Best Online Health Advice Web Sites
11 September 2006One of the best things about the Internet is that there’s all kinds of free information out there on pretty much anything. One of the worst things is that a lot of it is inaccurate, outdated, or not very useful. Lower the cost of writing about stuff to near zero, and pretty much everyone will offer their opinion about pretty much everything. That’s great, and leads to good debates about stuff many people wouldn’t have heard of or thought about otherwise, but in some areas it’s a little more important to be certain that you’re relying on good information. Health care tops the list, and Kiplinger’s has a guide for retirees on which web sites have good reputations for accuracy.
There are a few generic sites - WebMD is a popular one that is staffed with a lot of health journalists and doctors to write the articles, and it has a good reputation for reliability. One of the things the article hints at is that a lot of smaller sites have become clearinghouses for information on certain illnesses - often they’re just started up by people who are suffering from a disease and want to start a support community. These can be great sites, too.
The one problem I have with the article? It doesn’t tell you what sites are NOT reliable. Here’s a few I’d put on the list:
Wikipedia - This site will come up in the top search results of pretty much anything. Often, the articles there are written by people who know what they’re talking about - or they at least sound like it. The problem with it is that anyone can edit the articles at any time. YOU can go in and change the article on heart disease to add whatever you want. Users tend to police the articles and get rid of obnoxious or blatantly false information - but it’s a collaboration of many people, and you’ve got no guarantee that any of them are giving you anything other than rumors or old wive’s tales.
Internet Forums - Again, you could be talking to anyone. So take what they say with a grain of salt, even if they seem to answer your health question.
Commercial Sites - There are a lot of sites out there designed to sell you something, but look like they’re informative. You’ve got to be careful relying on them because they have an agenda - to get you to use a particular drug or treatment for the disease.
You can find a lot of good, free information on health problems on the Internet, which can help you keep track of any health problems or issues you start to face as you get older. You can also find a lot of information that will save you money in terms of getting cheaper insurance or finding a doctor you like better. Just be careful not to put your health at risk by relying on advice from the wrong web site.
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