Posted by klausen on March 01, 2003 at 13:38:00:
In Reply to: diabetes costs...too much posted by Craig on March 01, 2003 at 12:00:27:
If the cost/benefit analysis for curing diabetes vs. continuing to 'control' it were done in the way it is for issues the society really cares about -- like a corporation, for example, assessing how much money it could save by repairing an inefficient factory -- we would obviously be spending twice as much now to cure it now that the costs of not curing it are twice as high. But of course we are not, since the 'benefit' here is only our health, and the 'cost' is not only the research investment, but corporate profits on selling diabetic toys and trinkets. It would be interesting to compare the ratio between the monetary cost of diabetes with the amount spent to cure it and the typical investment made in private industry to cure expensive problems in the factory assembly line, for example.