Re: Harpers.org

1. Sick in the head: Why America won't get the health-care system it needs—By Luke Mitchell (Harper's Magazine)

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   mnovendstern 26-Jul-2009

   still are part of a culture predisposed to virtuality, a culture where in every realm of endeavor, from industry to politics to art, the word trumps the deed and the immaterial emotion trumps the material fact. ^{link »}

   How, though, is single payer less beholden to "Platonic immateriality". I mean, interesting, beautiful construction. But let's be honest that any universal solution is going to a "system" that abstracted from the individuals within it ^{link »}

   How, though, is single-payer any less beholden to the "needs of the 'system'"? ^{link »}

   defined by the passivity of a people that has sacrificed its own, dem ocratic power of large numbers on the altar of strange and unstated beliefs. ^{link »}

   His anger—and his emphasis on “a man” as the relevant object of social consideration—were unusual. ^{link »}

   As we get better at understanding why people get sick, we will also get better at deciding whether or not to insure them. Ultimately, the entire nation could be reduced to two perfect circles: the people who pay for insurance and don’t need it, and the people who need insurance but can’t pay for it. “I mean, asymptotically,” I said, “you will slowly approach perfect knowledge . . .” ^{link »}

   The argument for single payer is straightforward. ^{link »}

   The demand for not dying, to give just one example, is pretty much unlimited. ^{link »}

   Overtreatment, of course, is another word for growth, and it is the natural consequence of a market-driven system. ^{link »}

   tags: jul 09, harpers.org, annotations

   harpers.org/archive/2009/02/0082380 · Original page