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Cancer in America Is Way Down, For the Wealthy Anyway (bloomberg.com)
The good news is that cancer in America was beaten back over the 25 years ending 2016, with death rates plummeting, particularly when it comes to the four most common types of the dreaded affliction. From a report: There's a caveat, however. Those gains have been reaped mostly by the well-off. While racial disparities have begun to narrow, the impact of limited access to treatment for the poorest Americans has increased wealth-based inequality, according to the American Cancer Society's annual update on trends and statistics. "Any time you have a disease as serious as cancer, when you have a substantial reduction in deaths, that's a notable achievement," said Len Lichtenfeld, the interim chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society. "But there are still a lot of areas for improvement."
Health insurance and access to care can be an issue in some poor and rural portions of the country, where there are higher death rates of colon, cervical and lung cancers, according to Cancer Statistics 2019. While poverty was actually associated with lower rates of cancer mortality prior to the 1980s, that trend has since reversed, due in part to changes in diet and smoking as well as screening and treatment rates, the health organization said.
Health insurance and access to care can be an issue in some poor and rural portions of the country, where there are higher death rates of colon, cervical and lung cancers, according to Cancer Statistics 2019. While poverty was actually associated with lower rates of cancer mortality prior to the 1980s, that trend has since reversed, due in part to changes in diet and smoking as well as screening and treatment rates, the health organization said.
I am shocked that people with money get better services.
Good old equality, American style. A person shouldn't be blackmailed with their own life.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
I suppose "Cancer death rates plummeting" might not have generated quite as many clicks.
Come on, editors. You're better than this.
The Canadian health care system makes a good enough model for Americans.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
One group with low rates of cancers are people who work in the nuclear industry or on navy ships. They don't have shocking better healthcare plans than most middleclass folks so it may not just be wealth buying better health care. One guess is that by the nature of the work they are industrious people self selected to have otherwise healthy lifestyles but even studies trying to control for that still find lower cancer rates. Another possibility of course is that low level nuclear radiation is good for you. Since life evolved in a higher radiation level environment than today, it might not be shocking if multi-cellular animals figured out some way to differentially profit from radiation over their single cell parasites. But that's a stretch too. An even more likely hypothesis is apparently nuclear material environments actually are less toxic than others. That too would not be surprising since Nuclear is all about safety and avoiding accidents so hazards are controlled carefully. A final hypothesis remaining is that it's not that bad for you in low doses compared to the variability in life itself.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Growth in cancer doesn't necessarily mean an increase in cancer, it means a decrease in other causes of death. So, a decrease in cancer might indicate increases in other, presumably preventable ways to die. Another way to put it is, that if you remove all the other causes of death you'd still be left with cancer.
I have a friend who works in oncology (he is a surgeon). He basically said that immunotherapy is incredible, and within 5 years he believes that those with enough money will be treated for many types of cancer by customised immunotherapy. They will go in every two weeks and a team will adjust the therapy based on the cancer's response until the cancer is gone. Add to this the work being done on early detection, and cancer could soon become nothing more than a strain on your bank account.
Everyone else will continue to get cut, burn and poison. Having said that, this is how the economy has always progressed, and in 20 years when patents have run out and the treatments have become more mature, we can all look forward to this sort of thing.
Certainly an exciting time to be alive.
Venezuela? Nah. Sweden. Germany. France. Austria. That's more like it.
I know Venezuela is the poster child for "socialism" for the "I got mine, screw you" crowd, but from over here you look like some sort of one-joke clown.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Tell me again why I'd want that system over here in Europe? Seriously, your healthcare system sucks and blows at the same time. When I need medical treatment, I go to a doctor or hospital because I KNOW that it's covered.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Wasn't Obamacare taken back by the current administration?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Cancer is being detected and treated at earlier stages, so it's possible to have a similarly misleading title that says Cancer in America is Way Up. What the story is really about is that deaths from cancer is falling, particularly for people who can afford better treatment, which often requires time away from work.
I was told, in all seriousness, that my cancer was caused by wheat and I should stop eating bread rather than having surgery and chemo.
I must have missed that being part of the unalienable rights part in the declaration of independence.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I hope it wasn't someone who one would usually take serious when they say bullshit like that.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Canada allows people to enter the private market for health insurance because they found it was against human rights to force people to only have a government option.
The rich are always better off. Trying to make life more difficult for them just compounds on those who don't have the money.
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Wow, you have got to be kidding me! Canada? Yup, they have it right. Just like my friends Grandma who was told by the very same Canadian health care system: Yes you have cancer, but according to the Canadian government you're too old to start treatments. Here is a bunch of pain pills. Please go home and die, and that is just what she did.
Oh it's the evil insurance companies... wait it's the evil doctors making all the money, uh it's the evil.... Government. In Canada the one stop shop for your medical needs. Can't blame anyone else.
Yes this is a true story. You should see my friend deliver it. You would be a bit bitter too if this is how your Grandma was treated.
Slowing winning the battle to misunderstand and misapply basic science into a political philosophy... because it fits the belief in a meritocracy measured by wealth, which happens to largely be generational. We have to keep maintaining the status quo, can't destabilize those with the wealth.
Never mind the evolved tribalism and social skills that were proven successful, lets literally act like Neanderthals despite that their nuclear family approach led them to extinction despite larger brains.
Rationing healthcare is better when you have limited resources; everybody in an emergency survival situation does rationing after the group deals with the anti-social pricks... since humans scale poorly, it gets more difficult to manage; as the anti-social cliche villains end up banding together to create a gang (which is a weaker social group dependent upon exploiting others to limit internal strife; being made up of anti-socials... The rational tends towards rank by power to justify external behaviors and is likely applied within the group too.) Just my observation.
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Isn't there supposed to be a link between cigarettes and cancer? Stop buying cigarettes and you will be healthier with more money. Win win
And where did the government get this guideline from? Doctors. Face it, your friend's Grandma probably was too old to endure cancer treatment. We all die.
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Why do you insist that we only look at the failure implementation of ideas, and not look at successes, especially as the successes are better aligned with the size and wealth of America?
Look at John Doe, who went bankrupt because he bought a Testla. So if you buy a Testla you will go bankrupt.
Well John Doe, had other expenses, and didn't make the salary that would allow him to buy a Testla,
while Jane Doe, has a higher salary and less expenses, so the Testla is a better fit for her, and the saving on gas cost will add to her overall financial health.
The Venezuela model, had an economy based on high Gas and Oil prices, they were doing rather well while Gas and Oil prices were high, They can insult America as much as they want, because they had oil and the country was wealthy enough to fund social services.
America has a more diverse economy, We can and have survived complete sectors collapsing. The American Economy can handle a lot of problems and still remain strong. A Universal Health Care system if wisely implemented wouldn't hurt the US and would probably be a net benefit, as we keep keep workers working. Because if someone gets sick, and remains sick because they cannot afford health care, will not be working and in general improving the economy.
Now we should look at the issues that other countries have and see if they could happen with the US, and see if we can mitigated this problems such as making sure health care systems are competing for your business, and providers are getting paid for performance and make sure they can keep up with demand.
Universal Medical treatment will cause increase demand, because there are people more willing to seek treatment because before they couldn't afford it, but that needs to be recognized and managed, but not just discredited because it is an issue.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
In my family a single person has had cancer twice and another member had a serious autoimmune issue.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
That was probably the best option, irrespective of cost. Treatment for cancer may in some cases provide only a very short increase in lifetime (and in some cases, no increase), while destroying quality of life.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
The only reason they ever say that is when they feel the treatment would be worse than the effects from the cancer. I knew a person who denied chemo because she couldn't handle it, and she is only in her 60s. Being on chemo is not pretty. Being on radiation is not pretty. You have to have fortitude to go through it.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
What does the Declaration of Independence have to do with anything?
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 25 states: "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services."
It's ironic that this part, which in large parts was drafted by Eleanor Roosevelt, is so blatantly disregarded by a single western country, the United States of America.
And we now know why so many rural folk are dying of cancer.
Predominantly because rural folk get older than in the past, and with age comes cancer.
we had to pass the bill to see what was in it
The bill was available and debated for almost a year.
Obamacare fixed all of this
The way the ACA would have fixed this particular problem is Medicaid expansion. Which Republicans sued over. And are blocking in every state they can.
Why do they lie?
Why do you?
Yes, it's well known that the poor have ample money to pay for high-priced "alternative" medicine out of pocket.
Oh wait.....
inmates get better medical then poor people. If you have diabetes and the GOP cuts off medicaid you may be better off in jail vs only having the ER.
In addition to less access to healthcare, I suspect that people in lower-income groups have additional risk factors. Blue-collar workers and the casually employed are probably more likely to be exposed to higher levels of carcinogens in their workplaces. I would guess that they also, on the average, eat a higher percentage of processed foods such as nitrate-laden meats. And I bet they're less likely to have the same kind of access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Plus, quality and level of education are a factor in the healthfulness of dietary choices.
In our society all of these factors are fairly-well correlated with economic prosperity. The healthcare gap is important to note and to address, but it shouldn't blind us to other factors in the discrepancy in cancer rates between rich and poor. That's especially so if some of these other factors turn out to be more easily and quickly corrected for.
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
"Alternative" quackery needn't be expensive. You can make a shitload of money by selling bleach, just sell a few milliliters for 10s of dollars (where you buy a few gallons for 5 bucks) and you're set.
You don't have to sell for a lot if you can sell a lot. All that matters is that you yourself pay pennies for what you sell for dollars.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Yeah, the US ain't what they used to be.
Ya know, when I was young, the US was THE country. Anything and everything came there first. If you wanted to know where the world is heading, look over there. Anything you'll have in 10 years, they already do.
Today it's more something we look at if we need to feel better about ourselves, since, well, we might not be doing too well anymore, but at least we're not the US.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Being of a certain age, I just had my first colonoscopy. It was not a pleasant procedure overall, so I can see why many would skip it, despite its life-saving ability (my sister's friend recently died of colon cancer, at my age). I have found that hand-waving-dismissal attitude about health prevalent among the less intelligent I've known.
The wealthy can afford to eat real food, and a balanced diet including fresh fruits and vegetables. The poor and working class can afford Chef Boyardee and other Monsanto Frankenfood.
Last time I was at the grocery, a freakin celery bunch was $4. If you're trying to feed your family on minimum wage and no benefits, your $4 is going to buy cheap processed foods with little/no nutritional value - so little in fact that you're going to have to eat 4000 calories/day of it to get the micronutrients you need, which in turn will make you obese, give you diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease, which you won't be able to afford to treat because your minimum wage, 28 hour/week job has no health care benefits and you can't afford a doctor, let alone prescription medications. So, you'll die a slow agonizing death from out-of-control diabetes and colon cancer while your children are saddled with a half million dollars in student loan debt trying to get a degree that will enable them to get a $50k/year job and be indentured to the lender for the rest of their lives, so they can have a little extra money to pay for your burial.
So yeah, if you're wealthy, you can afford not to die.
"Tempers are wearing thin. Let's just hope some robot doesn't kill everybody." --Bender
Air pollution causes a lot more cancer than we like to talk about.
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My mother is a medical doctor and when her mother had cancer at the age of 89, my mother actually advised her to get pallative care instead of surgery and chemo. Well, my grandmother decided to start treatments and died within a few months in pain and in a hospital, not at home.
So yes, I wish my grandmother was told by our health care system to go die at home.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
What was anyone expecting? There are still a limited number of doctors, hospital beds, and medication available. Just because it doesn't cost the end consumer any additional money beyond the taxes they already pay doesn't solve the problem of limited resources. Anyone who naively equates single payer with free and unlimited healthcare is deluding themselves.
You always have rationing of supplies when people are competing for limited resources. The only question that remains is how to determine who receives the resources.
And where did the government get this guideline from?
Actuaries, most likely.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
It's worth mentioning that sometimes Americans come to Canada for treatment, and sometimes Canadians go to America for treatment. Why? Because the other side has better treatment.
"Better" is difficult to quantify, and each side is better in some situations.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Its caused by environmental factors that the American Cancer Society ignores. I cannot be all that supportive of the American Cancer Society. They are in bed with some of the largest companies that profit from the "treatment" of cancer. Instead of promoting healthy life styles (like nutrition), and working to reduce avoiding toxins (such as polluted air) they continually support drug and surgery options. For example, writes Dr. Samuel S. Epstein, chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition, "Zeneca Pharmaceuticals--a spin-off of Imperial Chemical Industries is one of the world's largest manufacturers of chlorinated and other industrial chemicals, including those incriminated as causes of breast cancer. Zeneca has also been the sole multimillion-dollar funder of the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month since its inception in 1984, besides the sole manufacturer of Tamoxifen, the world's top-selling anticancer and breast cancer "prevention" drug, with $400 million in annual sales. For more information, check out: https://articles.mercola.com/s...
What are you talking about? The insurance company makes the decision based on the doctor's recommendations for that patient. There is no "guideline". What narrow thinking.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
I happily pay my taxes knowing that:
A) Every time I have gone to the hospital (including life threatening issues) I have never been turned away and I have been seen in a timely manner, and
B) I haven't gone bankrupt because of it
Yes ACA got rid of lifetime caps or their ability to penalize for pre-existing conditions, blah blah blah. But for how long? The long and short of it is that these companies are blood thirsty sharks and will continue to lobby for these rules to be lifted. Their solitary goal is to rid you of all your money and they will not stop until they do so.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
I mean in the case of Canada it would be the doctors' decision to make with the patient. Wow sounds so crazy doesn't it?
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Your friend's Grandma either doesn't exist or (just as likely) really _is_ too old for treatment. I don't mean "we're gonna let old people die" old I mean "the treatment will kill you quicker than the cancer".
My mom died of Lung cancer. The treatment didn't stop the cancer, but it did make her last 4 years of life hell. Doctors have gotten a lot better at understanding what treatments are worthwhile. Me? I have no intention of going through that if I'm ever diagnosed.
Here's a more benign example: My dental hygienist started trying to sell me braces until the dentist came in and shut it down because, well, I'm 41 years old and it would be kind of silly at this point.
Meanwhile in America we get "Wallet Biopsies". Every time you go see a doctor somewhere in the back of their mind is "Can this person's insurance pay me for this"? A close family member of mine was on a steroid and now has screwed up bones because a doctor should have ordered an MRI to check for bone problems steroids can cause but didn't.
I found out later the reason was likely because when doctors order tests the insurance companies won't pay for them if the come up blank. What this means is that unless your very, very well off then your doctor is likely to avoid ordering tests until it's painfully obvious you're suffering symptoms. This means a lot of diseases won't be caught until it's too late.
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If you've become gluten-intolerant (or very gluten-sensitive), then yeah, would be a good idea to stay away from it.
Eating gluten with that condition results in inflammation, which you are perpetuating.
Chronic inflammation has been associated with cancer development, so it's not that far-fetched.
Privacy begins with
For what disease?
If you haven't heard, most intestinal diseases are due to an imbalance in the gut flora.
This comes about because of antibiotics killing off certain bacteria in your gut.
Get a fecal transplant from someone healthy, optimally an athlete, and it goes away.
Privacy begins with
You mean normal people who took responsibility for their own life and are educated and have normal job live longer, instead of being a parasite on someone else.
not about being "rich"....
Is this in Canada?
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
If that theory were true then the headline would be "Rich people don't get cancer".
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
I could care less that cancer rates are down for the wealthy. Who honestly gives a shit when they do so much to prevent the working class from getting good healthcare, jobs, and homes. The fact that cancer rates are down for a mere 1% (if that) of the population is inconsequential.
Can you cite to actual data, or just repeat an unverifiable anecdote?
I would definitely put "getting screwed" under "pursuit of happiness".
Steve Jobs and Paul Allen.
I recall an episode of 60 Minutes about 5 years ago where Leslie Stahl said that they stopped doing cancer cure breakthrough stories for a while, because inevitably the hype wouldn't pan out. But the story they were doing on day was extraordinary (something about using gold nano particles and then heating them using a CAT scan) so they broke their own rule and went nuts on the telecast. Of course that also didn't pan out....
Cancer cure, AI, autonomous driving...things that are always 5 years out.
Lie of the year [politifact.com] was claims by Obama on the ACA. All news outlets agreed.
Yet, here we have someone 5 years later still telling us it was the truth.
Hey look! You're lying again.
The "lie of the year" was a mistake by Obama. He left out "and if your insurance company wants to continue issuing the insurance". All those people who couldn't keep their plan? Their insurance company ended the plan.
But if you actually look at your own link, that "lie of the year" has nothing to do with how long the bill was available or debated. Which is what you lied about in your previous post.
Liberals are currently encouraging the death of 300 US citizens a DAY due to drugs coming from Mexico
You mean by the 4000 terrorists who actually turned out to be 6 people?
Also, most of those deaths are being caused by opioids. Which are made in the good ol' US of A.
Finally, very little drug smuggling is done directly over the border. Instead, it's delivered via ports, ports of entry, and airports. Says who? Trump's DEA and CBP
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They are willing to let thousands die for a political attempt to make sure Trump loses reelection
How, exactly, would this work?
If thousands are supposedly dying and the Democrats are to blame, then Trump can point to the lack of a wall as the reason for all those deaths. That would help Trump win re-election.
I know you posted this to get the emotional reaction, but the story doesn't include some basic background info:
- how old was your friend's grandma?
- what was the prognosis (factoring in her whole health situation, not just the stage of cancer) if she got treatment?
- what was her life-prognosis if she didn't get treatment?
"Too old to start treatments" is really sad, but it can be a legitimate answer. eg- if chemo/rad will likely buy someone maybe one more year before another already-existing condition takes them, do they want to spend six of those extra twelve months going through absolute *hell*? And is it ethical for doctors to sign off on the six months of hell, if that's the situation?
I am not a sig.
it has words "for the wealthy anyway"
which is false.
first of all, cancer rate has dropped for everyone in USA in last 25 years
the report then talks about poor countries vs. "wealthy" ones.
That can't be the full story.
It may have been that her cancer is terminal, and there is nothing that ca be done, apart from palliative care (hence the pain killers).
As a counter point, I knew someone in Canada who had terminal brain cancer, and the surgeon still operated on her to remove part of the tumour, based on requests from her husband and mother. His stance was: so that the family feels that everything that was done, was indeed done. That was in addition to chemo and radiation. She still died in the end.
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Cite references that people who "take care of themselves" are illness free. Cite any kind of direct relationship at all, you won't find it.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Seriously, this reads like the front page of Pravda..
"In fact, I would argue that the goal of a nation should be to have the happiest people with the lowest GDP. Too much constant stress to produce takes people away from the meaningful things in life. Why have a population that works more than it has to?"
To the above statement? I'd say that's fine in a utopian ideal world. But people are simply NOT going to stay happy while nobody is really interested in doing any work to produce things of value. When you see these societies depicted in TV shows or movies, you'll notice they're almost always science-fiction universes with fantastic technologies (like the "replicator" in Star Trek) that magically break through this reality barrier. At the most basic level, we don't even maintain order without putting in continual work. The natural state of things tends towards chaos. And humans aren't happy and enjoying "meaningful things in life" while everything around them is unorganized chaos.
Yes. People tend to 'debate' these things as if they occur in isolation. We see more cancer because we've (mostly) wiped polio, tuberculosis, whooping cough, measles, flu (again mostly), pneumonia and many other killers. What we have left is basically what we haven't conquered - cancer.
+1 for not getting industrial exposure for decades at work.
1+ for not having to work in strange random homes all week.
+1 for getting advice about early and repeated testing for any health issues passed down the generations.
+1 for having a good doctor.
+1 for a good dentist.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
You can both not require people to work and still reward the people who want to. Those two aren't mutually exclusive.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
If you're a bottom that might be great, but I prefer screwing to being screwed.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Occurrences of cancer are not down. It is the mortality rates that have reduced. Of course those with more wealth can afford to pay for treatment, can afford the "time off" to get those treatments and can afford the travel that is often required to get said treatment.
Tackling my last point first ....
Yeah... if you manage to KILL a patient while trying to treat them in a hospital, I think its obvious they can't just ask for a do over. How many times does the patient die right after a hospital procedure, vs. the times they're able to go home? (You're the one with all these percentages -- so I'm sure you can enlighten me? I'm thinking the ones who die are like 1/100th. of the customer base though?) I'm certain there are MANY situations where a surgery is botched, and the patient complains to a "brick wall", because the hospital and doctors are conditioned to never admit mistakes, and to prepare to defend themselves in litigation. The better and cheaper solution is to offer to make it right. How can this NOT be a good policy to improve healthcare?
Addressing your general life expectancy comparisons? That's an overly simplistic way to pretend to gauge "quality of healthcare". If a nation is full of people with a healthier lifestyle (less air pollution, better eating habits, less tendency to smoke, more inclined to get regular exercise, etc.) - they're going to have a better life expectancy, even if healthcare is relatively poor. I think by most standards, Americans do a lot of things that hurt their life expectancy -- and so far? The field of medicine still has a pretty terrible track record of actually curing illnesses, vs. treating symptoms.
I don't believe, either, that it's impossible for healthcare to be an efficient market. That may have traditionally been true, but that's also thanks to its development as a science that was generally considered too difficult for the average person to understand. Doctors really wanted to be treated like gods, and patients were constantly advised not to try to self-diagnose their own problems. In fact, they're advised to keep visiting doctors for "regular check-ups", because presumably, even if you're well and feel healthy, you're not REALLY able to be sure without a doctor looking you over and confirming it. With advancements like prevalent Internet access, people can research their own health matters and discover such things as drug side effects and dangerous interactions with other drugs on their own. When it's time to see a doctor for a problem, they can go in, armed with some education about their situation too. Hospitals are just starting to be forced to make their rate cards available to the public, too. That's been a huge issue until now, because the insurance companies know what hospitals want to charge for procedures -- but the individuals didn't. You should soon be able to call around and get quotes for medical procedures, just like you would for any other expensive service.
How many times does the patient die right after a hospital procedure
Every single patient who dies in a hospital. It's not like people go to the ER for entertainment.
I'm certain there are MANY situations where a surgery is botched, and the patient complains to a "brick wall", because the hospital and doctors are conditioned to never admit mistakes, and to prepare to defend themselves in litigation.
You are certain of many things that are wrong. This is one of them.
Malpractice costs are an extremely small percentage of medical costs. It is utterly dwarfed by everything else. You are attacking a single ant when there are several dozen anthills.
But it is the issue that would make those other profiteers more money, so they've spent a lot of time trying to convince you that they should get things like a free do-over for amputating the wrong leg.
The better and cheaper solution is to offer to make it right.
This is not actually possible to do in any surgery. The second surgery is always riskier, always causes longer recovery, and the vast majority of the time damage can not be fully repaired.
Again, I go blind if that ophthalmologist screws up. An error rebuilding a broken shoulder would cause permanent loss of motion or loss of feeling, depending on how they screwed up. Leaving around part of a diseased appendix kills the patient. Cutting the wrong "tube" during a vasectomy has irreversible consequences. Putting a stent in the wrong artery damages that artery forever. And so on.
How can this NOT be a good policy to improve healthcare?
Because it's about as possible as healing people with a Himalayan Salt Lamp. Much cheaper, but doesn't work terribly well.
Addressing your general life expectancy comparisons? That's an overly simplistic way to pretend to gauge "quality of healthcare".
So....the point of quality healthcare is to not make people live longer?
If a nation is full of people with a healthier lifestyle (less air pollution, better eating habits, less tendency to smoke, more inclined to get regular exercise, etc.) - they're going to have a better life expectancy, even if healthcare is relatively poor
Hmmmm....wonder if there's a reason I picked Canada for a comparison......almost like it's pretty similar to the US on those factors.....
The field of medicine still has a pretty terrible track record of actually curing illnesses, vs. treating symptoms.
This is only slightly more uninformed than your belief that surgery lets you have "do-overs".
With advancements like prevalent Internet access, people can research their own health matters and discover such things as drug side effects and dangerous interactions with other drugs on their own
How does your ability to google a test tell you the value of the test? It could save you a million dollars in expensive treatment, lost wages and suffering. Or not.
The only way to evaluate that test is to know all the details about your exact medical conditions, and how your personal history and other test results play into whatever that new test is looking for. And you can not find that kind of personalized information on WebMD. That will say "the test doesn't help 75% of the time" but you will not be able to evaluate if you are in that 25% where the test is critical. Because it's not possible to understand that without many years of intensive medical training. Heck, that's why specialists exist - even doctors can't properly evaluate every medical condition.
Efficient markets require that the purchasers have about the same information as the sellers. That's why insider trading is illegal. And that similarity of knowledge
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When you are spending Other People's Money, there is a limit to how much money is available. I am old enough now where if something devastating happens to my health, I am ok with taking care of the grossest of symptoms (pain) until I die rather than spending my sons money in a vain effort to keep my ass alive.
It sounds cold, and it absolutely IS cold to someone else who has not agreed to this tradeoff. We can't live forever and there is a finite amount of money. Opiates are cheap, but now, we can't even get those. We are all doomed to die in the most extreme agony possible now because of this. *sigh*
At least his grandma got pain pills.
"Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen