From cancer treatment to breast reduction, insurance companies offer a wide array of coverage for those needing medical treatment. One such procedure that insurers will not cover is a lobotomy. Dr. Walter Freeman was the doctor responsible for bringing the lobotomy procedure to the United States in the 1930’s. It was used to potentially remedy mental illness and other disorders of the brain however the lobotomy procedure did not see much success. There are a few reasons today why insurance companies refuse to cover this type of medical procedure.

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The phrase “snake oil” originally referred to a traditional Chinese medicine used to treat joint pain. When it was popularized in the U.S., during the time of building the Transcontinental Railroad, patented medicine salesmen—angry at the fact that snake oil medicines were cutting into their profits—used the term pejoratively to refer to medicines that were sold by quacks.

The term snake oil then became a generic name for many of the future medicines marketed as panaceas or miraculous remedies. In reality the vast majority of these medicines were nothing more than the equivalent of sugar pills. Follow us on a journey as we take a look at some of history’s most charming snake oil labels.

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