An anecdote to make an observation on the health care issue:
My parents both died of very rare (completely unrelated) cancers (that fortunately do not get passed on through the genes so far as anyone can tell). My father died of a glioblastoma brain tumor (like Ted Kennedy) and my mother of pancreatic cancer (like Patrick Swayze).
Forty years ago, they would have been diagnosed and been dead within a few months. There were no surgeries that had been developed yet to buy more time. So, the total cost of these two diseases to The System was fairly low. Diagnosis, some drugs, hospice, and you die after a few months.
Fast forward to the 00s and both my mom and dad had one surgery each that probably extended their lives by about a year in each case. I don’t know what my father’s care cost, but my mom told me she sat down and added up the various bills one time (she was covered by Medicare) and it was in excess of $280,000. I’ve gotta believe that my father’s care cost at least that much given the nature of his surgeries, etc. So, all told, $600,000 probably added a year each to two peoples’ lives.
Now, as a son, I’m glad they each got that extra year. But from a societal standpoint, this is a waste of money. In extremis. So, until someone decides when too much is too much, technology will march forward and costs will continue to escalate.
85%+ of our population could live their entire lives with 1970s-quality medical care. At 1970s prices. But that fraction of the population that has problems that were essentially uncureable 40 years ago account for the vast majority of the escalation in overall health care costs. Between Medicare and the Insurance Complex, we’ve lost the ability to say, “no.”
No one wants to acknowledge that until we decide what kind of high-end care will be rationed (as in the case of my parents), then NOTHING will change. In Canada and the UK, care is rationed – it’s that simple. My mother’s surgery would not have been done in Canada. My father’s would have because he would have had private insurance outside the system. But, my point is… again… that there’s no free lunch. No one wants to say the obvious: Costs will escalate until care is rationed at the high (cost) end.
