Comments on: SAY ANYTHING . . . http://markhasty.com/archives/2004/08/25/say-anything/ E AHO LA'ULA Sat, 06 Sep 2008 21:25:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.2 by: James Joyner http://markhasty.com/archives/2004/08/25/say-anything/#comment-1103 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000 http://markhasty.com/archives/2004/08/25/say-anything/#comment-1103 Of course, with 20% fewer patients, they'd just jack up the costs of that expensive, redundant equipment and the bloated salaries to the remaining 80%. Under the current system, there are more sickies to amortize those payments over! Of course, with 20% fewer patients, they’d just jack up the costs of that expensive, redundant equipment and the bloated salaries to the remaining 80%. Under the current system, there are more sickies to amortize those payments over!

]]> by: Mark Hasty http://markhasty.com/archives/2004/08/25/say-anything/#comment-1104 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000 http://markhasty.com/archives/2004/08/25/say-anything/#comment-1104 Yeah, that's the problem. You gotta pay for the MRI machine and the 740iL <i>somehow</i>. Yeah, that’s the problem. You gotta pay for the MRI machine and the 740iL somehow.

]]> by: Dave http://markhasty.com/archives/2004/08/25/say-anything/#comment-1105 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000 http://markhasty.com/archives/2004/08/25/say-anything/#comment-1105 When they invented the automobile, a lot of horse breeders lost their jobs. Yeah, in the short term people lost money, but think of the productivity gains and the increase in consumer spending if people actually got all the preventative care they needed. The economy as a whole would certainly benefit. The fact is, the only way to improve health care in the U.S. is to offer preventative care at a reasonable cost, encourage people to use it through education campaigns, and perhaps to provide economic and legal incentives for people to lead healthier lives (which sounds hard, but could be as simple as limiting the amount of trans fat and fructose that can be added to food). This doesn't require "socialized medicine", whatever that means. It just means that things in already-heavily-regulated industries need to be regulated differently. Though, I wouldn't mind seeing an affordable health insurance plan offered by (or subsidized by) the government. When they invented the automobile, a lot of horse breeders lost their jobs. Yeah, in the short term people lost money, but think of the productivity gains and the increase in consumer spending if people actually got all the preventative care they needed. The economy as a whole would certainly benefit.

The fact is, the only way to improve health care in the U.S. is to offer preventative care at a reasonable cost, encourage people to use it through education campaigns, and perhaps to provide economic and legal incentives for people to lead healthier lives (which sounds hard, but could be as simple as limiting the amount of trans fat and fructose that can be added to food).

This doesn’t require “socialized medicine”, whatever that means. It just means that things in already-heavily-regulated industries need to be regulated differently. Though, I wouldn’t mind seeing an affordable health insurance plan offered by (or subsidized by) the government.

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