Yes, fifty years ago, you would be dead right now. On the other hand, the best heart medical treatment available fifty years ago would have cost nowhere near $500,000, probably on the order of maybe $30,000 in 1964 dollars, $200,000 in today’s dollars. Since then medicine has become an industry, where everyone involved expects to make a lot of money , even if if that is not their only or even prime motive for going into the field. Federal money has become an expected and major supplier of funding, and insurance companies have gotten very fat on it as well. Something of the same dynamic has happened in higher education. College presidents used to be scholars; now they are fund raisers.
Everyone in any industry, including the medical industry, do not expect to make a lot of money. Most people are good at their jobs and want to help others, as well as be successful in their careers. This country runs on millions of individuals trying to do their best to perform their jobs well and to be successful at it and get a ahead over time. Most that do, earn a good living doing it. There are always exceptions but they are just that, the exceptions, not the norm.
What industry do you work in where people don’t aspire to be good and/or successful and make good money? The reason medical care, housing, tuition, cars, etc. are so much more expensive today versus fifty years ago is due mainly to the inflation of our currency. The dollar becomes worth less and less over time and the number of dollars required to buy things keep getting larger over time.
And, I agree, government intervention in the private sector is responsible for most inflation and industries that don’t run efficiently with the government in their pockets. Overbearing government involvement and meddling in the private sector, is the cause of most ills in this country. But we have to deal the hand dealt to us until we can deal ourselves a better hand. You don’t avoid seeking medical care because you don’t like the system. Life is not that easy for most people.