US Healthcare is not the 'worst performing', that's a perennial clickbait theme. Health issues are bad in the US, and people use that as 'evidence' for quality

US Healthcare is not the 'worst performing', that's a perennial clickbait theme. Health issues are bad in the US, and people use that as 'evidence' for quality of the Healthcare system, but that's not fair. People shooting each other, not eating well or exercising, isn't so much a function of the US Healthcare system. The US system is probably the most economically inefficient, but that's also expected at the highest end of quality. The US has most of the best quality systems in the world, it's just expensive and messed up financially, but the quality itself is something to behold. While I share your reservations about 'privately backed things' - for example, advertising arcane drugs in the US is ridiculous, this whole 'Ask Your Doctor' is an excuse for pushy patients to 'prescribe themselves' over the will of tired Doctors caving in ... ... that said, Theranos is the opposite example. If it had worked, it would have been because of VC backing and it would have been very beneficial to people. And there are many things like that. Like anything, it's complicated, and we need nuanced thinking about it. We probably should welcome a lot more VC spend, think of ways to empower doctors with the deluge of information, to empower individuals but at the same time get them to understand that they are not medical professionals and shouldn't be self-diagnosing, etc..