Systems that Control You: Medicine

Let us be clear about one thing. Medicine is not an institution, or a profession. Its not a service, a calling, or a brave new leap forwards. Medicine is a business. Pure, and simple. Always has been, always will be. You must have a license to practice it.

One thing that is interesting is that Medical Schools are limited, and then limit the number of entrants. Of course, people say, we want that, we need Doctors to be the best of the best. I agree. That’s why the entrance exams are hard. Hard as hell. Residency is a bitch. The courses are grueling. But, limiting the number of applicants is the same thing medieval guilds did, and for the exact same reason – to keep the price for their services artificially inflated from what the market would ordinarily charge. We’ve seen all this before.

And, you have to have what they are selling. You can forgo a stone mason, but you can’t go without insulin if you’re the wrong kind of diabetic. Point blank. In Economics, we call this perfectly inelastic demand, a mouthful. It’s a fancy way to say that you will pay any price for the good in question. It fucks up free market dynamics like Catholic Priests fuck up little boys.

After all, assuming a bank would lend you as much money as you wanted, how much would you pay for a life-saving operation? And how much do you think the hospital would take? Intinity, and beyond, my friends.

This allows me to tell you that Medicine doesn’t even qualify as a business – it’s a racket.

Now, I’m not going to get into the Obamacare situation in the US, nor am I going to talk about the differences in market dynamic in countries with socialized medicine. Because, the Dependency dynamic ultimately doesn’t change – being that reliant on people that are beholden to something besides yourself, quite literally for your survival, is always a bad move, calvron.

Of course, I am not a doctor. I am in no way qualified to give you medical advice. Thus, I would never tell you to educate yourself. I am in no way competent to tell you to get the books they are reading, and read them. Furthermore, I would never tell you that you could find the old information, natural cures, that have been around for centuries. And, I would surely never mention that diet is the red pill of the health world. Never.

But, as an Economist, I am perfectly competent to tell you how to circumvent the market dynamic. In short, I won’t ask you to change the what, but the where. If the situation where you are is whacked out, go ahead and engage in some good old fashioned geo-arbitrage. It all comes down to price, and thanks to currency differences, that is not non-negotiable.

You can go to India, Mexico, China, Taiwan – and get the same quality of care you would get in the developed world, for a fraction of the price. Be cautious. Do the research. Check things out. Understand that it would be harder to sue, but also understand that they want more people to engage in this. Also know that you’ll hear a lot of propaganda, but this shouldn’t surprise you.

The racket doesn’t want to lose its cattle.

Er, um, I mean, the business doesn’t want to lose its customers.

Oh, my mistake, I mean, the medical industry is concerned about the risks to the patient.

Here is a link to get you started:

Dental Tourism
She Saved Her Own Life When Her Country Failed Her

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