Hevyn

I was a binge drinker for years. It led me to alcoholic drinking - & total dependence in the end.

NeverQuit

Thank you all for your thoughts on this article.

FT

I find it very interesting how so many of you are in agreement that the CDC is somehow a faulty organization, because it is funded by the federal government.

For those of you who would agree that "we" have the "best" medical system on the planet, try to remember who the watchdogs of the medical industry are. The CDC is really quite a remarkable organization with quite a job to do. Who do you suppose leads the world in terms of disease identification and control? How many of you remember friends with polio when you were children? I do.

Who do you suppose is going to keep the medical industry in line if the CDC is defunded? Private medical corporations? The profit-oriented medical insurance industry? Who then?

Wow, guys. Your bias is showing.

FT

lillamy

Here! I'm with those guys over there, with the bias!

We have the best medical care in the world despite the CDC and the federal government.

The medical industry will self-regulate. There's no grander motivator than greed; if you want to continue making money, you have to create good products. You make medications that don't work or that kill people, you're going out of business.

I'd much rather put my life in the hands of a pharmaceutical company whose bottom line is on the line that government bureaucrats. I don't trust government funded research as far as I can throw it.

m1k3

Lillamy, we usually agree but not this time. The idea that the marketplace will regulate itself is a myth. Greed like alcoholism overrides common sense, good thinking and doing the right thing. To get proof simply look at the unregulated side of the drug industry, illegal drug dealers. They will sell anything simply to make a buck no matter how deadly it is. Another example is to look at the number of drugs that have been recalled, thanks to the government, where the pharmaceutical companies lied about, fudged and hid data that affected the potential profitability of a new drug. Even when it showed that the side effects could be deadly.
The government may get stuff wrong because of incompetence but companies will get it wrong on purpose just to make a buck.

Your friend,

FT

My point exactly.

When our health becomes a commodity, we all lose.

lillamy

I agree with you on one thing: When our health becomes a commodity, we all lose.

I still trust the drive to make money on good treatments more than I trust government when it comes to health care. But that may just be my background, growing up in a socialist country where government decided whether or not it was in its financial interest to save your life.

m1k3

There is always going to be some bean counter making decisions like that. Doesn't matter if they work for the government or some corporation they're going consider all sorts of reasons other than some one's health or life is a stake.

Another one of those things you can't control.

choublak

The thing is, binge drinking in college is relatively common, so the binge drinkers who may well be alcoholics, are able to blend in and pass for "normal". Unfortunately.

FT

I lived in a country that had socialized medicine when I had my first baby a number of years ago.

It cost me $35 to have my baby, and I saw a number of specialists because of varying complications.

I think a well run medical service by and large serves the community better than an upside down one where only the people who are either very poor and can get on welfare or the well off who can afford "good" health insurance can really get the care they need.

I need oral surgery but can't have it because I can't afford the $2,500 difference between my coverage and what the surgeon will charge.

That sucks.

langkah

I traveled with friends last year to Los Algodones, across from Yuma AZ. It's a dental/medical bordertown that exists because of the US health system.

But there were a ton of Canadian license plates in the parking lot as well as from as far away as the New England States too. Rates for care there are 1/4th what are customary in the US. Nice hotel on the US side.

Both were pleased with the work done and their 10 grand savings.

FT

I hope they were pleased with their new boob jobs and tummy tucks.