“we tend to spend a great deal of money on people that won’t get better or are gonna die soon anyway”

too true – there is no expectation that people will take personal responsibility for their own health in this country

need a 4-way bypass operation? going to continue smoking? oh well, that’s OK, we’ll keep taking care of you and even do another heart surgery if you need it

need treatment for your gout and diabetes? going to continue eating like a pig and not exercising? oh well, that’s OK, we’ll keep taking care of you until you die or we have amputated all your body parts

~

at some point we have to say to people receiving tax-payer provided health care, “look, it is your lifestyle causing these health issues – we are going to fix you up this time, but if you don’t change your ways there won’t be any follow up care or additional treatment”

one of the challenges with this approach to health care is that America has let compassion overcome common sense – we think that everyone deserves cutting-edge health care – even the 300 lb smoker whose only exercise is walking from the couch to the kitchen