Thanks for reposting this brilliant article, John! I’ll be sending it to people I know and posting it as well. As an MD who worked through the period of the introduction of the HMO’s and was able to see their effect on the values of doctors I can attest that the fundamental thought of your essay, that this was primarily an operation to control not only health care workers, especially the most skilled, but also the working class that it served. I also have extensive experience with a universal health system, however. Make no mistake, imposition of a universal health system is no magic panacea (I’m sure you know this). It is merely the exchange of one driver of rationed care (corporate and insurance company cost cutting), for another, that of government and its attendant bureaucrats. The economic issues of providing health care in an era of expensive technology are myriad and difficult, but the path we are on, which is an increasingly lopsided wealth distribution and “winner-takes-all” philosophy, is now truly grotesque. Thanks for bringing attention to this very important question.
Thanks for reposting this brilliant article, John! I’ll be sending it to people I know and posting it as well. As an MD who worked through the period of the introduction of the HMO’s and was able to see their effect on the values of doctors I can attest that the fundamental thought of your essay, that this was primarily an operation to control not only health care workers, especially the most skilled, but also the working class that it served. I also have extensive experience with a universal health system, however. Make no mistake, imposition of a universal health system is no magic panacea (I’m sure you know this). It is merely the exchange of one driver of rationed care (corporate and insurance company cost cutting), for another, that of government and its attendant bureaucrats. The economic issues of providing health care in an era of expensive technology are myriad and difficult, but the path we are on, which is an increasingly lopsided wealth distribution and “winner-takes-all” philosophy, is now truly grotesque. Thanks for bringing attention to this very important question.
Thank you for sharing this. And I agree with your warning about universal health care.
"Imposition" is a bit of a loaded, word, no?
> The act of imposing or the condition of being imposed.
> Something imposed, such as a tax, an undue burden, or a fraud.
> A burdensome or unfair demand, as upon someone's time.
Ex. "I listened to the telemarketer but resented the imposition."
From where I'm sitting, the current system has been >imposed< on us and any universal system would be democratically chosen, in theory, anyway.