Reply:
I agree with Milken’s view that a life is priceless from the video “What is a Life Worth?”. How can one put a price on an individual’s life? In our healthcare system today, some patients are denied lifesaving treatment due to the individual’s ability to pay for their portion and/or the insurance companies will not cover the cost of this lifesaving treatment. According to Ale et al. (2018), “when it is about the health of a single person, again the money spent is what one can afford. A long healthy life is a universal wish. But there are people who can afford expensive doctors, or expensive health insurance and those who cannot. It may be a sobering thought but if you do not have the money to pay for a treatment, you will die.” (Page 8).
In the video, Milken argues the importance of patient accountability. This can be achieved by incentivizing patients to get healthy. He stated, “good behavior gets rewarded.” Although did not state what or how patients would get rewarded. Also, physician accountability, which can be achieved by compensating physicians who provide quality care and have healthy patients. This seems like there is potential for patients and physicians to be dishonest to receive these incentives. When I am instructing my patients on disease and medication management, I include that they need to have the desire to take care of themselves to stay out of the hospital. I also make it a point to discuss they are an important part of the healthcare team. As noted by Aggarwal et al. (2022), “patients should be willing to accept help for their care while also keeping in mind that their health is under their control instead of completely shifting their roles onto their healthcare providers.” (Page 6)