As clinics nation-wide brace themselves for a flu epidemic arising from the lack of vaccine, now is a very good time to talk about the profit motive in health care. The manufacturers of the vaccine and the media have left us no doubt as to the real reason the vaccine is in such short supply—small profits for the manufacturers mean American companies are not willing to produce the vaccine to ensure an adequate supply for our citizenry. How exactly did we get to the point that we are outsourcing such a fundamental pharmaceutical need to the British? Are we so tolerant of corporate mega-profits that we are willing to needlessly risk lives? What other vitally fundamental tasks are being outsourced by government and the private sector that may hit us in the future?
How moral is it that any entity enjoy run-away profits from the illness and misfortune of others?
Proponents of eliminating the profit motive within the health care community have traditionally ignored the incentives that have produced remarkable advances in medicine—including the missing vaccine. Advocates for the profit motive tend to ignore that run-away profits have contributed to a dysfunctional system of care delivery without having improved mortality rates for many diseases, including cancer, along the way. Nor has it improved patient care.
We must begin by addressing the moral issue first.
When money oversteps its natural boundaries it creates havoc, as does anything with a growth rate outside the norm—much like cancer cells. This is exactly the direction we are choosing however, when we allow unfettered free (but shamefully unfair) markets to hinder patient care.
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