"The Premium for a Burning House Is the Price of the House"
Megan McArdle, whose columns and comment boards I so enjoy, is taking a sabbatical to work on a large project. She arranged for a handful of colleagues to cover for her; one posted today on the subject of the American healthcare system. It's a decent post, but my favorite part was a link to a couple of old articles, two of the best summaries I've found of the dumb things we do to ourselves under the name of the health insurance system. One is brief while the other is rather long, but very well worth reading from start to finish. Both make the essential distinction between insurance and prepaid medical care.
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Here comes an arumentum ad maternum… My mom was a nurse for twenty-odd years. And my mom knew what she was doing. There is no reason she should not have been able to diagnose basic illnesses, prescribe drugs, set bones, etc. etc. No reason. At all. My sister is just starting her M.S. in nursing courses (she’s a BSN). And, of course, the AMA is trying to strictly limit what services nurse practioners can offer under the law. So, the AMA is evil! And I would think so even if it was no skin off my sister’s back. There ought to be a guy, Manny, say, who does stitches. You cut your arm and you go to Manny’s stitches joint, which flourishes because Manny is the best at stitches. Manny leaves no scar! Ever! Moreover, he’s cheaper that some guy who spend years learning about the biochemistry of the human body. What does that have to do with stitches!?
I like "argumentum ad maternum."
It was usual even into the 20th century for barbers to perform many things we now consider surgery -- like stitches.
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