By Henry Kahn, M.D.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Letters, July 28, 2025
As explained by Mike King in his AJC Opinion piece, āWhy a beloved hospital failed – and why it doesn’t have to be this way,ā July 20, the Atlanta Medical Center came to its end because it couldn’t survive in our country’s environment of profit-oriented medical care.
King is correct. The United States stands out among all wealthy societies as the only place where health and medical care are supposed to exist as businesses. In other wealthy countries, it’s presumed that health is – and should be – a social good, not a commercial product.
Those societies pay for their doctors, nurses, clinics, hospitals and public health services through progressive taxation plans that save money for the population. They don’t permit high overheads, lobbying or skimming profits off every collected dollar. Their medical coverage is essentially universal (everybody included in the same plan) because that’s the ethical and less expensive solution.
Medical funding in Georgia and the U.S. Is in a gloomy place right now. A bright spot can be found among the younger doctors, nurses and trainees who won’t accept the commercial distortion of their duty to deliver care where it’s needed. It’s time for our politicians and bean counters to follow the lead of the more Idealistic, coming leadership.