That is always the problem, isn't it? Thinking of the commons is always a wonderful idea, until you realise that your number just came up and the bean counter in human resources says the cost of your new heart is much too high. Then it's time to defect, a la game theory.

Not that I am saying an idea like this one is a good thing. Hell, even if it was it could never be implemented for the exact reasons you mention.

First of all, physician assisted suicide ought to be legal, regulated and available.

Why "physician assisted?" Getting past the doubleplus feelgood lingo, you're talking about legalizing accessory to murder for one specific murder type. There's nothing 7+ years of medical training can provide which can't also be otherwise obtained through a bullet, a well-braced Colt .45 and a piece of twine. And the gun can be amortized.

Then again, why stop at "cheap" when the entire operation can be a profit center? Add the cost of a video camera, an editing PC and a standard legal form, and you've got the makings of the "World's Fastest Suicides!" DVD series. Take a few minutes for a teary-eyed "Good-bye, cruel world" expose with the interviewees, the BLAM! Zero cost to the deceased, and footage to reuse for the "WFS It's Rainin' Brains!" best-of compilation.

The thing that is on life support is the current US health care system. First of all, physician assisted suicide ought to be legal, regulated and available. A great many people don't want to be kept alive. Why are we paying to do it?

That, and legalize medical marijuana. Just saying. And the importation of drugs from Canada. Seriously, WTF --- you send the same meds off to Canada and suddenly they become scads cheaper?

Second, no one likes the managed care monopoly except the monopolists themselves and the politicians they fund. Doctors don't like it and it doesn't give consumers the value they need. They serve no purpose in the equation. They've simply managed to insert themselves in it. There are many cures and treatments out their today from places like India for example that are known to us and available at cost effective rates. But the FDA won't let them in so that big pharma can study and make their own, more expensive versions. It's time to end that monopoly.

You know, I wondered about the same thing when a friend of mine got violently ill one time over the weekend when the doctors office obviously wouldn't be open. We went to a private "Urgent Care" center -- basically a nice upscale private ER (leather couches, HDTVs, etc in the waiting room) right next to the NO <insert state medicaid plan here> accepted signs and signs stating that if you had an emergent condition the nurse reserved the right to ship your ass out via ambulance at your own expense (to avoid EMTALA shenanigans).

Anyway, not a major life threatening illness, but for up front cash on the AmEx you could be seen by a board certified Emergency Medicine doc within minutes and have all your labs done while you wait in air conditioned comfort with coffee or bottled water, etc. Basically the whole place was marketed to upper-middle class types who didn't want to go to the inner city urban hellhole ER and wait 47 hours to be seen by a sketchy intern who hasn't slept in 91 hours. Everytime I go to a city I see billboards advertising places like this all along the interstate now. Only in America can you actually have folks profiting off the f'd up medical system by simply offering what should be standard quality care. But, I digress. An interesting aside would be how facilities like this are screwing over the big mainline hospitals, but I'll leave that for another day.

Anyway, the point is that I could see the country moving toward a more free market health care system where the big HMOs and whatnot get muscled out simply by folks who have dollars and want quality service. Unfortunately, as currently designed such a system would royally screw over the poor and chronically ill, but you have to break some eggs to get an omlette I suppose.

It's worth a serious discussion, at the least!

They serve no purpose in the equation. They've simply managed to insert themselves in it. There are many cures and treatments out their today from places like India for example that are known to us and available at cost effective rates.

Jesus, it must be the 3+ beers I've had in the past hour but I forgot to mention what I was originally gonna post. I talked to a good friend of mine from India and she swears up and down that Indian docs are head and shoulders better than the US ones. Her logic? Well, most Indian docs get western style training, plus they see ever type of 3rd world hellhole type of disease or condition on a regular basis, so they are trained to consider EVERYTHING. Also, they usually grew up "in the village" (which is apparently Indian for "hell on earth existance") which means they had no access to medical care as children and as such learned all the traditional methods of healing. Therefore, put all of those powers together and you get some kind of Captain Planet-esque super doctor thing going on. Plus, you can fly there for "medical tourism," and pay them a pittance and they'll do all of the complicated procedures for you that would cost tens or hundreds of thousands in the US.

I'm sorry, I'm just loaded right now.