The Decaying System


There are a few gaps in our health coverage.

I went to the dentist this morning for my semi-annual cleaning and check up. Sometimes I go 8 or 9 months between, mostly because of my schedule and his. But I always go eventually, and sooner, rather than later. I’m glad I can afford it.

I had a quack dentist when I was a kid, and he made things a lot worse for me in my middle age. Luckily, the dentist I have now is excellent, although not cheap. I estimate it’s cost me about $20,000 over the last 15 years to repair the damage wrought by too many sweet cereals and that earlier charlatan.

Just last night I was reading the latest New Yorker. Among the dearth of Target ads this week was a story by Malcolm Gladwell, one of my favorite New Yorker writers, and the author of The Tipping Point and this year’s Blink.

The story starts with a clinical, albeit horrid, description of the beginning of tooth decay, they segues into a description of our health care system in the United States. Gladwell does a particularly good job of scrubbing away the faulty logic that those who would keep things as they are use to maintain their advantage.

Read it. Then floss. Then think about the sort of country we live in where the executive of the local health care giant makes over $100 million per year, and over 40 million Americans have no chance to protect themselves from physical and financial ruin under our current system.

The brush and floss again to see if you can get the taste out of your mouth.


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