It's a common conflict for info publishers, the only solution is really to get rid of advertising. WebMD relies too much on industry advertisers and on companies selling pharmaceuticals and it corrupts their ability to objectively provide health advice. Advertisers pressure publishers for prime placement, and for editorial influence when they have weight to them, and it corrupts the tone of what a site can publish by nature.
The same is happening with many doctors that need to pay their overhead, many offices turn into "pill mills" because that is what keeps the lights on. We're at a very weird time in history, where people are more profitable as unhealthy individuals, so certain actors in health care peddle fear, confusion, and paranoia to sell medications as well as the valid issues and panaceas to them, and even minor and completely minute afflictions normally have commercials running non-stop on TV. WebMD is a tiny blip when you consider that people type their affliction into Google first.
Perhaps for them, and as the online ad economy melts itself down, contracting with the government to provide official information on a non-ad funded site with a far less cluttered UI might be a better long-term profit model.
> We're at a very weird time in history, where people are more profitable as unhealthy individuals
The thing is that to wider economy and society at large, people are vastly more profitable if they are healthy. This is one of the top reasons why countries spend so much on healthcare: healthy citizens are productive citizens.
The entire problem is one of externalized costs and misaligned incentives.
The same is happening with many doctors that need to pay their overhead, many offices turn into "pill mills" because that is what keeps the lights on. We're at a very weird time in history, where people are more profitable as unhealthy individuals, so certain actors in health care peddle fear, confusion, and paranoia to sell medications as well as the valid issues and panaceas to them, and even minor and completely minute afflictions normally have commercials running non-stop on TV. WebMD is a tiny blip when you consider that people type their affliction into Google first.
Perhaps for them, and as the online ad economy melts itself down, contracting with the government to provide official information on a non-ad funded site with a far less cluttered UI might be a better long-term profit model.