Healthcare today is BIG business constructed in the never ending cycle of profits and innovation. Healthcare is not an altruistic venture. Profits get plowed back into research to create the next drug, device, cure, etc...With all of this activity and investment around the world, nobody has cured DEATH yet. Ultimately it seems like a futile enterprise to me.....doesn't it?
You might prolong the life by curing cancer, but people will die of something else some other day. And at some point there are diminishing returns to investing in healthcare as each innovation escapes death's immediate clutches, but will never extinguish one persons ultimate expiration date.
Since Ponce de Leon never found the fountain of youth and nothing can be done to make healthcare a non-business I would rather not potentially bankrupt this country with healthcare reform that would have no end to service and coverage caps.
Keep the incentives of healthcare in private enterprise. Doctors and nurses know how to treat their patients. Med device, pharma, etc.... will innovate so long as there are profits to be had. I think it is necessary to have government serve as the stop gap support to the underprivileged and poor. But it is absurd to me that Warren Buffet and Bill Gates could ever qualify for Medicare solely based on their age and not their need. There should be a base line of services available for the needy but lets not dilute our overall healthcare quality by covering everyone and taking incentives out of private enterprise.
And if you had the thought that healthcare is an altruistic enterprise, try to find many pre-med/med students who are willing to go through an additional 8 years of school, fellowships and training to make $25K a year. Money is part of their motivation for getting into the business of healthcare and we should protect those incentives. I don't want to see a diploma from ITT technical college on the wall of my physician.
Many, many years from now, once the average life expectancy is maxed out because of advances in science and technology, I say you pass it over to the government to be the custodian of services and nationalize the coverage. Until average life expectancy is 105....stay out of the way.
Keep the incentives of healthcare in private enterprise. Doctors and nurses know how to treat their patients. Med device, pharma, etc.... will innovate so long as there are profits to be had. I think it is necessary to have government serve as the stop gap support to the underprivileged and poor. But it is absurd to me that Warren Buffet and Bill Gates could ever qualify for Medicare solely based on their age and not their need. There should be a base line of services available for the needy but lets not dilute our overall healthcare quality by covering everyone and taking incentives out of private enterprise.
And if you had the thought that healthcare is an altruistic enterprise, try to find many pre-med/med students who are willing to go through an additional 8 years of school, fellowships and training to make $25K a year. Money is part of their motivation for getting into the business of healthcare and we should protect those incentives. I don't want to see a diploma from ITT technical college on the wall of my physician.
Many, many years from now, once the average life expectancy is maxed out because of advances in science and technology, I say you pass it over to the government to be the custodian of services and nationalize the coverage. Until average life expectancy is 105....stay out of the way.
