But what's missing, tragically, is a diagnosis of the real, far more fundamental problem, which is that what's even worse than its stratospheric cost is the fact that American health care doesn't fulfill its prime directive -- it does not help people become or stay healthy. It's not a health care system at all; it's a disease management system, and making the current system cheaper and more accessible will just spread the dysfunction more broadly.
It's impossible to make our drug-intensive, technology-centric, and corrupt system affordable.
(I am on a serious jag now...)
1 comment:
The real problem is preventative medicine. It doesn't make money and it requires too much effort on the patient's part. For most folks, diet and exercise will lower cholesterol as well as any cholesterol drug. Patients with heart failure often can have their lives extended 10-20 years with a simple combination of drugs (most of which are generic), yet stop taking their drugs because they "feel fine", then end up having an MI and rack up $100K+ in hospital bills. I say screw a healthcare system. Just put everyone on medical marijuana and they'll be so high, they won't even know it when they die...:) That would save us a lot of money!
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