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> There isn't a lack of resources. There is absolutely a lack of resources when it comes to medical care. There aren't enough nurses, doctors, mental health pr

> There isn't a lack of resources. There is absolutely a lack of resources when it comes to medical care. There aren't enough nurses, doctors, mental health professionals, specialized medical equipment, or in some instances even blood, to go around right now. This "post scarcity" mentality isn't based on reality.

jquery 3y ago
There's enough to go around in every country approaching a significant fraction of America's average per capita GDP. No structural reason America couldn't make it work either.
- Georgelemental 3y ago
  Not really no, those countries generally ration with very long wait times instead of by price. (Not defending the US system, which is 100% captured by special interest sleazebags, and in need of total regulatory overhaul. But there is no magic bullet to fix all problems here)
  - jquery 3y ago
    They generally have better health outcomes at the population level, so functionally speaking I think that's "plenty to go around" in the most useful sense of the term.
  - sharemywin 3y ago
    especially since the wait times are in the US now too.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
UnpossibleJim 3y ago
It's a matter of priorities. If we decide these things are important as a nation they don't have to be scarce. We make the best war machines on the planet and spend a lot of money on them. That is more of a priority than the good health of our nation.
- WhatWorkingOn 3y ago
  A war machine can be built once and maintained for a long time. Medical care is a personal and time consuming process with multiple parties and tests that need to be coordinated across. All of this is expensive because for every person being given that time of day, there's someone else that needs it. There aren't enough hours in the day and smart people in the country to scale up healthcare. Contrary to what we would like to believe, there is a scarcity of intelligent people willing to devote their entire lives to the study of medicine across specialties. If you cannot afford it, the US healthcare is terrible. If you have the means to afford it, the US healthcare system is one of if not the best in the world.
  - hedora 3y ago
    > If you have the means to afford it, the US healthcare system is one of if not the best in the world. This is untrue according to all metrics I have seen (such as life expectancy). Do you have any evidence to back this statement up?
    - shuckles 3y ago
      The drivers of poor US life expectancy is mostly guns and cars. Cars are the #1 killer of Americans between 5 and 45 (approximately). That doesn’t have much to do with the medical system.
      - andsoitis 3y ago
        Leading causes of death in the US: https://www.healthline.com/health/leading-causes-of-death https://www.healthline.com/health/leading-causes-of-death 10 of the leading 12 causes of death are diseases, with the first non-disease cause coming in at #4.
        shuckles 3y ago
        Someone dying a few years earlier than otherwise has a smaller impact on _life expectancy_ than someone dying young. Furthermore, the #1 cause is correlated with lifestyle factors which medical treatment has little control over. You can see the breakdown of life expectancy reducing factors here, none of which are attributable to "limited specialized treatment": https://ourworldindata.org/us-life-expectancy-low https://ourworldindata.org/us-life-expectancy-low
antisthenes 3y ago
Bringing up "post scarcity" here is a straw man. The US medical system has been systematically optimized for extracting the maximum possible amount of money from every patient, part of which is artificially restricting available supply of medical care (although things are slightly getting better in that regard with practicing nurses and PAs) The other thing it was optimized for was hiding this from the patients. And only now, in 2023 are we beginning to see the horrible extent of this, because of price transparency rules.

jquery 3y ago

There's enough to go around in every country approaching a significant fraction of America's average per capita GDP. No structural reason America couldn't make it work either.

Georgelemental 3y ago
Not really no, those countries generally ration with very long wait times instead of by price. (Not defending the US system, which is 100% captured by special interest sleazebags, and in need of total regulatory overhaul. But there is no magic bullet to fix all problems here)
- jquery 3y ago
  They generally have better health outcomes at the population level, so functionally speaking I think that's "plenty to go around" in the most useful sense of the term.
- sharemywin 3y ago
  especially since the wait times are in the US now too.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

UnpossibleJim 3y ago

It's a matter of priorities. If we decide these things are important as a nation they don't have to be scarce. We make the best war machines on the planet and spend a lot of money on them. That is more of a priority than the good health of our nation.

WhatWorkingOn 3y ago
A war machine can be built once and maintained for a long time. Medical care is a personal and time consuming process with multiple parties and tests that need to be coordinated across. All of this is expensive because for every person being given that time of day, there's someone else that needs it. There aren't enough hours in the day and smart people in the country to scale up healthcare. Contrary to what we would like to believe, there is a scarcity of intelligent people willing to devote their entire lives to the study of medicine across specialties. If you cannot afford it, the US healthcare is terrible. If you have the means to afford it, the US healthcare system is one of if not the best in the world.
- hedora 3y ago
  > If you have the means to afford it, the US healthcare system is one of if not the best in the world. This is untrue according to all metrics I have seen (such as life expectancy). Do you have any evidence to back this statement up?
  - shuckles 3y ago
    The drivers of poor US life expectancy is mostly guns and cars. Cars are the #1 killer of Americans between 5 and 45 (approximately). That doesn’t have much to do with the medical system.
    - andsoitis 3y ago
      Leading causes of death in the US: https://www.healthline.com/health/leading-causes-of-death https://www.healthline.com/health/leading-causes-of-death 10 of the leading 12 causes of death are diseases, with the first non-disease cause coming in at #4.
      - shuckles 3y ago
        Someone dying a few years earlier than otherwise has a smaller impact on _life expectancy_ than someone dying young. Furthermore, the #1 cause is correlated with lifestyle factors which medical treatment has little control over. You can see the breakdown of life expectancy reducing factors here, none of which are attributable to "limited specialized treatment": https://ourworldindata.org/us-life-expectancy-low https://ourworldindata.org/us-life-expectancy-low

antisthenes 3y ago

Bringing up "post scarcity" here is a straw man. The US medical system has been systematically optimized for extracting the maximum possible amount of money from every patient, part of which is artificially restricting available supply of medical care (although things are slightly getting better in that regard with practicing nurses and PAs) The other thing it was optimized for was hiding this from the patients. And only now, in 2023 are we beginning to see the horrible extent of this, because of price transparency rules.