My two thoughts are first--how much it costs in public and private insurance and out-of-pocket payments in patients' efforts to get help, as we wander from pillar to post, one specialist to another, through the labyrinth of alternative health care options, as long as there is no medically recognized, fully accepted, appropriate definition of this illness--the best of which is the International Consensus Criteria for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis which came out in September, 2011--no fully accepted biomarkers and recognized test, and no fully accepted, recognized treatment. We need the correct definition, a valid test and effective forms of treatment, not only to benefit the lives of patients, but to save all the wasted money and effort that has been going down the drain as we patients desperately try to help ourselves. So, saving money is the first idea I have, which might gain traction.
The second thought is for our government to back trials of Ritumixab which showed more success as a treatment than anything else has yet done, according to Dr. David Bell.