Healthcare can be declared a right, but it cannot be delivered without willing providers. Closing the gap will require uncomfortable trade-offs.
For three months at the peak of COVID-19, I treated some of New York City’s sickest patients at Bellevue Hospital, the city’s historic public hospital. There, extraordinary clinicians delivered heroic care to the most at-risk patients. While there, I couldn’t help but compare Bellevue to the gleaming NYU Langone Tisch Hospital — a nonprofit private facility almost next door where patients with robust insurance predominantly received care. The hospital even maintained a quasi-VIP room in its emergency department, a feature that had ignited controversy in 2022 for symbolizing stratified care.
Rich and poor patients receive starkly different treatment in New York City — and nationwide. It’s exactly these types of disparities that infuriate newly elected New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who vows to eradicate them in the name of equity.
The mayor-elect wants to increase access to healthcare. His administration has prioritized affordability and expansion of public services, building on a campaign that mobilized young voters and progressives toward a vision of universal rights.
...read more at thedailyeconomy.org
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Hmm, despite my opposition to socializing healthcare, I also don't really find this article to be very persuasive.
His main argument is that the only way to achieve more equitable healthcare outcomes is to force doctors to treat patients against their wishes.
Given how messed up America's healthcare system is, I think we can probably make improvements to the incentive structure without relying on coercion.
And despite Mamdani's rhetoric, it's unlikely that he'll have any legal basis to actually coerce doctors to do anything.
Why is it perfectly acceptable and even considered morally superior for people to advocate for coercive action like this but free choice is considered immoral? We really live in upsidedown times.
I'm also not convinced this is even a problem. Pretty sure most healthcare providers already do not deny life saving care. They just expect payment at some point. At least that is what I have heard.
If having more money doesn't get you nicer stuff, then people will stop working hard enough to get more money.
An advocacy for slavery.
Positive right violate the rights of others. They create added divisive forces and resentment.
The solution to the messed up healthcare system is not more top down force but rather free markets and voluntary charity for those that can't afford it. But if you get rid of the insurance system that drives costs up and allow the free market to work most issues would resolve over time.
Medicine was not always like this. Even the building of new hospitals is highly politically controlled and of course therefore rigged to benefit existing companies.
Getting government out of rigging this system would force the existing hospitals to compete on price and service.
We know what state run everything is like. It's not better. It's not cheaper. It's just the removal of choice.
can't help noticing his name is an anagram of i, madman