I see no reason why the ‘beauty pageant’ aspect of medical research funding in this country wouldn’t carry over to decisions about what a national health insurance plan would cover or emphasize. Maybe us guys need to start wearing little brown ribbons or something.

He was hospitalized for a long time, but was well into his rehabilitation when he contracted Strep G. The bug ate it’s way through more than half his spine before they surgically removed the infection. He’ll probably be in his wheelchair and diapers for the rest of his life.

Needless to say I find your report that effective hospital infection control is available and not used in American hospitals very disturbing.

yours/
peter.

Having said that:

There is no “infectious diseases lobby” (or, at least to the extent that McCaughey represents one, it is very small), but there is a huge AIDS lobby that exacts a great deal of influence on US and global politics. Politicians ignore AIDS at their own peril since, if they do not step up and provide a voice to the issue, and the funds to fight it, an opponent will do so on the hustings.

Okay. But it’s a mirage to think of this as if it was somehow divorced from a) causation or b) economics. Most of the reason we have a huge AIDS lobby and not the other is that AIDS has killed upwards of 100 times more people – with the highest growth rate of any virus in the second half of this century. Staph inspections have less of a lobby because they do less damage, at least in part. The other part is the phoenomenon of path dependence, which is in no way unique to government. It’s a function of insitutional behavior in general.

For example, markets fail in the same way as you describe all the time. If you have a software bug that affects 100 people, your chances of successfully petitioning a corporation to write a patch for it are vastly smaller than if the problem affects 100000 people. If you have a unique error, your chances of a meaningful fix are close to zero.

This is, therefore, a poor argument to use against nationalized health care. Governments are the only institution incentivized to actually specifically make voters happy at all. Markets are organized to extract money from consumers. If staph infections were profitable, absent the possibility of government action, you would see markets be(in aggregate) deliberately inefficient at completely solving the problem, so as to perpetuate the profit. And even if they weren’t deliberately inefficient, they would be vulnerable to inherenty inefficiency, as in the case of vaccines, which can only eradicate diseases when very high percentates of the population use them, which doesn’t happen when the market is left to sell vaccines on its own.

And perhaps that is one other reason there is such contempt for the so-called “gay agenda” – that a minority of a minority has such a loud voice.

You better watch it Pogue, that is the kind of comment that taken out of context and ignoring everything you have ever written on the subject could be portrayed as anti-gay. Being the big time bloggers we all are around here we have to know we are on the radar!

I smell a Pogue on a spit, a veritable Ceilidh Cowboy barbecue, a Brazilian churrascaria. And yes Pogue, he is watching deep from within the \”Unclaimed Territory\” of the Amazon. Deep in my stats the all seeing eye-p pops up and keeps his close tabs. He sees little Pogie and his dark thoughts, yes he does.

And perhaps that is one other reason there is such contempt for the so-called “gay agenda” – that a minority of a minority has such a loud voice.

I think that’s exactly right, Pogue.

There is wonder as to why the CDC has such lax guidelines. It is not as though there is a lobby against having such guidelines, right?

My guess is, and it’s only a guess, that it comes down to an availability of funds. According to the NYT op-ed by McCaughey, the M.R.S.A. tests costs about as much as AIDS tests. I think the hospitals usually have the choice of one or the other, and they aren’t going to opt for no AIDS test now are they?

It has long been gospel in my family that hospitals will kill you. I think you’re dead on about why AIDS gets so much attention. You know,

Squeaky wheel… grease … store oily rags in fire proof container…

And perhaps that is one other reason there is such contempt for the so-called “gay agenda” – that a minority of a minority has such a loud voice.

There is wonder as to why the CDC has such lax guidelines. It is not as though there is a lobby against having such guidelines, right?

Well, maybe…

In an interview I saw this morning on ABC’s GMA, your Betsy McCaughey discussing such guidelines, suggests,

Betsy McCaughey… Also points the finger at hospitals. They frequently fight attempts to force them to publicly report their infection rates. Reports that public health advocates say would encourage hospitals to improve.
…
Public health officials also blame the federal government. Specifically the CDC, for putting out hospital guidelines that they say are too lax…
…
The CDC wouldn’t give us anyone to talk to on camera, but did tell us that hospitals including VA hospitals that follow their guidelines are showing dramatic success.
Betsy McCaughey, is not buying it,

“Why hasn’t the CDC done more? It’s a typical case of a government agency becoming co-opted by the very industry it’s supposed to oversee.”

The news piece did not go further into that query. Piece can be found here. (Interview transcribed for your pleasure by the vaingloriously benevolent PogueMahone.)

Cheers.

It also removes an incentive to actually maintain your health as “the NHS will pay for it”.

Exactly. Right now, Americans are paying customers with the ability to take their business to other providers if they do not like the treatment that they are receiving. We can also pay a higher price if we would prefer more prompt or efficient service. Once the NHS rolls into town, we aren’t customers anymore so we certainly will not be treated like we are. Instead, we’ll be treated the way we are at the local DMV.

…don’t make the mistake the U.K. made.

Or Canada or France or nearly all of the industrialized world. Or so we’re told by proponents of the NHS system who swear that the US is the only callous, unfeeling barbarian nation that refuses to adopt this highly compassionate, responsible, “it’s for the children” system.

By having an NHS you suck in people accross the world with AIDS, and, because treatment is rationed, it treats them at the detriment of people who have paid in.

It also removes an incentive to actually maintain your health as “the NHS will pay for it”.

Beware! Implementing an NHS is nationalising your own bodies, don’t make the mistake the U.K. made.

Giving government the power to dole out health care is giving government the discretion to decide which diseases, ailments and afflictions are to be treated and how, not to mention which patients deserve treatment and which will be left to suffer.

Exactly. I’ve weighed in on this debate over at QandO, as well.

As someone who had flesh carved from my arm that got infected with MRSA I can agree with your points.

It’s like how people treat some animals better than others. We all love cats and dogs because they’re cute. However we eat cattle.

I assume that they feel it s “right” to go around screwing like a bunny and then have the rest of the US spend zillions to fix things.

The same liberals who call for more AIDS funding – caused by the sexual actions of the AIDS sufferers – are the same liberals who call for, actually shout for, all sorts of bans, taxes, etc on smoking, which can also lead to lethal diseases. Yet you never hear any mention of how to absolutely, 100% avoid AIDS.

Thanks for the link. We love that kind of stuff. Feel free to send us more. We are always on the lookout for people willing to make our lives easier.