Response
Yes, Rose, we have problems, but costs are not “skyrocketing.” In fact, the rate of rise in healthcare costs actually diminished this year, and the gurus are still trying to figure out why. The point made many times in writings here is that we could have the same healthcare at lower cost if efficiency were a priority. And the driving force for efficiency is competition. Right now, health plans are competing for patients. Instead, providers need to compete on price. Then, costs will come down and service will improve.
And yes, we have the best healthcare in the world--at least, we have the potential to provide the most technically advanced healthcare. Unfortunately, that potential is not always realized. Sometimes, maybe most of the time, but not every time. And that because no one is in charge to ensure that the right things happen every time.
Render unto healthcare those things that belong, and infant mortality is way down the list. When I was a student, the highest infant mortality in the state of PA was in the area around Temple University Medical school. No shortage of good healthcare at no expense, but pregnant women didn’t walk across the street to get it. The big gains in life expectancy have come from sanitation and immunizations, not from healthcare. The current frontier for life expectancy is environmental pollution. Among the factors cited by Karen Davis, survival with breast cancer is pretty clearly related to healthcare, and we are perhaps best in the world in that statistic.
It used to be said that anyone who wanted government to run healthcare had never mailed a letter. Actually, the Post Office does pretty well these days, but they have some competition and aren’t really a government agency. Central planning doesn’t work. Not for economics, and not for healthcare.
Isn’t it interesting that doing the best thing for our elderly is also the least expensive, but we don’t do it. That’s a lesson for us all. As Dylan Thomas wrote:
“Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
And yes, we have the best healthcare in the world--at least, we have the potential to provide the most technically advanced healthcare. Unfortunately, that potential is not always realized. Sometimes, maybe most of the time, but not every time. And that because no one is in charge to ensure that the right things happen every time.
Render unto healthcare those things that belong, and infant mortality is way down the list. When I was a student, the highest infant mortality in the state of PA was in the area around Temple University Medical school. No shortage of good healthcare at no expense, but pregnant women didn’t walk across the street to get it. The big gains in life expectancy have come from sanitation and immunizations, not from healthcare. The current frontier for life expectancy is environmental pollution. Among the factors cited by Karen Davis, survival with breast cancer is pretty clearly related to healthcare, and we are perhaps best in the world in that statistic.
It used to be said that anyone who wanted government to run healthcare had never mailed a letter. Actually, the Post Office does pretty well these days, but they have some competition and aren’t really a government agency. Central planning doesn’t work. Not for economics, and not for healthcare.
Isn’t it interesting that doing the best thing for our elderly is also the least expensive, but we don’t do it. That’s a lesson for us all. As Dylan Thomas wrote:
“Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
