Thursday, February 05, 2004

Health Care Thoughts - Stream Of Consciousness

rising health care costs - integrative vision

need to emphasize preventive care and access to emergency care

population is aging, and requires more health care

with this in mind, what are people treated for?

how many of these ailments are related to pollution, poor nutrition, i.e. the result of activities that the government subsidizes or does not regulate appropriately?

obesity, asthma, adhd, cancer, etc.

profits for petroleum companies (and others) while we pay the health care cost difference in people's health

environmental health

overall vision that sees way to expand access to care, both preventive and emergency, thus saving money by having less intrusive care needs along with better prior accounting and market pricing of emergency care rather than the inevitable waste of bureaucratic "shifting".

no vision with business interests (like business roundtable, walmart)

they want less stringent environmental regulations AND a lower burden on health care costs, and it's not certain whether they advocate that the costs for these be passed on to other interests (not business), or just not acknowledged as long as they are not effected.

empirical: any evidence showing that states with tighter environmental standards pay less for health care? probably not, since most chemicals being dumped would seem to be a federal issue.

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imagine we implement a better system. what will be demographic result if everyone eats a balanced diet? what will they then die of? what will be the costs of people as a rule living much longer than today? especially if we were to do away with highway and auto accident deaths too?