Justified By Who, Now?
This Gulf Breeze News piece illustrates a real problem with the present level of centralized control over the provision of medicine: "After adjusting for non-medical factors in longevity such as reduced smoking rates and declines in death rates from accidents, suicide and homicide, the researchers conservatively estimate that 50 percent of the increase in life expectancy can be attributed to medical care. ... 70 percent of the gains from health care came from better treatment of heart attacks and other cardiovascular disease, and 19 percent was the result of improved medical care for newborns. ... The rising cost of health care has been the source of a lot of saber rattling in the media and the public square, without anyone seriously analyzing the benefits gained. But the dramatic increase in life expectancy that we've seen over the last decades shows that rising medical costs have been largely justified. The increased spending has, on average, been worth it." Justified by who, now? Worth it to who? It's a nonsense that anyone other than the individual has any say over what the medical costs of that individual happen to be. Let everyone find their own comfort zone. Remaining alive and in good health has a cost associated with it at any age; whether and how to pay that cost - and whether and how to help reduce that cost in years to come - should always be up to the individual.
Link: http://www.gulfbreezenews.com/news/2007/0621/health/067.html