I have worked at several companies that specialize in medical technology and have worked closely with specialists in orthodontics, audiology, and radiology. I have seen firsthand how technology can act as a transformative cost reducer in medicine. However it seems that our responsibility as citizens has not kept pace.
We’re using our “health insurance” increasingly as a payment plan for treatment. While growing up I would sometimes present to my mother (a registered nurse) a cut, scrape, or other malady and the most common phrase she uttered to me was, “You’re fine!” Would that all of us could get such advice! In most cases we’d be better off not getting a prescription from our doctor. Unnecessary visits result in increased insurance costs for everyone.
As we’ve advanced the state of the art in medicine we’ve changed diagnoses which would have been death sentences into a renewed lease on life. My father had a heart attack at 40 and required triple bypass surgery. In years past he would be dead today but because he had health insurance and access to medical care he lives to this and has continued to contribute to our lives and to society. This is the sort of activity that we ought to cover with health insurance – catastrophic or bankrupting events.