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A note for those critical about donations not coming sooner: It is important to understand hospitals and doctors could not legally use industrial N95 masks. N

A note for those critical about donations not coming sooner: It is important to understand hospitals and doctors could not legally use industrial N95 masks. No hospital could accept them without exposing themselves to massive litigation. I know this sounds stupid from outside the US. Sadly, this is part of our reality. The key that unlocked donations was President Trump. Upon learning of this restriction he quickly put into place a release of liability for medical use of industrial N95 masks. This will be in force until at least 2024. Because of this companies, contractors, suppliers and individuals came forward to donate masks. Apple donated a couple million units. I believe this might easily unlock tens of millions of masks as companies evaluate their inventories and continue to donate. Commentary: It is important to realize that the US healthcare system does not have an insurance problem. Politicians would have you think this is the case. It is not. The root cause of our high cost of healthcare, among other things, has to do with the underlying and hidden costs of doing business. This issue of masks is a simple example. Hospitals, medical professionals and medical suppliers live in fear of greedy attorneys going after them for anything from masks to more complex equipment. This leads to major losses and costs and even legislation. And all of it increases the costs of doing business. After this virus runs its course we would be well served to review a number of things, tort reform being a good idea. The other would be term limits for the House and Senate, I think it is beyond obvious these institutions have gone putrid to the very core. It might also be rather strange to those outside the US to learn that in this wonderful country doctors and nurses cannot legally provide their services outside of the State where they are licensed. A doctor or nurse licensed in California cannot see patients in, say, Maine. In other words, we are not a country, we are a group of fenced-off kingdoms with some of the most ridiculous rules one could possibly imagine. Our doctors can travel to Africa and practice medicine, yet they can't go to another State and do the same. How ridiculous is this? That's just another element of our system that has to change. There's more, a lot more. The onerous and massively expensive drug or medical device approval process is another example. Insurance is the last item in a very long list of issues we must address in order to bring sanity to our healthcare system.

sheikheddy 7y ago
When I think about the reasons the cost of US healthcare is so high, over-legislation is definitely up there, but so is the arms race between insurance and healthcare providers. It seems to me that the hight cost just is a symptom, and that we should focus our efforts on deregulation so that we drive prices down to competitive levels.
- robomartin 7y ago
  It goes deeper than that. Insurance is the last in a long list of issues we must address first. Rather than repeat things here, please read the comment I just posted here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22671872 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22671872
IAmEveryone 7y ago
> The key that unlocked donations was President Trump. Upon learning of this restriction he quickly put into place a release of liability for medical use of industrial N95 masks. President Trump did nothing except sign the law when it came to his desk. The provision was in the “Second Coronavirus Package” that originated in the US House of Representatives. It was written by Democratic lawmakers and sponsored by Nita Lowey, a New York Democrat. Here’s the law in question: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6201/text https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6201... This Link should take you directly to the relevant section about industrial masks: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6201/text#H4A1FCBAAF09E40FBA7E5CB7B15FA97B7 https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6201... Here’s the vote in the House: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2020/roll102.xml http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2020/roll102.xml All 40 “Nays” were Republican. Here’s the Senate vote: https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=116&session=2&vote=00076#position https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_... all votes against were, once again, Republicans. It’s also unclear what type of masks Facebook had in stock. They might have been of the medical variety for all we know. And even if not, there would not have been liability anyway: it was manufactures that were previously liable when selling the wrong type of mask to health care workers. But in Facebook donating masks, no manufacturer is part of the transaction. I’ll not go through the rest of your half-truths, except to note that if you believe any MD can see patients in “Africa” without going through some sort of accreditation you’re wrong.

sheikheddy 7y ago

When I think about the reasons the cost of US healthcare is so high, over-legislation is definitely up there, but so is the arms race between insurance and healthcare providers. It seems to me that the hight cost just is a symptom, and that we should focus our efforts on deregulation so that we drive prices down to competitive levels.

robomartin 7y ago
It goes deeper than that. Insurance is the last in a long list of issues we must address first. Rather than repeat things here, please read the comment I just posted here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22671872 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22671872

IAmEveryone 7y ago

> The key that unlocked donations was President Trump. Upon learning of this restriction he quickly put into place a release of liability for medical use of industrial N95 masks. President Trump did nothing except sign the law when it came to his desk. The provision was in the “Second Coronavirus Package” that originated in the US House of Representatives. It was written by Democratic lawmakers and sponsored by Nita Lowey, a New York Democrat. Here’s the law in question: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6201/text https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6201... This Link should take you directly to the relevant section about industrial masks: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6201/text#H4A1FCBAAF09E40FBA7E5CB7B15FA97B7 https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6201... Here’s the vote in the House: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2020/roll102.xml http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2020/roll102.xml All 40 “Nays” were Republican. Here’s the Senate vote: https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=116&session=2&vote=00076#position https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_... all votes against were, once again, Republicans. It’s also unclear what type of masks Facebook had in stock. They might have been of the medical variety for all we know. And even if not, there would not have been liability anyway: it was manufactures that were previously liable when selling the wrong type of mask to health care workers. But in Facebook donating masks, no manufacturer is part of the transaction. I’ll not go through the rest of your half-truths, except to note that if you believe any MD can see patients in “Africa” without going through some sort of accreditation you’re wrong.