[ExI] morality

[Gadersd]

> But the doctor doesn't make anything from the sales of the medication.  The surgeon makes money from doing surgery.  So when a surgeon suggests an operation, it is buyer beware.

On the contrary, there is some indirect compensation involved. Where there is an incentive, there will be action.
Drug companies' payments and gifts affect physicians' prescribing - STAT (statnews.com) <https://www.statnews.com/2020/12/04/drug-companies-payments-gifts-affect-physician-prescribing/>

>  I have found GPs most eager to help patients avoid the big common pitfalls, such as diabetes, cirrhosis, lung cancer and clogged heart-eries, but preventing those requires the patient to devour less sugar, less alcohol, less tobacco and less fat, which the patient may or may not be willing to do.

If a doctor tries to prevent disease in American that says something about his or her moral virtues, but the incentive structure of the US healthcare system does not much encourage disease prevention. It is much more lucrative to let the disease manifest in the population and acquire many new customers.

> Somebody must pay for the doctors , nurses and hospitals.  The hospital where I was born was a county-funded facility.  The county went broke, the doctors got choke.  Adios amigos.  It never reopened.  If we rely on state funding, good luck Kentucky hospitals.  If we rely on federal funding, what happens when the fed goes chapter 11?  This happens in less than two weeks they tell us.

I am skeptical that the astronomical prices are really necessary. I think at the very least some price controls may be justifiable. Taxes on junk food and alcohol may be helpful for subsidizing healthcare and encouraging people to eat healthier.

> On May 18, 2023, at 7:46 PM, spike jones via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
> 
> ...> On Behalf Of Gadersd via extropy-chat
> ...
> 
>> ...For-profit healthcare has terrible incentives. If a medication that someone would have to take for the rest of their life is more lucrative than a surgery that cures the root issue, then American doctors may recommend the medication over the surgery...
> 
> But the doctor doesn't make anything from the sales of the medication.  The surgeon makes money from doing surgery.  So when a surgeon suggests an operation, it is buyer beware.
> 
>> ...In many cases it is more lucrative to “fix” a health issue after it has manifested rather than prevent it in the first place...
> 
> Fixing the health issue after it has manifested identifies the health issue, which isn't usually clear before it manifests.  I have found GPs most eager to help patients avoid the big common pitfalls, such as diabetes, cirrhosis, lung cancer and clogged heart-eries, but preventing those requires the patient to devour less sugar, less alcohol, less tobacco and less fat, which the patient may or may not be willing to do.  I will freely grant that all four of those common conditions are waaaaay easier to prevent than to fix, but I cannot blame doctors for failing to prevent them.  We patients know how to prevent that stuff.
> 
>> ...Selling extremely unhealthy food to the masses goes hand in hand with the healthcare system as doing so creates more lucrative patients...
> 
> Ja.  But the patient chooses what to devour and in what quantities.  The purveyors of toxic foods are just trying to make a bare living, and they will provide that which accomplishes the task.  Again, the patient knows what they has to do if they wants to be healthy.  Many, perhaps most, choose to not.
> 
>> ...It is an abominable system and if my father didn’t have a good job with health insurance during my childhood, I would either be dead or my family would have become bankrupt...
> 
> Agree.  It is the second worst system available.
> 
> Somebody must pay for the doctors , nurses and hospitals.  The hospital where I was born was a county-funded facility.  The county went broke, the doctors got choke.  Adios amigos.  It never reopened.  If we rely on state funding, good luck Kentucky hospitals.  If we rely on federal funding, what happens when the fed goes chapter 11?  This happens in less than two weeks they tell us.
> 
> spike
> 
> 
> 
> 
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