Re:Study Suggests Medical Errors Now Third Leading Cause of ...
by rscho on Wednesday June 08, 2022 @11:54AM
(#31669257)
With private healthcare as you describe, poor people are left with subpar care, and you've got a revolution on your hands. At least I would be very prone to violent action in such a system.
Re:Study Suggests Medical Errors Now Third Leading Cause of ...
by nradov on Wednesday June 08, 2022 @01:01PM
(#31670333)
I support affordable universal access to basic healthcare regardless of ability to pay, but you're overestimating the impact of the healthcare system. Up until a few generations ago there was no real "system" at all, and treatments frequently caused more harm than benefit. This wasn't a significant cause of violent revolutions.
Even today, organized healthcare beyond vaccines and antibiotics has only a marginal impact on lifespan and healthspan. It's way behind sanitation (clean drinking water, sewage systems, waste disposal) and lifestyle issues (substance abuse, obesity, lack of exercise).
Re:Study Suggests Medical Errors Now Third Leading Cause of ...
by rscho on Wednesday June 08, 2022 @01:05PM
(#31670441)
Sure, but not long ago medical care was essentially useless even for rich people. If now, poor people see rich people get cured while they die or suffer major consequences from common illnesses, I don't think that's gonna go well.
Perhaps such a system incorporates some aspects of private enterprise, but ultimately it should still be seen as a non-private system.
A truly private healthcare system would allow anybody to practice any kind of medicine at any time, without specific requirements and restrictions being imposed by the state.
It would be up to each patient to decide whether or not he or she will deal with a particular practitioner or provider of services. (Of course, this can be complicated in the case of an incapacitated patient, without prior planning.)
As is typical with non-private/socialist/communist systems of any sort, where natural free market balancing forces such as consumer choice, competition, and reputation are limited or absent, we should expect to see the inefficiencies you described, including significant quality variation, bureaucratic games, and misaligned incentives.
Healthcare in America seems very non-private in nature to me. It may not be as overtly non-private as the healthcare systems in Canada or many European nations, but it certainly does not seem to be private, either.