The Health Care Blog features a post in which the eminently sensible Jeff Goldsmith points out that crisis-mongering is a venerable tradition where health care is concerned:
I began teaching health policy almost thirty years ago with Odin Anderson at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business … He found that the health care “crisis” waxed and waned (as measured by press mentions and journal articles), but never disappeared. It had been going on for twenty years by then, so I guess we’ve now been in “crisis” for fifty years.
After pointing out that the crisis mongers have constantly predicted the “imminent” collapse of the system during that entire half-century, Goldsmith goes on to discuss some often-ignored progress that has been made in a number of areas:
Death rates from our three major killers continue falling, and the health of our most fragile citizens, the elderly, has continuously improved. From 1982-2004, the percentage of people over the age of 85 who are institutionalized has fallen by almost half. Acute MI admissions to the nation’s hospitals have fallen 19% in the past three years. Overall, there are a million fewer hospital admissions today than in 1982, despite a 30% increase in our population.
So, why is there so much emphasis on the negative?
Good news about our health system … has become politically incorrect in a climate of Job’s Daughter handwringing and crisis mongering.
Goldsmith is, however, no “Pollyanna,” as the ridiculous Brian Klepper claims. He understands that American health care needs serious work. But he sees no benefit in the doom and gloom that incessantly emanates from “progressive” policy wonks:
The “Ain’t It Awful” School of Health Policy hasn’t produced a lot of actionable solutions to the “crisis”.
Amen.
Comments 5
Catron, aren’t you always on here telling us that healthcare is in crisis, yourself? Telling us horror stories if we don’t go to the mysterious “free market”, however you define it?
Posted 04 Oct 2007 at 11:28 pm ¶No, he completely avoids any mention of problems at home - people such as those who thought they had good insurance who go bankrupt are invisible in Catron country. They are unpeople. His take on crisis is strictly reserved for other countries.
Posted 05 Oct 2007 at 5:23 am ¶There are problems at home, none of which can be solved, either partially or in toto by a socialist system.
Posted 05 Oct 2007 at 1:47 pm ¶So how do you solve them? Catron and those like him bitch incessantly about the system and everyone else’s proposed fixes, but suggest none of their own.
Posted 05 Oct 2007 at 3:19 pm ¶Really the key issue is the ever increasing cost of care. This is a tough nut to crack, as it is also responsible for the problems we see in the socialist system. I think the key has man aspects. Let the free markets work, by eliminating mandates and opening a spectrum of care choices. Realize that the system cannot be all things to all people. Reduce the “deep pocket” litigation culture. Remind people that they are ultimately responsible for their own well being. Preaching personal responsibility is tough, as there are plenty of sob stories out there.
Posted 08 Oct 2007 at 2:52 pm ¶Post a Comment