I don't dispute that you are right that at the end it is an empirical question in each case, that requires research into "local conditions"; in particular, could one put together the infrastructure to effectively carry it off. I agree that this is the wrong list to ask those questions, unless by chance someone has relevant experience.
But there are also more abstract economic questions, and I wouldn't have thought this was the wrong place to ask those. We know that there big rents currently associated with health care in the U.S. We know that if U.S. health care could be put into competition, some of that rent could be captured. We know that cross-subsidization is a standard tool for providing services to poor people. These are general considerations of an economic nature, and there are other examples of these issues, and the chance is higher that someone would have relevant experience at this more abstract level, either in terms of knowing relevant research, or knowing of relevant things that were tried in the past. On Sat, Apr 21, 2012 at 1:17 AM, Gar Lipow <[email protected]> wrote: > On Fri, Apr 20, 2012 at 5:36 PM, Robert Naiman > <[email protected]> wrote: >> I certainly agree that it's a complex question; that's why I asked. >> >> Your answers respond to my first alternative; what about the second? > > > I think my answer to your second question is similar to my answer to > your first. It can't be answered as a general proposal. You need > specifics. It has to fit with local circumstances and culture. In > short, I don't think this list is the right place to ask this. Ask > Doctors without Borders. Or perhaps Paul Farmer. Just as with your > first proposal, more research is needed. Again, I suspect the answer > may vary in specific cases. And you will note my response did not rule > out your first alternative. It suggested some concrete test cases > worth researching. In your second, again, ask someone with sufficient > degree of expertise. This is not the kind of thing that will have the > same results in every nation. In Haiti, for example, how would you > deal witrh the corrupt reactionary government? How would you deal with > NGO social infrastructure that in the course of bypassing that corrupt > government has developed into a second social system that is > undemocratic and corrupt and often in its own way acts against the > interests of the Haitian people? You have to deal with specifics, > and that means you need to ask people with concrete on-the-ground > knowledge. I > > In short I think you are asking the wrong list. We do have some > medical people on this list - nurses and at least one midwife. But I > don't know if any of them have experience in Haiti or other poor > nations, or at least enough experience to answer your question. If you > can determine that this is a practical possibility, there may be > people on this list who can help with some of the organizing and > publicity. Who knows there may even be a person or two with > fundraising experience. But determining the worth of the idea in > first place that needs to be answered by someone with concrete > medical and social knowledge about both a specific nation, and > probably about a particular region within that nations as well. > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l -- Robert Naiman Policy Director Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org [email protected] _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
