Money and Medical Care

There are three key facts you need to know about money and medical care.

1. The total budget public medical care is limited. Any time you provide medical care to someone you are denying it to someone else. You have to prioritise.
2. Most of the money spend on your medical care occurs in your last year of life.
3. Most of the money spend on medical care goes to a few extremely sick people.

This suggests some measures to spend medical care more efficiently.

• Avoid treating people who do not want it, must commonly terminally ill people.
• Allow terminally people physician assisted suicide.
• Do not allow families to make emotional decisions about whether to keep relatives on life support. Let physicians make those decisions based on chance of recovery.
• Do not waste time on heroic procedures to heal alcoholics, drug addicts, smokers or the grossly obese. People must demonstrate a willingness to co-operate in their healing.
• Identify people who seek medical treatment for entertainment, sympathy, hypochondria etc. and limit their use of the medical system.
• Do not use expensive treatments on those close to death. There must be a significant benefit in life extension or quality of life.
• Screen potential parents for serious genetic defects. If they are carrying them, sterilise them. They have no right to impose those horrors on their kids just for an ego rush.

~ Roedy (1948-02-04 age:70)