Fryer's Blog in the Mountains

Health Care Reform: Rationing vs. Gluttony

Health Care is expensive here without the best outcomes.   You would think the conversation would revolve around efficiency: how to get more bang for the buck.  Yet there is a chorus of objections anytime someone actually wants to control costs (like doing studies to find out what drugs, treatments, etc. work best).  Then the outcry of "rationing" can be heard.

 The opposite of rationing is gluttony.  You consume too much and it's not good for you either.   Any treatment, drug, or hospital stay introduces new risks, besides costing money.  Like going to a buffet in Vegas, the true costs are hidden from us.

The solution?  More transparency and more untainted data to us the consumers and our physicians.

You don't get your cars undercoated, why do we want useless undercoating in our health care?  Or do we just enjoy be gluttons?

A Sense of History: Just Vote

Today's my mom's birthday.  She was born the same year as the passage of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote.    November 2nd was the presidential election between Harding and Cox.  The country was in a recession and tired of war.  Terrorists attacked Wall Street.   Her mom (my grandmother), 9 months pregnant voted for the first time and was a poll watcher in Chicago. 

Fast forward to the 1972 election, 1 year after passage of the 26th Amendment giving the right to vote to 18 year olds.  The contest was between Richard Nixon and George McGovern.   The country was divided over the Vietnam war and just wanted it to end.   This was my first election and I was a poll watcher in Chicago (at least until I was ejected by the police which is a story by itself).

We stand upon the shoulders of those who came before us.   Tomorrow is a big day.  Read up on the issues, the propositions and vote.   Bring a sandwich, a bottle of water and an umbrella (just in case).  It may be a long day.