My answer to Do basic economic principles apply to healthcare?
Answer by Desmond Last:
Yes they do. But perhaps not in the way the U.K and America apply them. Sean Spicer President Trump’s Chief ‘Alice in Wonderland’ spokesperson said in a Press Briefing that competition was good for the Medical Profession.
However, there is a difference between cost-cutting and efficiency. If I cannot afford to run my car do I take out the engine to reduce costs or ensure it is maintained correctly to maximize fuel efficiency?
Discretionary medical care may have the luxury of driving around looking for the 2 for one deal but Sean Spicer forgets that urgent medical care has no choice.
In low-income areas and areas where the average 50 per cent of wage income below the national average applies Doctors will not be queuing up with their Mercedes to open up shop.
Politicians are not the ‘brightest kids on the block’. We only have to look at their total inability to solve any of the World’s Problems to see that. A Healthcare system that works needs more than a few hurried votes in Congress or another £2 billion thrown at it from a U.K Government who are intellectually challenged by the U.K’s economy.
In the U.K the intellectually challenged Government and Opposition expect a 5 star performance from the NHS. Yet they do not have the money for the services they say they can deliver. The Public Sector workers who do give more than their 100 per cent to the NHS have just been given a pay-cut. Their rise of 1% is less than the inflation rate.
The NHS in the U.K is inefficient and that has never been addressed by Politicians. They are so scared of losing their jobs or votes that every-time there is a crisis in the NHS they throw buckets of money at it without addressing its overall efficiency.
The NHS needs a makeover and the now rudderless U.K economy needs an audit. Endemic corruption in the U.K and no doubt the U.S is the first item that should be on the Agenda should an efficient Health Service be that which everybody wants.
If there is a Bill to be padded than it is Healthcare where you will find the most padding – that and Defense.
Both the NHS and the U.S are system failures. Both the U.S and U.K Governments see Healthcare as a cost, a direct negative to the balance sheet. Yet I view Healthcare as an asset one that can be used to add and realise value.
When on one of my 4 trips to the U.S I visited a hospital in Los Angles I was amazed to see that people had to pay before treatment. But then in the U.K I stood next to my 87 year old mum who was very ill in the corridor of the John Radcliffe NHS Hospital for 7 hours waiting for her to be ‘urgently ’ treated.
Health requires a ‘fresh approach’. Both the U.S and the U.K have populations which are aging and increasingly sedentary.
Healthcare should be available to everybody. It is a benchmark of our ‘so-called’ developed countries.
Note: This of course does not apply to the children of Yemen where healthcare has been destroyed by U.K arms and U.S. Policy.
Without using this answer to redesign the Health Care Systems of the U.S and the U.K this needs to be said.
Every system has a value. A value that can be measured and in many cases multiplied by on-selling. Both the U.S and the U.K systems do not recognize that value. In addition both the U.K and the U.S suffer from ‘bureaucracy bloat’.
Both the U.K and the U.S need to downsize the bloat and shift the Health emphasis to being healthy. This can be achieved by insurance and tax offsets. If you want to smoke fine. If you want to binge eat fine. But do not expect everybody to pay for you.
There also has to be a value shift. $1 on a wage of $200 a week is worth a lot more than $1 on $1000 a week. This is not recognized in the U.S or the U.K.
So in summary I say yes Basic Economics should and do apply. We must use Healthcare to prevent illness not just to heal it. We must also address the use of Natural Medicines and the cost of drugs.
The NHS is a gold-diggers mine of false accounting, padded bills and inept over-paid Executives.
The American System is too centralized and and needs to be taken out of the Federal System and handed to the States.
Both are basic economics. Yes Healthcare does produce a value; Good Health. Healthy workers do not have sick days and healthy children grow into healthy workers. President Trump and Sean Spicer should do the maths. How much is it costing not to have Universal Heath-care?
Do basic economic principles apply to healthcare?
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