Healthcare Goals

I hope to post more fully on the issue of health care reform tomorrow, but in the meantime an important point to consider.

In all our debates about healthcare policy and reform, what is our end goal? “To provide better care to more people” seems to be the obvious answer, but that doesn’t necessarily break down as cleanly as one would like. Most people would probably agree that treating breast cancer is good, but what about the rare cancer victim who only has six months at most to live, even with $50,000 drug treatments? By providing those drugs do we provide better care, or simply give him a little bit longer on earth before he has to say a final goodbye? It’s a fine difference, and I’m not arguing cost effectiveness (an important topic in its own right). What I’m saying is that modern medicine has reached the point where we can extend our lives far beyond their natural legenth, and before we attempt to reform healthcare perhaps we should review first how we view medicine. Many today seem to view it as a means of reaching physical eternal life–and if that is the case, our healthcare policy is going to be radically different .