Thread by @awgaffney

We have more ICU beds per capita than almost any other nation (some would even argue too many).

The real problem is twofold:

1) We often don’t have healthcare infrastructure where we need it, because supply follows profit, not community medical need. vox.com/coronavirus-co…

2) As @dylanlscott makes clear in this article, US healthcare is uniquely uncoordinated and fragmented. There is no regional much less national coordination of patient flow & transfers & and bed capacity. Doctors are just picking up phones and calling & calling & calling.

I want to return to this in an academic venue sometime soon, but I wrote about it very briefly for @DissentMag last year - the case for bringing back health planning

dissentmagazine.org/article/bring-…

And for Baffler, I wrote in greater depth about the healthcare supply / need mismatch (through the lens of Covid) - and why racial/ethnic minorities suffer the consequences

thebaffler.com/salvos/bill-of…