On money, medicine and anger at edwinleap.com
It’s very disappointing to have been blogging for several years and have so many ‘new’ bloggers (Dr. Leap, Panda, you) be so much better writers. Thank goodness I’m better looking (maybe).
Dr. Leap, well, leaps to the answer:
My friend, Dr. Carol Rivers, hit it on the head. People are happy to pay for what they want, just not what they need. It’s frustrating to have to pay a medical bill. But it’s less frustrating to buy a new truck, get a new lap-top, go to a concert, buy a pay-per-view sporting event. People in our society spend money like crazy on what they want. It’s just that health care is not what they want. They want health, like everyone, but a huge number of people consider paying a doctor or hospital bill unfair.
Unfair is something we need to address in medicine, in healthcare, and in policy discussions.
Many of my readers don’t want to know what I think of unfair as it applies to healthcare, and I’m cogitating how to explain myself.