Forum: Opinion
Topic: Healthcare in the Modern Age
started by: Botto 82

Posted by Botto 82 on May 12 2013,11:27 am
I had occasion to see the sprawling Mayo campus the other day, the sprawl on Fountain Street and Park Avenue. I obviously hadn't been in that neighborhood for some time.

As a result, a discussion with some close friends ensued, and I again asked a question I never get an answer to: Why?

Albert Lea had a larger population 50 years ago, yet the area got by with the entire works contained in the old Naeve building.

So it begs the question: Why?

Are there more sick people in the area now then there were in 1963? Or are there more things out there making us sick now versus then?

Some will make the argument that people are living longer now, and that brings with it myriad medical issues described by an aging population. While that explanation may hold clues, I don't believe it's the whole story.

I would suggest we ask some hard questions at this juncture, as I believe there are factors making us unhealthier than our grandparents, some of them coming from the very medical industry that purports to be making us healthier. If said industry is ever presented with a cure for cancer, for instance, I doubt it will be pursued and developed, since there's more profit in treating cancer than there is in actually curing it.

I do not propose a conspiracy here, per sae, but rather the typical Capitalist response to potential profit. Contention is not something that runs counter to the notion of Democracy, by the way, but something that strengthens it, in my opinion. And the contention suggested here should be, "Why are we sicker now, and what can we do to change that?"

Posted by Self-Banished on May 12 2013,2:56 pm
Cheap housing? There are a lot of really cool hoses nearby.
Posted by twingroves on May 12 2013,3:15 pm
why are there more sick people now than 1963  there are more people coming  up out of the jungle than before like the wet backs
Posted by Expatriate on May 13 2013,6:17 pm
I’m older than most soon I’ll be a ghost, but I remember when Doctors ran their own office they were located in what was know as the Medical Arts Building the upper floors of the Freeborn Bank Building.

Not only could you get in for an appointment without waiting three weeks but these Docs actually did house calls after-hours.

Posted by Self-Banished on May 13 2013,6:49 pm
^ And they came by horse and buggy guided by a kerosene lamp :D
Posted by Botto 82 on May 13 2013,6:51 pm
I ate a C-Ration in basic training in the early '80's. It was stamped 1949. Whatever preservatives that were in that pale in comparison to the crap we're eating today.

Genetically-modified high-fuctose corn syrup, aspartame, brominated vegetable oil, and that's just off the top of my head. Why are these things approved? Because some corporations are making billion$, and their people are working the top jobs at the FDA, USDA, and on and on.

Follow the money...  :frusty:

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