X-Message-Number: 5087
Date: 01 Nov 95 13:41:24 EST
From: Saul Kent <>
Subject: The U.S. Healthcare Crisis

	I agree with David Stodolsky that the AMA's attempt to maximize economic
gain for doctors has stifled competition among doctors in the U.S., and that
this has contributed to the health care crisis in the U.S.
	I also agree with him that the lack of motivation to control health care
costs in the U.S. has contributed to the crisis.
	However, the U.S. government has been a major partner in defining the
healthcare system in this country and, in my opinion, the solutions to the
problem need to come from *greater* competition, rather than greater government
control.
	Two ways that competition in medicine is held back in the U.S. is the
failure of insurance companies to pay for "alternative" therapies because they
are not FDA approved, even if they may be better than FDA-approved therapies.

The assumption the merit in medicine should be based upon government fiat rather
than scientific evidence is a major corrupting factor in medical care in the
U.S.
	The second way, which is even more corrupting, is to use government force
(through raids, legal action, and attempted control of the media) to suppress
medical therapies.
	Any theory that attempts to explain problems in medicine in the U.S. that
fails to take into account the corrupting influence of government is, in my
opinion, grossly inadequate.

---Saul Kent


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