Thoughts On Medical Care

My grandfather used to pay for his own medical care out of his pocket. He didn't have insurance because he didn't need it. Medical costs were payable as they came up, like buying or fixing a car.

Contrast that with the present - it would be crazy to not have health insurance today. Small problems can end up being massively costly and medical bills are one of the most common reasons for personal bankruptcy. Medical insurance and costs are way higher than they used to be - both in absolute terms and percentage of income terms.

But consider this: medical care is a lot better. I don't know the numbers, but it is clear both long and short term care is better and life expectancy is longer. Drugs are better. Collective wisdom is more. There must be a corresponding cost increases for increased performance. Patients must on some level, somehow, pay for these improvements. No would would opt going back 50 years to get more affordable and shittier healthcare if they could. And this is highlighted even more when you get sick or need the care. You want answers and the right treatment. You don't want the Doc from Deadwood amazed at how you survived for 10 minutes with a bullet in your brain.

So why do we complain about it so? Why is it universally decried as a "crisis?" We pay a whole lot more for phone service (especially if you include internet) than Americans did 50 years ago, but we recognize the tremendous benefits to having a cell phone and the internet.

Is it possible that modern healthcare isn't a crisis at all and instead actually a miracle?

UPDATE: That is not to say the medical insurance system works as best it could. The fundamental problem is still cost. Some vital treatments are costly - essentially unaffordable to people. How do we handle this? We try to spread out the cost to as many people as possible in an insurance pool. But this means one of two things - people get to opt into this insurance pool or we force people to join the insurance pool. From there, all sorts of other problems arise - philosophical, financial, etc - who pays for uninsured if it is an opt-in system? What is the best way to administer an opt-in system? Via employers? Why? Is it constitutional to force everyone to buy health insurance? Is it a public good? Do we break it into regional health care? Should I, as a healthy Californian, be obligated to pay the gigantic health costs for people in Louisiana who eat like shit for their entire lives? Should I, as a young, not wealthy person, be expected to pay equal premiums to older couples with kids and a nice house and all sorts of material wealth? Difficult question as to how and administer the costs of the miracles of medical care.