Health Care BS

A few weeks ago I linked to Jeff Goldsmith’s excellent piece about the perpetual health care “crisis.” Anyone still doubting his basic thesis should read this fascinating article published by Time in June of 1971. The attentive reader will recognize some hobby horses that are still being ridden by today’s crisis mongers:

For those who cannot afford the most comprehensive insurance or are not covered by Government programs for the old and the very poor, serious illness can mean financial ruin.

And what was the horrifying level of expenditure that created this tragic situation?

Hospitalization, which averaged $35 a day ten years ago, has more than doubled in price and now stands at $75 … Even so routine a surgical procedure as hernia repair can end up costing $1,000 in hospital and doctor bills.

The piece also contains some familiar indictments of U.S. medical outcomes:

But this vast expenditure, $324 per capita annually, does not ensure a high level of care. The rate of infant mortality is lower in twelve other industrial countries. Men in 17 other countries live longer than Americans do; women live longer in ten.

And everyone agreed that the whole system was on the verge of collapse:

“The system,” [Edward Kennedy] says, “shows no signs of being able to respond to the crisis … Richard Nixon has described the state of medical care as a “massive crisis.”

The more things change, the more they stay the same.