Posted by
Systems Analyst on Friday, June 12, 2009 11:02:21 PM
I have noticed something about the much touted need to reform health care. Very few people see a need to reform the way doctors are trained. I have heard little about changing the way hospitals, emergency rooms and neighborhood clinics deliver health services. I have heard absolutely nothing criticizing the way drugs and medical equipment are dispensed to the patients who need them
Nope. The only thing about the health care system in America that anyone finds serious fault with is that it costs money. Nobody wants to pay for medical services, drugs, or necessary medical equipment. What we need, apparently, is a system where doctors, nurses, orderlies, drug manufacturers, and everyone else associated with the health care system provides everything a patient might need for free. Or maybe for the price of a Big Mac.
If we "control costs," that will mean that we limit the salaries that can be earned by doctors, surgeons, specialists, nurses, and other medical professionals. That will mean that medical professions are less financially attractive. Who is going to put up with four grueling years of pre-med, four more tortuous years of medical school, and another four agonizing years of internship, for an auto mechanic's salary? How are these people even supposed to pay for their student loans?
If we "control costs," that will mean that drug companies can only expect to realize a fixed amount of revenue for any drug. Who is going to pay for the years of basic research, followed by more years of animal testing, followed by clinical trials, federal reviews and approvals, and other procedures that can easily take another two years, just to invent a drug to cure a measly three or four thousand people? Scientists will be working at subsistence wages, facilities will be small and poorly maintained, and new drug research will be a financially disastrous proposition. It is hard to do stellar science while living at the Y and dining in a soup kitchen. And again, where is the motivation for bright young minds to study biology, chemistry and medicine for eight to twelve years when they can never expect to repay their student loans?
The bottom line is, the American health care industry is one of the fairest, most efficient, and I dare say cheapest health care systems in the world. Not everyone can afford every procedure they might need, but then not everyone can afford a Lexus, either. No system is perfect, but our health care system is pretty good, taken as a whole.