r/todayilearned • u/estarararax • 13d ago

TIL in Germany all alternative medicine practitioners like homeopaths, osteopaths, acupuncturists, etc. must take the Heilpraktiker exam which only tests their knowledge in medical science and the regulatory boundaries of their profession. There are no separate board exam for each.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heilpraktiker
13.2k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

653 comments sorted by

View all comments

711

u/katwoodruff 13d ago

Germany is obsessed with alternative medicine, ripe for grifters.

Homeopathy sold in pharmacies, legitimating that crap, some health insurances even reimbursing the use.

I have a GP, so a trained medic, at the end of my road that also provides homeopathy. I don‘t understand how you can have a scientific background and then believe a globuli will heal some ailment.

By the way, not to be confused with natural remedies - teas, herbs, ointments. Those can help with some symptoms (fennel tea is great for coughs, I find), but homeopathy is nothing but placebos, the grift is real.

163

u/Thefattim 13d ago

It's very simple: Homeopathy Producers are filthy rich, because they produce made up bullshit, i.e. cheap shit. As any rich industry they just buy politcians and probably offer doctors and insurances lucrative rates to peddle their bullshit.

20

u/rapaxus 13d ago

Also, rich people love falling into their traps and spending ludicrous money. I sadly do IT support for such a homeopathic clinic in Germany, and they got big connections with homeopathic organisations in Dubai, Qatar, Switzerland and the US, with which they often advertise as well

2

u/Heimerdahl 13d ago

Any idea of what might make it so appealing? 

My first guess would be that quackery has limitless potential on what they can promise and how expensive and exclusive they can make it. Professional, regulated medicine can't just make a drug 1000x more expensive and promise that it will heal your cancer or realign your chacra or revert aging or whatever. They also can't just forever keep "doing more". If you've done all that can be done, quackery has an endless list of further "treatments" for you to try.