Alan S. Austin
Arizona Playwright • Writer • Poet
  

WE NEED NATIONALIZED HEALTHCARE (2/08)

The briefest glance at the healthcare statistics from the OECD reveals that the US spends almost twice as much per individual on health than any of the other developed country and for worse outcomes. Breast cancer diagnosis and treatment is about the only area in which we excel. For a country wedded to the idea of progress and economic efficiency this is shocking and calls for significant change. The pandemic has laid bare the gross inequalities in a system built around profit rather than the welfare of society and efficient and affordable medical treatment. We have stumbled through this pandemic blindfolded because the medical industry only sees a profit in drug development rather than vaccines. Swamping the airwaves with advertisements for medications is more important than the general health and welfare of the population. Only government agencies like the CDC and Medicare can regulate this system as they do in other OECD countries. The UK with its National Health Service has vaccinated twice as many of its population as the US and they spend less than half per head of population. It is time to change the present system and make the health of all Americans the main criterion.