Americans are fond of saying that their political system, with its separate executive, judicial and legislative branches, has conflict “baked in”. It is supposed to be difficult to pass laws in the United States, because the Founding Fathers wanted to make damn sure their country would never again be dictated to by a monarch.
When you bake conflict into healthcare, however, everything goes awry. Republican mayors turn against Democratic county officials; Democratic governors turn against Republican presidents; Republican presidents begin to stockpile medication, steal protective equipment bound for other nations, and ask US factories not to supply life-saving ventilators to neighbouring countries.
People’s lives and deaths are forgotten as hospitals struggle to maintain their marketable statistics. City funds are used to buy medical supplies in a pandemic, because the federal government — even the state government — has no hope of accessing the data it would need to distribute supplies fairly.
Some states lock down and invest in drive-through testing facilities; others deny they have any patients at all while their sick citizens are passed from one place to another, none of which wants to take responsibility for Patient Zero.
It's a sad read based around a 17 year old who died of CV, and why California officials claim it was sepsis (a killer symptom of CV) as well as a damning commentary on US health insurance, who is covered and by how much.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long ... 53826.html