[ExI] perspective on covid

[BillK]

On Sun, 8 Mar 2020 at 16:06, spike jones via extropy-chat
<extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
> OK, now what is the right move?  I am not talking about government,
> for I don’t see what they can do really and that is a different question.
> In our times, anything the government does or does not do is wrong
> by definition in this case, so there is no point in even asking that question.
> I am asking what do you do.  How much more do you pay for what
> you think might be a better more-accurate kit?
>

The basic problem for the USA is that health and medicine are run by
for-profit corporations.
(As is the government as well, of course)  ;)

This leads to less than optimal results for most of the population.
The USA health system is the most expensive in the world and produces
a less healthy population - partly because many people cannot afford
the health insurance premiums and the extras not covered by the
policy. Many just don't get adequate health treatment.

Medicines are much more expensive than in other countries. Even when
manufactured cheaply in India and China the corporations mark up the
price to customers by huge margins.

Vaccines cost a huge amount to develop and the corporations are very
reluctant to do this as they will never recover the cost. Preventive
medicine reduces their future profits. As one said - There is very
little profit in curing diseases. What we want is illnesses which need
continuous expensive medicines and treatments.
And that is exactly what the USA has got.
There is no point in blaming this bad situation on any particular
president. This has been building up for many years.



BillK