The NIH does more harm than good. Healthcare and science should be privatized directly between the doctor and patient and directly between private scientists.
Amen.
I get Imprimis. This was another of two lousy articles in the last year
They seem to be short of good material.
It appears the org is in good hands, with a focus on outputs and outcomes. I appreciate the fresh perspective.
This is a good article. The author wears a hat and corretly speaks to that role.
But HEALTH is about more that Medicine and Medical Science. Look at the statistics. (was into Medicaid and Government employee statistics the last 12 years at GA DCH.)
Poor Health is a barbell. At one end are the elderly. We spend large amounts of money for medical care to extend the life of the elderly one more day, one more month.
At the other end of the barbell are several smaller, but distinct, weights. All of these come down to the choice of a poor life style.
NICU newborn babies are a horrendous expense. They exist clearly due to the poor lifestyle choices of the parents.
Pregnant moms are a horrendous expense...not all of them... only a small percentage are the big expense.
Lifestyle choices are the problem with the weights at the non-elderly end of the barbell. The way to improve health is to reduce the lifestyle choice of tobacco, vaping, alcohol, drugs, HIV and STDs.
Add in the choice of too much sugar in the diet as the next deadly sin. A PHD thesis at Emory U studied pre-clampsia and other problems of pregnant moms, new moms, and their babies. The difference between moms with problems and those with no problems in childbirth were dramatic. Some were fed “sugar water” (no brand names please) as a baby. They continued that high sugar in their diet through childhood and into young women. They are the ones with the health problems statistically.
Yes, there are other health problems. But statistically bad lifestyle choices are the #1 problem. If we want to improve the health of the “population” statistically, we need to address the bad lifestyle choices.
What can/should government do? We could pass a law that nobody with a bad lifestyle choice is eligible for Medicaid or Medicare. We make it effective for all those age 18. Each year we increase the eligibility limit by one year.
In grade school and high school we educate people to the facts of good health and of good lifestyle choices to obtain good health.
We need to be politically realistic.
Prohibition will not work. People think it is a “right” to smoke, drink, etc. They have the freedom to choose to smoke and drink. They do not have the freedom to choose to force other people to pay for their bad lifestyle choices.
Some will argue: Cut off all Medicaid to everyone. That is not politically pragmatic. It is not going to happen. The good is not the enemy of the perfect.
Yes, there are other health issues besides bad lifestyle choices. But statistically, this is the big one that can be addressed. (The alternative for the elderly at the other end of the barbell is euthanasia which I hope is not viable.)
Of course, if we spend less money on one thing, then that money is available for other things, or to pay down the national debt.
The article identifies serious but narrow things that have gone wrong in the pursuit of scientific research.
The broader problem is the almost complete capture of NIH and FDA by the pharmaceutical industry and Dem-aligned political interests fostering both massive corruption and despotism.
It’s high time someone talked openly about the fraudulent and inaccurate perception that academia and the elite media have created of research.. I’ve had enough of ignorant people who don’t know what they’re talking about babbling endlessly about “peer review” and “trust the science”.
To me, a trained scientist, a seeker after the way to find truth even in the temporal sense, a greater mind has graciously provided a solution to obtain never-ceasing ever-rewarding propulsion into cognitive existence in a tangible form, like the one each of us presently possesses, albeit much more refined.
I doubt that biology can ever take us to that stage. So why focus on that sphere to the neglect of the other unseen but very real dimension?
So far, entropy, in the physical reality, wins. But in the eternal stasis, it is said to have been overcome, if one rightly approaches it during this phase of existence.
It is the economical support in discovering and sharing spiritual truths that ought to be sought -- for enhancing life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness -- activities that may turn into eternal joy in the presence of that Superior Provider.
What say?