|
|
|
|
|
|
by _delirium
5021 days ago
|
|
|
Certainly there is a large contribution made by markets, but in the western world markets still failed to fully solve the problem, and it took government intervention in the mid 20th century to really push down the mortality numbers, which were still quite high despite the ready availability of soap. The biggest problem is that there were few doctors, hospitals, or vaccination facilities available in certain areas, especially rural areas and poor urban areas, where there wasn't enough money to attract such services. So there was a big push in the US, Canada, and Europe to subsidize healthcare penetration into such areas, by building rural clinics and posting doctors and nurses to such areas. That reduced rates of many previously endemic diseases, increased vaccination rates, and resulted in more children being born in hygienic settings with medical oversight. A related problem, possibly just as big, was that there was very bad information available, especially again in rural areas; people just were not educated on best practices, and were wasting their money on snake oil while failing to take basic steps that actually work. The Canadian government started combatting that as early as the 1920s, by sending out public health nurses to give vaccines and help educate people in rural areas, and printing up pamphlets and books with information: http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/english/on-line-exhibits/healt... |
|
|
A problem directly caused by earlier government intervention. Starting around 1910, the AMA managed to push through legislation in most states that solidified their cartel and gave them sole authority to license medical schools. As a result, half of existing medical schools were pushed out of business, and the supply of doctors contracted significantly.
A similar push forced most poorer (and predominantly black) hospitals to close, because regs were written so that only the wealthier hospitals could satisfy the requirements.
The motivation for all this was clear: it substantially increased the rates that doctors and hospitals could charge by restricting the supply. Naturally it was all done in the name of patient safety.