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As I see it the major problems of our current healthcare regime have very little to do with radical life extension and any perceived unfairness in end-of-life c
by olefoo 17y ago
As I see it the major problems of our current healthcare regime have very little to do with radical life extension and any perceived unfairness in end-of-life care.
The major problem is that we are in the hands of a criminal syndicate that is structured around extracting money from people when they are at their most weak, vulnerable and uncertain. That this criminal syndicate, which spans the health insurance, legal and financial industries and for which health care is merely the bordello on which the operations cash flow depends; is regarded as a legitimate business is merely one symptom of how corrupt our society really is.
There is an entire industry devoted to extorting money from people under the threat of illness and death. And yet those who run it are considered fine upstanding members of society; always good for a donation to a good cause.
If you go looking it's not too hard to find instances of people who paid in to health insurance for decades, only to be stripped of their coverage when they became ill.
Tying it to jobs makes it even worse, if you know you need medical coverage, you basically can't leave your job; even if it's to start a company that would produce much more value for society than the job left behind.
As it stands now, on average Americans spend twice as much and get worse health outcomes compared to the citizens of any other industrialized nation. It is a disgrace and a crime, and we need to start labeling it a crime and treating it as such.
- noonespecial 17y agoWell said. I actually took as a given that this system will disintegrate very soon. It was unraveling even in the best of times but the current economic conditions have set it up for the final collapse. I was thinking more about the difficult task of deciding what will take its place. I'd wager that the only people left who don't think that the entire path that money takes between patients and doctors needs to be demolished and started over from scratch are lobbyists. At this point, the parasites have more or less killed the host. If, in the unlikely event that we Americans make no real progress on this in the next couple of years, projecting out to 2043 and talking about sustainability is entirely moot. We'll have gone banana republic long before it matters. Edit: Perhaps I over-emphasized the end-of-life part. Got it on the brain a lot these days. The perceived unfairness will permeate the entire system. Just put the Noble laureate and the truck driver in an accident with only enough resources to save one. Who will decide, and how. If they have the power to choose the scientist, they have the power to choose their roommates cousins nephew or a big campaign donor. Government rationing seems like the best choice. It still sucks. Bummer.
- olefoo 17y ago> the parasites have more or less killed the host Precisely