Re: [tlug] Re: [WAY-OT][CoLoCo] RESPECT MICROSOFT

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

Shawn writes:

 > I do wish all kids in particular to have basic access to preventive
 > care, but is it realistic to assume that more preventive care will
 > actually save money.

Compared to the "let them die, they don't contribute any GDP to speak
of" strategy, preventive care costs a lot more money in the health
care budget than doing nothing.  If you compare to the cost of giving
them corrective and palliative treatment, there are big savings in
preventive care, and as any dentist can tell you, your patients are a
*lot* happier to visit you.  But both of these calculations are
extreme cases, straw men, ignoring realistic costs and benefits.

If you do the very hard-hearted accounting and count both lost
potential GDP and the costs of training up those "economically
non-productive" kids and adults alongside the purely medical costs,
*probably* training plus good health care to keep them productive is a
win overall (there were several well-respected studies done in the
80s, and I doubt the situation has changed), but it's a hard sell
politically in the U.S. because it surely leads to socialized
medicine, at least for the poorer members of society.

To give you an example of what I mean, I'm not rich by any stretch of
the imagination, but during my sabbatical, my wife and I have decided
to live in Palo Alto (just off Stanford U. campus) where rents are
about $1000/mo higher than in Sunnyvale or Cupertino.  Reason: *every*
elementary school in the Palo Alto district gets 10/10 points on
hensachi, and 80% of them get 5/5 points from parental ratings, in an
environment where you can bet there are 1.1 kyoiku mama per family
:-).  Yeah, I care about the poor, but I care about my daughter more;
I can afford that alternative, and you bet I'm going to take it.

The higher income half (yes, I mean 50%, maybe even 70%) of Americans
feel the same way about both education and health care.  They[1] want
that choice for themselves.  They don't want (school) busing, and they
don't want Canadian/Japanese-style socialized health care.  Obviously,
I have no right to blame them....[2]

My personal approach would be to say that "providing basic preventive
care socially is the right thing (the 'Christian' thing[3]) to do, and
20 years from now we'll surely have paid back the initial investment."
Then the next task is fixing the educational system to really provide
opportunity.


Footnotes: 
[1]  Including the progressive politicians.  If you think the Kennedy
kids will ever go to some neighborhood clinic for their cold medicine,
I have some swampland in Yamaguchi to sell you....

[2]  Well, I have put my vote where my mouth is, so I possibly could
justify it to myself.  But that's not where my money is, so third
parties would be entirely fair to wonder where I'm coming from!

[3]  George Bush prays to Jesus every day sou-desu.  Push those Good
Samaritan/Mother Theresa buttons hard enough, and even he will have
trouble opposing, I think.  But note: you have to do it from the
standpoint of being a Christian yourself, non-Christians pointing out
George's evident hypocrisy won't fly.  So far that hasn't been a
terribly popular position in the Christian community. :-(