Capitalism 101

So Trump has blamed hospitals for the shortage of medical equipment, which has pissed everyone off. But, like a stopped clock*, every now and then Trump is correct. This is one of those times. He is his correct in his assumption, but not for the reason he thinks.

The problem is that in the United States our hospitals are designed to make money. They do treat illness, but only to make money.

Now there are some non-profit medical providers.

• Veteran's Hospitals are designed to both keep our active military healthy and to serve our veterans. 
• Planned Parenthood is designed to provide basic health care to women (mammograms, birth control, cancer screening - abortions are less than 3% of their work). 
• There are a few non-profit basic care organizations in almost every city of any size.
• Many hospices are non-profit, but they are design to ease end of life, not to keep people healthy or alive.

But Hospitals are primarily designed to make money, not keep people healthy. That is a function of a Capitalist society. The United States has world class facilities and cutting edge treatment because these new and improved facilities make more money. Our drug companies design drugs to make money. Otherwise they would be finding cancer drugs, not boner pills.

So no, hospitals will not be stocking up for a national catastrophe. If our medical system was a public good, designed to keep our population healthy, then they might. This is the reason almost all European countries have a better ability to deal with national crisis; they were designated as public goods at some point.

This is the crux of the health care debate. Bernie (and some others) want to nationalize health care. And, in doing so, to turn them from a profit making industry to a public good. Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren wanted to expand Medicare into becoming a "public option". That is, you could pay into them and they would act almost like a union of people to demand better rates - and since the option is provided by the government, they couldn't be broken up. This is how countries like Switzerland and Netherlands handle public health care.

As long as the primary driver of health care in this country is profit, not health, then this is an expected result. It is a trade-off we have all made over time. Historically this has been acceptable for the majority of Americans. Do understand, however, that poor people are constantly aware of this. They don't go to the doctor for most things because they can't afford it.

The young man that died of Covid 19 did go to the hospital (Antelope Valley Hospital). But he was turned away because he didn't have health insurance. (LINK) This happens ALL the time in this country. He was news because he died of Covid 19. If he was turned away and died of cancer or diabetes or heart problems, this would not be news. It is America working as designed.

*The idea of a stopped clock being right twice a day comes from the wind up clock face, that stops at a certain time.  This idiom will continue for a while, even though the example is almost nonexistent now.