The biggest government funded private industry is healthcare. Government funded healthcare is responsible for 29% of the federal budget. While some see more people having insurance as progress, the true measure should be whether people are actually getting the care they need. The reality is that more people are getting more tests, more prescriptions, and more surgery, and may live longer, but actual overall health has not improved. And “deaths of despair” by suicides and overdoses and slow deaths due to drug and alcohol abuse are increasing.

There are many things to consider when looking at health and quality of life. My main point is that despite increasing costs, healthcare has not changed in the ways it needs to change. Patients are still not getting proper individualized care which requires more than a two minute session of asking you what is wrong with you . Doctors don’t even touch the patient in many cases.

It’s nearly impossible to get sufficient rehabilitation after illness, injury or surgery, nursing care, rest, nutrition assessments, endocrine care, allergy care, and effective mental health treatment because these things take time and money. The problem with modern medicine is that it’s just not as advanced as they want you to think it is. Basic diseases still lack effective treatments, autoimmune conditions are exploding, mental healthcare is extremely ineffective, and no new major breakthroughs have been made since the discovery of penicillin!

The point is that although healthcare has become a huge part of the federal budget, it does not offer a reasonable return on investment. For the amount of money the government spends, you’d think they had cured cancer or something. The reality is that the growth in healthcare spending was not by accident. It is a purposeful move to expand the role of the government in providing what many consider basic necessities of life, or public goods. We used to call that socialism. Now it’s a ‘human right’ that should be paid for by the ‘collective’. Unfortunately, the government tends to be very generous when it spends your money, so the price goes up.

What is the solution? I don’t know. It may be impossible to untangle this knot of government intervention in the economy. In the meantime, taking care of your own health by eating right, taking vitamins, sleeping enough, getting exercise and sunshine, and avoiding unnecessary stress is your best way to stay healthy. If you do go to the doctor, do your research on any prescriptions they recommend and educate yourself on alternative medicine.

“Federal spending on domestic and global health programs and services accounted for 29% of net federal outlays in fiscal year (FY) 2023 (taking into account offsetting receipts), or $1.9 trillion out of $6.4 trillion (Figure 1).” https://www.kff.org/medicare/issue-brief/faqs-on-health-spending-the-federal-budget-and-budget-enforcement-tools/