Quote:
Originally Posted by HejiraNYC
I also don't understand your premise that people will suddenly become more willing to engage in lifestyle modification to prevent major medical illness due to Obamacare.
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I never said they
would - I implied that they
should.
This is more in line with a point you made later, but European medical costs are not just low because of American innovation - they're low because the medical industy there is largely run like a non-profit and the focus is on preventative care - the complete opposite of our system which encourages extending illness for the purpose of making profit on pharmaceauticals that would otherwise be totally unnecessary. Just like you said "There's a pill for that!" but only because people will buy it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by HejiraNYC
I am a bit conflicted regarding a single-payer system, such as you are describing. Yes, these are systems that seem to be working fairly well in many other western countries. But the problem with a single payer, making medical and formulary decisions for everyone, is that it has the potential to stifle innovation. Where are most drugs developed/researched? Where are the greatest advancements in medicine discovered? Who is essentially subsidizing (indirectly) the healthcare of people around the world? Yes- the United States. And it's only possible thanks to the absence of price controls, tax breaks and a free market. No, drug companies are not saints... but it is a vital segment of the economy that actually improves quality (and quantity) of life for the public at large. Sadly the U.S. consumer ultimately ends up subsidizing the patient in France who enjoys 10 Euro top tier prescription drugs.
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Yeah....we hear this a lot from the medical/pharma industry. I don't believe it anyore than I believe Monsanto telling me that GMO labeling will make food unaffordable. Despite more than 90% of Americans supporting GMO labeling, our Senators just last Thursday voted down a bill that would have allowed states to require GMO labeling. Why? Hailed and celebrated as a bi-partisan defeat by the GMO industry! Because we allow it by not dissenting, by not protesting, by not marching - who even calls or writes to their Senators anymore? I do. I'll tell you who else does - Conservatives. Those who do dissent or protest are told to "get a job" and let our States pass bills preventing assembly on public property for "security" reasons. Perhaps it's (my opinion, being the armchair therapist I am) because so many Americans secretly feel guilty for quietly allowing all of the things they allow because life is too busy trying to keep up with the Jones'. "I'd love to go and protest but I gotta go to work!"
We let Washington dictate our lives - and the SCOTUS tell us what is constitutional - and even when we don't agree, as a majority like on the GMO issue or corporate campaign contributions, we do nothing. We say "OK, sure Corporations MUST be people.
Americans have battered-wife syndrome, politically. We keep going back. "Maybe he'll change. He loves me. He didn't mean it. He's just a bought and sold Republican/Democrat and can't help all the lies and abuse. I know he can change."
On topic, I'd say that profit margins of 3-5% are totally acceptable - there is no need for the average margin of 16% enjoyed by pharmaceauticals, or the 10% enjoyed by oil and gas companies. Greed is the reason goods and services cost so much in America. We allow it.
A fundamental change needs to occur in the way we think about success. Does succcess equate to the amount of money you earn, or does success equate to your accomplishments as a human being - the things you do that help and improve the lives of others? If you measure success by how much profit you can squeeze out while reducing the quality of goods and services and outsourcing of jobs...well...it's clear to me that you're not even really human, but a cold and calculated machine that runs on blood and processed food-products.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HejiraNYC
Just like the current American energy cartel, and it truly is a cartel in every sense of the word, insurance is similarly a cartel. Insurance companies will band together to prevent any significant reduction in premiums- that's the American way.
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Yep - exactly! Because we allow it. Prices are high because we, through our elected representatives, allow it.
Why has it taken so long for electric and hybrid cars to break into the market when the technology has been around for decades? Greed. It's estimated that there's trillions of dollars of oil in the ground still, and every drop will be sucked dry for profit. That's why.
I'm gonna go play a video game.