[I] suspect [vaccines] (or antibiotics) account for the majority of the value provided by the medical system
Though I agree that vaccines and antibiotics are extraordinarily beneficial and cost-effective interventions, I suspect you’re missing essential value fountains in our medical system. Two that come to mind are surgery and emergency medicine.
I’ve spoken to several surgeons about their work, and they all said that one of the great things about their job is seeing the immediate and obvious benefits to patients. (Of course, surgery wouldn’t be nearly as effective without antibiotics, so potentially, this smuggles something in.)
Emergency medicine also provides a lot of benefits. Someone was going to die from bleeding, and we sewed them up. Boom! We avoid a $2.5 million loss. Accidental deaths would be much higher in the US without emergency medicine personnel.
Another one to look into would be perinatal care. I haven’t examined it, but I suspect it adds billions or trillions to the US economy by producing humans with a higher baseline health and capacity.
Though I agree that vaccines and antibiotics are extraordinarily beneficial and cost-effective interventions, I suspect you’re missing essential value fountains in our medical system. Two that come to mind are surgery and emergency medicine.
I’ve spoken to several surgeons about their work, and they all said that one of the great things about their job is seeing the immediate and obvious benefits to patients. (Of course, surgery wouldn’t be nearly as effective without antibiotics, so potentially, this smuggles something in.)
Emergency medicine also provides a lot of benefits. Someone was going to die from bleeding, and we sewed them up. Boom! We avoid a $2.5 million loss. Accidental deaths would be much higher in the US without emergency medicine personnel.
Another one to look into would be perinatal care. I haven’t examined it, but I suspect it adds billions or trillions to the US economy by producing humans with a higher baseline health and capacity.