Monday, June 30, 2025
ISSN 2765-8767
  • Survey
  • Podcast
  • Write for Us
  • My Account
  • Log In
Daily Remedy
  • Home
  • Articles
  • Podcasts
    Unlocking the Secrets of GLP-1 Medications

    Unlocking the Secrets of GLP-1 Medications

    June 30, 2025
    Navigating the Medical Licensing Maze

    The Fight Against Healthcare Fraud: Dr. Rafai’s Story

    April 8, 2025
    Navigating the Medical Licensing Maze

    Navigating the Medical Licensing Maze

    April 4, 2025
    The Alarming Truth About Health Insurance Denials

    The Alarming Truth About Health Insurance Denials

    February 3, 2025
    Telehealth in Turmoil

    The Importance of NIH Grants

    January 31, 2025
    The New Era of Patient Empowerment

    The New Era of Patient Empowerment

    January 29, 2025
  • Surveys

    Surveys

    Perception vs. Comprehension: Public Understanding of the 2025 MAHA Report

    Perception vs. Comprehension: Public Understanding of the 2025 MAHA Report

    June 4, 2025
    Understanding Public Perception and Awareness of Medicare Advantage and Payment Change

    Understanding Public Perception and Awareness of Medicare Advantage and Payment Change

    April 4, 2025

    Survey Results

    Do you believe national polls on health issues are accurate

    National health polls: trust in healthcare system accuracy?

    May 8, 2024
    Which health policy issues matter the most to Republican voters in the primaries?

    Which health policy issues matter the most to Republican voters in the primaries?

    May 14, 2024
    How strongly do you believe that you can tell when your provider does not trust you?

    How strongly do you believe that you can tell when your provider does not trust you?

    May 7, 2024
  • Courses
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Support Us
  • Official Learner
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Articles
  • Podcasts
    Unlocking the Secrets of GLP-1 Medications

    Unlocking the Secrets of GLP-1 Medications

    June 30, 2025
    Navigating the Medical Licensing Maze

    The Fight Against Healthcare Fraud: Dr. Rafai’s Story

    April 8, 2025
    Navigating the Medical Licensing Maze

    Navigating the Medical Licensing Maze

    April 4, 2025
    The Alarming Truth About Health Insurance Denials

    The Alarming Truth About Health Insurance Denials

    February 3, 2025
    Telehealth in Turmoil

    The Importance of NIH Grants

    January 31, 2025
    The New Era of Patient Empowerment

    The New Era of Patient Empowerment

    January 29, 2025
  • Surveys

    Surveys

    Perception vs. Comprehension: Public Understanding of the 2025 MAHA Report

    Perception vs. Comprehension: Public Understanding of the 2025 MAHA Report

    June 4, 2025
    Understanding Public Perception and Awareness of Medicare Advantage and Payment Change

    Understanding Public Perception and Awareness of Medicare Advantage and Payment Change

    April 4, 2025

    Survey Results

    Do you believe national polls on health issues are accurate

    National health polls: trust in healthcare system accuracy?

    May 8, 2024
    Which health policy issues matter the most to Republican voters in the primaries?

    Which health policy issues matter the most to Republican voters in the primaries?

    May 14, 2024
    How strongly do you believe that you can tell when your provider does not trust you?

    How strongly do you believe that you can tell when your provider does not trust you?

    May 7, 2024
  • Courses
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Support Us
  • Official Learner
No Result
View All Result
Daily Remedy
No Result
View All Result
Home Contrarian

American Individualism, Healthcare Externalities

Daily Remedy by Daily Remedy
November 7, 2021
in Contrarian
0
American Individualism, Healthcare Externalities

The most American of values is individualism.

We deeply value independence and self-reliance, whether extolling the philosophies of individual natural rights or embodying the spirit of manifest destiny through rugged individualism. It is how most Americans define themselves.

And it is how we define our moral outlook – our thoughts on laws, individual conduct, and of late, healthcare policy. The ethos of individualism runs anathema to government interventions, namely vaccine mandates, which explains why they were incredibly unpopular and ineffective across the country.

We see healthcare policy through the lens of individualism, even for issues that affect our collective health. This is why we hear choruses of people chanting how they were vaccinated but respect the right of those who choose not to get vaccinated or to remain hesitant. Yet we fail to understand that vaccines are only as effective as the proportion within a population that gets them.

Vaccines are a ratio of fixed individual risk – arising from the inoculation and its side effects – to variable collective benefit – arising from the boost in individual immunity that collectively forms herd immunity if a sufficient percentage get inoculated.

So as far as vaccination goes, traditional concepts of individualism tell only a part of the story. To get a complete sense of the importance of vaccines and society-wide vaccinations, we need to re-imagine individualism in the modern era of expansive healthcare.

This begins by redefining individual values in healthcare. We value high quality care at low costs with optimal access. Unfortunately the three are not mutually exclusive, and prioritizing one comes at the cost of the other two, which means healthcare is an opportunity cost.

And in the United States, these costs depend upon insurance policies that utilize a cost sharing structure in which individual patients within an insurance plan – public or private – pay into an entity that then disseminates funds to cover the cost of care.

This means healthcare opportunity costs are interdependent, reliant upon the actions of others to influence the quality, cost, and access of care for the individual. Economists call this an externality. And in today’s healthcare, there are numerous externalities, both positive and negative.

If you live in an area with good sanitation, then you reap the benefits of fewer communicable diseases. If you live near a coal-fired factory, then you suffer the costs of greater cardiopulmonary diseases. Healthcare externalities are not cause and effect, but they are certainly associative. And the degree and nature of the associations determine their impact.

This gets lost in the debate over vaccine mandates, and really, the debate on all pandemic-based health policies. In our quest to espouse the virtues of individualism, we forgo any meaningful discussion on the role of healthcare externalities on individual health.

It has not always been this way. We agreed to outlaw cigarette smoking in most public facilities and private establishments because of the effects of second-hand smoke. This is a policy decision based on a healthcare externality. We require drivers to wear seat belts and fasten young children in car seats. This too is an externality, albeit it contrary to how many look at healthcare externalities.

Most see healthcare externalities as flowing in one direction – from the individual to collective society. So when we talk about public good or social welfare in healthcare, it is framed in terms of individual decisions or actions benefiting society. This is how we frame vaccine mandates.

But externalities are complex and multi-directional, growing in complexity as our understanding of healthcare evolves and expands. Until of late we never would have assumed that municipal zoning decisions over grocery and pharmacy locations would affect individual health. Yet we now know that these broad decisions affect access to care and individual healthcare outcomes.

Therefore, municipal zoning decisions, and the election of policy makers who make these decisions, become healthcare externalities – in which the impact is felt directly on the individual patient.

Traditional definitions of individualism fail to account for these externalities, because they frame healthcare policy from the perspective of the individual, which leaves us with an incomplete understanding of healthcare – with consequences that will linger on longer than the pandemic.

COVID-19 has changed American society, exposing fault lines in traditionally held assumptions about healthcare. The most glaring of which is the concept of individualism in healthcare.

Healthcare individualism is not the hermit waxing poetic in a Massachusetts forest, not the rugged frontiersman who pushes onward into the unknown, but the conscientious patient who makes decisions in her best interest while recognizing the primary and secondary consequences of her decisions.

Healthcare individualism is unique in its considerations, and unmistakably complex in its consequences. This is the nature of healthcare.

As healthcare grows to encompass a greater proportion of the overall economy, and expands in definition to embody concepts in society previously assumed to be unrelated to healthcare, our understanding of the individual in healthcare should change commensurately.

We must redefine American individualism for post-pandemic America, one that is uniquely sophisticated in all things healthcare as healthcare evolves to incorporate all things in society.

ShareTweet
Daily Remedy

Daily Remedy

Dr. Jay K Joshi serves as the editor-in-chief of Daily Remedy. He is a serial entrepreneur and sought after thought-leader for matters related to healthcare innovation and medical jurisprudence. He has published articles on a variety of healthcare topics in both peer-reviewed journals and trade publications. His legal writings include amicus curiae briefs prepared for prominent federal healthcare cases.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Videos

Summary

In this episode of the Daily Remedy Podcast, Dr. Joshi discusses the rapidly changing landscape of healthcare laws and trends, emphasizing the importance of understanding the distinction between statutory and case law. The conversation highlights the role of case law in shaping healthcare practices and encourages physicians to engage in legal advocacy by writing legal briefs to influence case law outcomes. The episode underscores the need for physicians to actively participate in the legal processes that govern their practice.

Takeaways

Healthcare trends are rapidly changing and confusing.
Understanding statutory and case law is crucial for physicians.
Case law can overturn existing statutory laws.
Physicians can influence healthcare law through legal briefs.
Writing legal briefs doesn't require extensive legal knowledge.
Narrative formats can be effective in legal briefs.
Physicians should express their perspectives in legal matters.
Engagement in legal advocacy is essential for physicians.
The interpretation of case law affects medical practice.
Physicians need to be part of the legal conversation.
Physicians: Write thy amicus briefs!
YouTube Video FFRYHFXhT4k
Subscribe

MD Angels Investor Pitch

Visuals

Official MAHA Report

Official MAHA Report

by Daily Remedy
May 31, 2025
0

Explore the official MAHA Report released by the White House in May 2025.

Read more

Twitter Updates

Tweets by DailyRemedy1

Newsletter

Start your Daily Remedy journey

Cultivate your knowledge of current healthcare events and ensure you receive the most accurate, insightful healthcare news and editorials.

*we hate spam as much as you do

Popular

  • Performative Oncology: The Rise of Cancer Influencers and the Erosion of Evidence

    Performative Oncology: The Rise of Cancer Influencers and the Erosion of Evidence

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Outbreak by Choice: The Resurgence of Measles and the Erosion of Vaccine Consensus

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Surveillance in Scrubs: How Patient Filming in Medical Settings Challenges Ethics, Privacy, and Care Delivery

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • The Algorithm Will See You Now: TikTok’s Role in Rewriting Mental Health Discourse

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Seasonal Surveillance: COVID’s Summer Resurgence, RSV Breakthroughs, and the Return of Treatable Infections

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • 628 Followers

Daily Remedy

Daily Remedy offers the best in healthcare information and healthcare editorial content. We take pride in consistently delivering only the highest quality of insight and analysis to ensure our audience is well-informed about current healthcare topics - beyond the traditional headlines.

Daily Remedy website services, content, and products are for informational purposes only. We do not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. All rights reserved.

Important Links

  • Support Us
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions

Newsletter

Start your Daily Remedy journey

Cultivate your knowledge of current healthcare events and ensure you receive the most accurate, insightful healthcare news and editorials.

*we hate spam as much as you do

  • Survey
  • Podcast
  • About Us
  • Contact us

© 2025 Daily Remedy

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Articles
  • Podcasts
  • Surveys
  • Courses
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Support Us
  • Official Learner

© 2025 Daily Remedy

Start your Daily Remedy journey

Cultivate your knowledge of current healthcare events and ensure you receive the most accurate, insightful healthcare news and editorials.

*we hate spam as much as you do