[Scape]

Calbeck wrote:

Facts, folks: the US contains a quarter of the world's wealth. As wealth becomes more common, prices rise. Only an abundance of supply brings prices down, and the US medical system already has an immense number of government controls that do little but keep prices UP in the name of heavy regulation. And we STILL have people dying off in hospitals from misdiagnosis. Nationalizing the US health industry will only exacerbate this by further bureaucratizing an already excessively-bureaucratic system.

*Clear*!! No pulse...

You got toys from China that were painted with lead in them. Toys dirt cheap with the current regulation. Does this mean you get should get rid of the regulations or enforce them? You will ALWAYS have people dying from misdiagnoses, wrong meds, allergic reactions, infections... etc etc. You can't stop that but you can curb it dramatically by having people clean their hands, make sure they don't leave sponges in their patents before the close up, don't hack in an open wound... all common sense stuff. Regulation just reminds them with a proper regiment of safe routines and enforcement/penalties for repeat transgressors. Like seat belts and speed limits save lives so too does the regiment of regulation when applied as intended when neglected or ignored it is just as good as a gun locked up in a safe when your being robbed. It's not that government is the problem it is badly run government will always be a problem.

[Calbeck]

Scape wrote:

Does this mean you get should get rid of the regulations or enforce them?

Obviously, there is a difference between "over-regulation" and "no regulation". I don't support either.

[Robair]

I'm not necroposting, just finally got around to watching this DVD.

Good flick. That system is broken for sure. I rented the DVD so there are all the interviews in full length that didn't show up in the movie. The fact that stuck in my head is one that I actually got from one of these interviews, not the movie.

He was interviewing a doctor who had written a book or compiled some report... I'm not gonna go back and look that up for ya, sorry, but anyway the statistic was this:

Half of the American families that declared bankruptcy last year, did so because of medical expenses. HALF! As big as that number is, here's the real kicker. Of those families that went bankrupt because of medical expenses, three quarters of them had health insurance!

Yea, something is wrong there.

Fundamentally, I think, medicine for profit is flawed. Not just because of the moral issue, but think about it... the desired outcome is a healthy population, right? Well where's the money in that???

Slight conflict of interests there I think.