Here is what Space X can teach us in healthcare

June 8, 2020

The Space Program started in 1962 with the Mercury, Apollo, Gemini, and then the Shuttle.  It went through for about 50 years, and then nine years ago it stopped.  The Shuttle was expensive. It was subsidized by the Federal Government, and eventually, it was stopped because of monetary issues, budget issues, and a failure of push to financially go forward. 

Following that, here we are 9 years later, Space X has taken over.  Elon Musk has shown what privatization will do.  He is motivated and focused on setting up a program that will be self-sufficient financially in the long run, and he has the financial wherewithal and the intellect to do so.  This will be a game changer.

On the other hand, medicine in private practice was self-sustaining.  It was efficient, based on fee-for-service reimbursement, and the doctor was the gatekeeper of medical care. That has slowly been diluted out with the profit-taking of insurance companies, hospitals, and the reduction of fee reimbursement by Medicare.

Now, we come forward to find that there is a big cry for a single payer healthcare.  So, let me get this straight, we are going to turn over medical care to the Federal Government that could not run a profitable or fiscally responsible Space Program, and we are going to turn over an even much more detailed and individually affected medical program run by the Federal Government to take care of the medical care of the citizens of the United States.

I think this needs to be evaluated in the context of which is it. I think it is a false level of understanding and expectation, and if you look at the history, one would realize that this is not a viable idea.