Friday, September 14, 2007

Heathcare or Iraq

There was a discussion on healthcare today on Adam Corolla. The guy had a funny point. People sit around and bitch about the cost of the drug that just saved their life. It was pretty funny.

Is heathcare broken? It depends on how you look at it. Of course, it doesn't work all that well. The question is - can turning it over to the government improve it? I'm skeptical. But then again, I don't really know. I tend to think the solution might be worse than the problem.

Which happens to be the exact opposite of my position on Iraq. We all admit Saddam was a nuisance. Anti-war folks think the alternative is worse. (And so did Dick Cheney and basically the entire national security apparatus back in the day).

Both issues come down to a cost-benefit analysis. It's going to cost a lot of blood and money to try to fix Iraq. Is it worth it? What are the odds of a successful outcome? Same with health care. It will cost a lot to fix it and lives hang in the balance. What are the odds of a successful outcome? Where to we spend our resources?

-on a side note, they brought up the question of whether healthcare is a right or a privilege. Thinking of healthcare as a right is a tricky and misleading notion...but that seems to be the crux of the issue.

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