Thanks To the Private Space Industry, Things Are Looking Up For Space City USA

gallifreyan99 writes When the shuttle program was ended, and manned space exploration was put on hold, the people of Titusville, Florida were left in big trouble. "Just 20 miles northwest of Kennedy Space Center in Florida, it used to have a proud nickname: Space City USA. The dizzying boom of the 1950s and '60s helped create myriad jobs by giving work to nearby aerospace companies. Unfortunately, the past 15 years have seen everything dry up By December 2010, Titusville had one of the America's highest unemployment rates, 13.8 percent." But even though there's been plenty of bad news recently, the city hopes that the private space industry can save it from destruction.

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Re:And yet...

[Immerman]

If money is no object the US has the best medical facilities in the world. For everyone else you'd probably be better off going to Cuba - they have a truly awesome healthcare system that revolves around delivering the best possible care for as little money as possible, and they deliver impressively. For most common conditions their outcomes compare favorably with any wealthy nation, and at a tiny fraction of the expense.

I'd love to see the US adopt a two-tiered medical system: Cuban-style healthcare as the first tier, handling the 90+% of common injuries and ailments that can be cheaply and reliably treated without expensive high technology, along with all the regular house calls, follow-ups, lifestyle advice, etc,etc,etc. that doctors of old delivered. Remove the profit from the maintenance of basic health - *everyone* benefits from having a healthy, productive populace, and there's no reason that the healthcare system should be milking people for tens of thousands of dollars for outcomes which that can delivered at double-digit expense. Let's bring back doctors who are respected by their community and don't fleece their patients at every opportunity

Only if you are diagnosed with something that needs high-tech intervention do you get referred (without kickbacks) to the second tier, where specialists thrive in well-equipped hospitals - but you'd you'd better have insurance if you want to be able to afford their services.

I think such a system would be at least a wonderful "first draft" way to make sure no American ever has to suffer from a condition that could be treated for a few dollars at any decent 3rd-world clinic, while also maintaining the incentive structure that has led us to develop the cutting-edge treatments that made our medical services the preferred choice for the wealthiest people in the world.