[Ipg-smz] GoFundMe and Medical care

[Dana Blankenhorn]

The whole question of health care is, in the end, about technology and the
ends to which it will be put.

Universal health care is possible thanks to technology that makes quick
diagnosis and treatment of most conditions efficient. Many countries have
used this to extend health care coverage across their populations, focusing
on saving money for the whole and letting technology advances push
lifespans forward on their own, with government (in the form of expert
panels) deciding when new treatments will become available.

The U.S. has chosen another path. We do have a system whose aim is to give
simplified health care services to a defined set of people at the lowest
possible cost. That's the Veteran's Administration. But for the most part,
we've treated life the way China treats speech, as something to be given
only to the economically privileged, through an eye dropper.

Most of us have covered technologies, like open source and Electronic
Health Records, that can deliver reliable health care, based on data, to
every citizen. But so far our medical industries, which consume nearly
one-fifth of our GDP, have successfully resisted the implementation of
money saving technology, with the political argument that life is a
privilege and not a right. (Not going into that here. Sorry.)

As a business reporter, I'm more interested in how long businesses will
continue to bear this burden. It costs twice as much for my wife's employer
to cover her basic health needs through insurance than it costs their
European competitors. Half. That's a "tax" businesses do indeed pay.
They've tried to miminize this in many ways, but throughout this decade
resistance from the medical industries has kept them from making much
progress.

How long before business throws in its hand and demands our system
replicate that of our economic competitors? That's a story. I'm only sorry
I'm not following it as closely as I might any more.

Dana Blankenhorn
http://www.danablankenhorn.com
http://investorplace.com/author/danablankenhorn/
https://www.kiplinger.com/fronts/archive/bios/index.html?bylineID=631



On Thu, Jun 27, 2019 at 11:41 AM Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols <sjvn at vna1.com>
wrote:

>
> Quoting Kishore Jethanandani <kishorejethanandani at gmail.com>:
>
> > Also, GoFundMe does a lot of funding for patients who are unable to pay
> for
> > treatments
> >
> While it can help some people, it helps a lot if you have a good story
> and you know how to sell it.
>
>
> https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/07/01/the-perverse-logic-of-gofundme-health-care
>
> This is Not how health care should work.
>
> Steven
> --
> Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
> Writer
>
>
> --
> Ipg-smz mailing list
> Ipg-smz at netpress.org
> http://netpress.org/mailman/listinfo/ipg-smz_netpress.org
>
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