bargain basement prices, but the FDA blocks OTC products and services that are too powerful. All of these products are FSA/HSA approved but your health insurance will not cover them. That also explains why they are a bargain rather than costing an arm and a leg.