If the “government” becomes the only source of truth, that source of truth is necessarily political. The oft-mentioned NHS — do they not have an incentive to lower health care expenditures? Would providing medical information to the public that prescribes a suggested course of action incentivize the course of action that is least expensive to the government but not necessarily the best treatment? Is there any potential for a conflict of interest there? Of course there is. If some condition is best treated with an expensive procedure, would the NHS be incentivized to recommend a cheaper, but less effective approach? Of course they would. The NHS routinely denies or delays life-changing surgeries over cost despite such denials not being in the best interests of the patient. (Try getting an NHS knee replacement.) There are treatments NHS won’t recommend because a person is too old. Not because they can’t handle the procedure but because the expense isn’t worth the amount of lifespan remaining in the patient.
Medical information provided by governments is often centered around what’s best for “populations” and not necessarily the individual. Covid is a prime example: masking kids was bad for the kids but allegedly “good” for the population. Damaging to the individual for the alleged benefit of the so-called greater good. Despite all the kid masking “science” turning out to be garbage. Covid vax for kids is another example: the government right now in the US promotes vaccinating even toddlers despite their individual risk of serious illness being statistically zero.
Covid information is another example: the government was wrong on multiple occasions throughout the pandemic. Yet when “official sources” are the only approved source of information, the public gets mislead. The marketplace of ideas is a real idea and it should be embraced. We need more private sector competition for information, not less.
If WebMD is bad, the solution isn’t government, it’s a competitor.
Of course the NHS has an incentive to lower costs, it's in their interest for doctors to prescribe the most cost effective treatment as patients rarely stop coming back as a result of ineffective treatment. Does this mean that objectively good preventative treatment (like physio) and quality of life elective surgery get pushed to the back of the triage queue, and that individual needs are occasionally failed? Absolutely, and in these cases where the NHS falls short there's always the option of going private, which just highlights that healthcare is always political.
In a purely private healthcare system (which doesn't exist in the developed world) the politics are firstly whether you can pay and secondly how much you can pay. No point offering free dieting and lifestyle advice when risky weight loss surgery (which has a notoriously low success rate) offers instant success, got a bad back or knee? Try out this risk free* (*not actually risk free) surgery! It wasn't that long ago in the US that getting cancer without health insurance was a death sentence, and that again is a political choice, one that the US government reneged on.
> If WebMD is bad, the solution isn’t government, it’s a competitor.
And how to decide who to trust? Still unsolved. The general public loves being lied to, as long as they like who is lying to them (same political party, religion, or just making impossible promises).
Medical information provided by governments is often centered around what’s best for “populations” and not necessarily the individual. Covid is a prime example: masking kids was bad for the kids but allegedly “good” for the population. Damaging to the individual for the alleged benefit of the so-called greater good. Despite all the kid masking “science” turning out to be garbage. Covid vax for kids is another example: the government right now in the US promotes vaccinating even toddlers despite their individual risk of serious illness being statistically zero.
HIV is also something that the government really got it wrong in the 1980s. https://www.aier.org/article/fauci-was-duplicitous-on-the-ai...
Covid information is another example: the government was wrong on multiple occasions throughout the pandemic. Yet when “official sources” are the only approved source of information, the public gets mislead. The marketplace of ideas is a real idea and it should be embraced. We need more private sector competition for information, not less.
If WebMD is bad, the solution isn’t government, it’s a competitor.