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by bradleyland 5020 days ago
Ok, I'll take the bait.

When I was just getting started, I did in-home computer "repair". Because of my location, I had the opportunity to work for many former executives of large companies; our zip code has one of the highest densities of former-CEOs in the nation. One of my customers was/is the former CEO of a pharmaceutical company that you'd find in the top 3 of the largest pharmaceutical companies in existence. I've become close (closer than one would expect for a "IT tech" relationship) with their family. We spend time talking about plenty of things that aren't computer related, so about a year ago, I was shocked to hear that he has Alzheimer's.

He is one of the most down-to-earth, most open-minded, most generous people I've ever met. I genuinely count him as one of the greatest people I've ever met. As you can imagine, he is well-liked and very well-connected in the medical industry. Guess where he's getting treatment? Not in the US.

So here is a man with more money than he could ever spend in a lifetime, and more connections than any average person has, yet he has to go outside the US to get "cutting edge" treatment for a disease that is far from a fringe case.

I recognize that this is just an anecdote, but it is a superlative one to be sure. His case is an amalgamation of every factor that one would believe could lead to a positive result within the healthcare system we have here in the US, yet that goal has not been reached. If you can't look at that example and recognize that what we have here is broken, then I don't know what to tell you.

2 comments

Thanks, this is an interesting story. As I mentioned, I think there are plenty of things wrong with our healthcare system, and I only use the word "best" in a very broad sense - for example, the US has the highest rate of success for therapies and surgery (In Britain, for example, only half as many people survive colon cancer, although that could be related to any number of factors). I am sure there are many experimental areas of medicine where the US does not excel, because we have to wade through so much red tape to get anything approved.
A lot of people I know are choosing to have significant medical treatments performed in Singapore instead of the U.S. due to cost, quality of care and choice. Another anecdote, but I find it to be fascinating.