tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post1360815303814347792..comments2023-10-24T04:29:23.693-06:00Comments on Atheist Ethicist: Free Markets and Free Medical CareAlonzo Fyfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05687777216426347054noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-6957034103604319952011-11-01T18:10:38.146-06:002011-11-01T18:10:38.146-06:00Once upon a time, in China and perhaps other place...Once upon a time, in China and perhaps other places, people didn't pay for health care; they paid for health. That is, they paid their medical practitioner regular fees as long as they were healthy, and stopped paying for as long as they were sick.<br /><br />I do not know how this could work when health care can run to hundreds of thousands of dollars for a single person. What if one doctor was suddenly responsible for caring for fifty such people who might never get better? She would probably choose to skimp on health care and let them die faster, because she wouldn't be able to afford any other choice.<br /><br />Far better to spread the risk even further with systems such as insurance or government.<br /><br />Geekalot, you say healthcare for profit is reprehensible. What do you think all the healthcare practitioners are doing? To be sure there are some who donate all their time for no profit. Far more doctors, nurses, technicians, etc. trade healthcare services for profit - for food, a nice house, a regular vacation, the ability to send kids to college.<br /><br />You probably meant something else by that statement, because I doubt you see a problem with even hospital administrators being able to support a certain lifestyle in return for making healthcare go a little smoother.Emu Samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05352556221263050952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-80851961828865799402011-11-01T11:49:03.563-06:002011-11-01T11:49:03.563-06:00geekalot
I have to ask . . . what is this conclus...<b>geekalot</b><br /><br />I have to ask . . . what is this conclusion that you claim not to be able to support?<br /><br />I presented three arguments against a free-market in medicine. I argued that two of these arguments are unsound, but the third is sound.<br /><br />So, where do you disagree?<br /><br />Are you claiming that one of the arguments I assert to be unsound is actually sound? If this is the case, which one?<br /><br />Or are you claiming that the one argument I claimed to be sound is actually unsound. In which case, where is the fault?Alonzo Fyfehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05687777216426347054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-59126133460907596212011-11-01T00:51:51.837-06:002011-11-01T00:51:51.837-06:00I have to disagree with this post. I think that he...I have to disagree with this post. I think that healthcare for profit is reprehensible. Our system is basically designed to profit on the misery of people. Further, most doctors have to hire a small army of people just to handle all the paper work and red tape created by hundreds of separate insurers. Also, our system isn't designed to actually make people well because there is no money in that noble cause. Our system is designed to keep people sick, but not too sick. Dead people, after all, can't pay for expensive medications. In single payer systems a doctor only needs one person to administer their entire patient load. Just to be clear profiting on the misery of sick people is the worst kind of capitalism. I am all for free enterprise in most area. I am a small business person myself. But I cannot support your conclusions in this case. Sorry.geekalothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16927435889378399860noreply@blogger.com