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Observations on a Shoe
I mentioned I broke my toe last week and that I'm now wearing this stupid orthopedic sandal thing until it heals.
Yesterday in a fit of boredom, I covered it with eyes. While I was doing this rather pointless art project, I noticed something that caused me to think a bit.
"Made in China" it says on the shoe. Of course. Naturally. What in america isn't these days?
But here's the problem. This isn't a luxury item or something I can easily shop around to find a locally produced version. Not to mention I have insurance and while they'll cover the cheapest option, they aren't likely to support my desire to buy local, so instead of the price difference between the two items being a difference of a couple dollars, it might well be many times the cost of the cheaper item. Most people, even people with money to burn aren't likely to chose the more expensive option in that case.
This means that much of the medical market is 'locked-in' to the current purchase situation, and with an aging boomer population needing more and more medical necessities (and likely as not, paying for them by buying fewer luxury goods) that's bad for the US.
This is always going to be the case with privatized medicine. HMOs, PPOs, and insurance companies won't even hesitate to go for 'cheapest option' in taking care of the sick. It'd be interesting to see how the right-wing noise machine would react if it were suggested that a nationalized healthcare system, like the military and other government-run institutions could give preferential treatment to US companies; effectively making health-care largely pay for itself.
I bet they'd hate that. :)
Yesterday in a fit of boredom, I covered it with eyes. While I was doing this rather pointless art project, I noticed something that caused me to think a bit.
"Made in China" it says on the shoe. Of course. Naturally. What in america isn't these days?
But here's the problem. This isn't a luxury item or something I can easily shop around to find a locally produced version. Not to mention I have insurance and while they'll cover the cheapest option, they aren't likely to support my desire to buy local, so instead of the price difference between the two items being a difference of a couple dollars, it might well be many times the cost of the cheaper item. Most people, even people with money to burn aren't likely to chose the more expensive option in that case.
This means that much of the medical market is 'locked-in' to the current purchase situation, and with an aging boomer population needing more and more medical necessities (and likely as not, paying for them by buying fewer luxury goods) that's bad for the US.
This is always going to be the case with privatized medicine. HMOs, PPOs, and insurance companies won't even hesitate to go for 'cheapest option' in taking care of the sick. It'd be interesting to see how the right-wing noise machine would react if it were suggested that a nationalized healthcare system, like the military and other government-run institutions could give preferential treatment to US companies; effectively making health-care largely pay for itself.
I bet they'd hate that. :)