Opinion: Let's stop trying to force consumers to 'engage' with their healthcare

Health care is full of buzzwords. The latest is "engagement." The theory behind it is that all will be well if we can just get people—especially those with chronic diseases—more involved with their illnesses. But what if the opposite is true? Let's do a simple experiment. Imagine you have a chronic disease. Someone approaches you, asking whether you'd like to be more engaged with your diabetes or lupus or Crohn's disease. Whether you actually have one of these conditions or not, you can easily imagine that your answer would be a categorical "no."