Health Care Costs Can Be Reduced By Advances in Medical Technology, Saving Obamacare in Ten Years

[JimBowie1958]

Our health care system aka Obamacare can limp along for decades, but what might save it or whatever healthinsurance system we have in place in ten years are the advances in medical technology that are coming out.

I posted the below in another thread, but after some thought, I feel like it merits its own thread for a different discussion.
*********************************************************************************

The way the insurance companies work to reduce medical care costs is one of the few forces downward on medical costs.

Their competition is another downward force in medical costs.

But the real deflationary impact on medical costs will come when we have a truly healthy population that does not need as much medical care and there are several new technologies coming out on that avenue.

1. Genetic engineering drugs that will cause cells to repair themselves as they used to when we were teenagers. Human trials of age-reversing pill to start in six months | Daily Mail Online

Scientists have made a discovery that could lead to a revolutionary drug that actually reverses ageing.

The drug could help damaged DNA to miraculously repair and even protect Nasa astronauts on Mars by protecting them from solar radiation.

A team of researchers developed the drug after discovering a key signalling process in DNA repair and cell ageing.

During trials on mice, the team found that the drug directly repaired DNA damage caused by radiation exposure or old age.

'The cells of the old mice were indistinguishable from the young mice after just one week of treatment,' said lead author Professor David Sinclair.

Human trials of the pill will begin within six months.​

2. Cures to genetic disease are right around the corner. Scientists show that gene editing can 'turn off' human diseases

Gene editing has already been used to fight diseases, but there's now hope that it might eliminate the diseases altogether. Researchers have shownthat it's possible to eliminate facial muscular dystrophy using a newer editing technique, CRISPR (Clusters of Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) to replace the offending gene and 'turn off' the condition. The approach sends a mix of protein and RNA to bind to a gene and give it an overhaul.

This doesn't mean that doctors suddenly have a cure-all on their hands. They haven't tried CRISPR on real live people, and there's no guarantee that it'd work with every genetic condition under the Sun. The initial test was only 50 percent effective, too. If this gene mending is useful in the field, though, it could do a lot to transform medicine. Doctors could treat the root cause of a genetic disease rather than deal with the symptoms, and possibly wipe it out entirely -- or at least, make it more bearable.​

This is just a start and given another 20 years, genetic disease might be thought of much as we today think of Polio.

3. The use of 3D printing to replace degenerating organs is almost here as well. No need to wait for a holiday set of fatal car crashes to get organs. We will be able to 3D print any organ needed using the stem cells of the recipient, thus avoiding huge complications due to tissue rejection. The Future of 3D Printing in Healthcare

Here a heart is built using a natural matrix of connective tissues instead of 3D printing and stem cells. Scientists Grow Beating Human Heart From Stem Cells

4. Introduction of nanotech robots and chemicals can repair the human body BEFORE there are problems. Tiny Implants Could Give Humans Self-Healing Superpowers

A new military-sponsored program aims to develop a tiny device that can be implanted in the body, where it will use electrical impulses to monitor the body's organs, healing these crucial parts when they become infected or injured.

Known as Electrical Prescriptions, or ElectRx, the program could reduce dependence on pharmaceutical drugs and offer a new way to treat illnesses, according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the branch of the U.S. Department of Defense responsible for developing the program.​

Here microscopic stealth drones are used to combat heart attacks. Drones could be used to seek out arteries to prevent heart attacks


We are on the cusp of indefinite life spans and constant good health IF we cooperate and make sure that such research is able to find its way to a market that can pay for it, thus we need to make sure that the elderly can purchase these treatments, and a government shepherded health insurance system I think is the optimal approach to this.

If this technology rolls out as planned, health insurance is going to become fairly cheap.

 

[mudwhistle]

Our health care system aka Obamacare can limp along for decades, but what might save it or whatever healthinsurance system we have in place in ten years are the advances in medical technology that are coming out.

I posted the below in another thread, but after some thought, I feel like it merits its own thread for a different discussion.
*********************************************************************************

The way the insurance companies work to reduce medical care costs is one of the few forces downward on medical costs.

Their competition is another downward force in medical costs.

But the real deflationary impact on medical costs will come when we have a truly healthy population that does not need as much medical care and there are several new technologies coming out on that avenue.

1. Genetic engineering drugs that will cause cells to repair themselves as they used to when we were teenagers. Human trials of age-reversing pill to start in six months | Daily Mail Online

Scientists have made a discovery that could lead to a revolutionary drug that actually reverses ageing.

The drug could help damaged DNA to miraculously repair and even protect Nasa astronauts on Mars by protecting them from solar radiation.

A team of researchers developed the drug after discovering a key signalling process in DNA repair and cell ageing.

During trials on mice, the team found that the drug directly repaired DNA damage caused by radiation exposure or old age.

'The cells of the old mice were indistinguishable from the young mice after just one week of treatment,' said lead author Professor David Sinclair.

Human trials of the pill will begin within six months.​

2. Cures to genetic disease are right around the corner. Scientists show that gene editing can 'turn off' human diseases

Gene editing has already been used to fight diseases, but there's now hope that it might eliminate the diseases altogether. Researchers have shownthat it's possible to eliminate facial muscular dystrophy using a newer editing technique, CRISPR (Clusters of Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) to replace the offending gene and 'turn off' the condition. The approach sends a mix of protein and RNA to bind to a gene and give it an overhaul.

This doesn't mean that doctors suddenly have a cure-all on their hands. They haven't tried CRISPR on real live people, and there's no guarantee that it'd work with every genetic condition under the Sun. The initial test was only 50 percent effective, too. If this gene mending is useful in the field, though, it could do a lot to transform medicine. Doctors could treat the root cause of a genetic disease rather than deal with the symptoms, and possibly wipe it out entirely -- or at least, make it more bearable.​

This is just a start and given another 20 years, genetic disease might be thought of much as we today think of Polio.

3. The use of 3D printing to replace degenerating organs is almost here as well. No need to wait for a holiday set of fatal car crashes to get organs. We will be able to 3D print any organ needed using the stem cells of the recipient, thus avoiding huge complications due to tissue rejection. The Future of 3D Printing in Healthcare

Here a heart is built using a natural matrix of connective tissues instead of 3D printing and stem cells. Scientists Grow Beating Human Heart From Stem Cells

4. Introduction of nanotech robots and chemicals can repair the human body BEFORE there are problems. Tiny Implants Could Give Humans Self-Healing Superpowers

A new military-sponsored program aims to develop a tiny device that can be implanted in the body, where it will use electrical impulses to monitor the body's organs, healing these crucial parts when they become infected or injured.

Known as Electrical Prescriptions, or ElectRx, the program could reduce dependence on pharmaceutical drugs and offer a new way to treat illnesses, according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the branch of the U.S. Department of Defense responsible for developing the program.​

Here microscopic stealth drones are used to combat heart attacks. Drones could be used to seek out arteries to prevent heart attacks


We are on the cusp of indefinite life spans and constant good health IF we cooperate and make sure that such research is able to find its way to a market that can pay for it, thus we need to make sure that the elderly can purchase these treatments, and a government shepherded health insurance system I think is the optimal approach to this.

If this technology rolls out as planned, health insurance is going to become fairly cheap.

And Unicorns really exist.

 

[JimBowie1958]

Our health care system aka Obamacare can limp along for decades, but what might save it or whatever healthinsurance system we have in place in ten years are the advances in medical technology that are coming out.

I posted the below in another thread, but after some thought, I feel like it merits its own thread for a different discussion.
*********************************************************************************

The way the insurance companies work to reduce medical care costs is one of the few forces downward on medical costs.

Their competition is another downward force in medical costs.

But the real deflationary impact on medical costs will come when we have a truly healthy population that does not need as much medical care and there are several new technologies coming out on that avenue.

1. Genetic engineering drugs that will cause cells to repair themselves as they used to when we were teenagers. Human trials of age-reversing pill to start in six months | Daily Mail Online

Scientists have made a discovery that could lead to a revolutionary drug that actually reverses ageing.

The drug could help damaged DNA to miraculously repair and even protect Nasa astronauts on Mars by protecting them from solar radiation.

A team of researchers developed the drug after discovering a key signalling process in DNA repair and cell ageing.

During trials on mice, the team found that the drug directly repaired DNA damage caused by radiation exposure or old age.

'The cells of the old mice were indistinguishable from the young mice after just one week of treatment,' said lead author Professor David Sinclair.

Human trials of the pill will begin within six months.​

2. Cures to genetic disease are right around the corner. Scientists show that gene editing can 'turn off' human diseases

Gene editing has already been used to fight diseases, but there's now hope that it might eliminate the diseases altogether. Researchers have shownthat it's possible to eliminate facial muscular dystrophy using a newer editing technique, CRISPR (Clusters of Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) to replace the offending gene and 'turn off' the condition. The approach sends a mix of protein and RNA to bind to a gene and give it an overhaul.

This doesn't mean that doctors suddenly have a cure-all on their hands. They haven't tried CRISPR on real live people, and there's no guarantee that it'd work with every genetic condition under the Sun. The initial test was only 50 percent effective, too. If this gene mending is useful in the field, though, it could do a lot to transform medicine. Doctors could treat the root cause of a genetic disease rather than deal with the symptoms, and possibly wipe it out entirely -- or at least, make it more bearable.​

This is just a start and given another 20 years, genetic disease might be thought of much as we today think of Polio.

3. The use of 3D printing to replace degenerating organs is almost here as well. No need to wait for a holiday set of fatal car crashes to get organs. We will be able to 3D print any organ needed using the stem cells of the recipient, thus avoiding huge complications due to tissue rejection. The Future of 3D Printing in Healthcare

Here a heart is built using a natural matrix of connective tissues instead of 3D printing and stem cells. Scientists Grow Beating Human Heart From Stem Cells

4. Introduction of nanotech robots and chemicals can repair the human body BEFORE there are problems. Tiny Implants Could Give Humans Self-Healing Superpowers

A new military-sponsored program aims to develop a tiny device that can be implanted in the body, where it will use electrical impulses to monitor the body's organs, healing these crucial parts when they become infected or injured.

Known as Electrical Prescriptions, or ElectRx, the program could reduce dependence on pharmaceutical drugs and offer a new way to treat illnesses, according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the branch of the U.S. Department of Defense responsible for developing the program.​

Here microscopic stealth drones are used to combat heart attacks. Drones could be used to seek out arteries to prevent heart attacks


We are on the cusp of indefinite life spans and constant good health IF we cooperate and make sure that such research is able to find its way to a market that can pay for it, thus we need to make sure that the elderly can purchase these treatments, and a government shepherded health insurance system I think is the optimal approach to this.

If this technology rolls out as planned, health insurance is going to become fairly cheap.

And Unicorns really exist.

Oh, Mudwhistle, dont be a Nattering Nabob of Negativism, none of this is "Unicorns Playing in the Mists", but instead I gave links to articles that discuss the ongoing research by such institutions as DARPA and more.

My point is that soon it wont really matter what health insurance system we have in place as all costs are going to start coming down as the need for medical services trends downward.

 

[mudwhistle]

Our health care system aka Obamacare can limp along for decades, but what might save it or whatever healthinsurance system we have in place in ten years are the advances in medical technology that are coming out.

I posted the below in another thread, but after some thought, I feel like it merits its own thread for a different discussion.
*********************************************************************************

The way the insurance companies work to reduce medical care costs is one of the few forces downward on medical costs.

Their competition is another downward force in medical costs.

But the real deflationary impact on medical costs will come when we have a truly healthy population that does not need as much medical care and there are several new technologies coming out on that avenue.

1. Genetic engineering drugs that will cause cells to repair themselves as they used to when we were teenagers. Human trials of age-reversing pill to start in six months | Daily Mail Online

Scientists have made a discovery that could lead to a revolutionary drug that actually reverses ageing.

The drug could help damaged DNA to miraculously repair and even protect Nasa astronauts on Mars by protecting them from solar radiation.

A team of researchers developed the drug after discovering a key signalling process in DNA repair and cell ageing.

During trials on mice, the team found that the drug directly repaired DNA damage caused by radiation exposure or old age.

'The cells of the old mice were indistinguishable from the young mice after just one week of treatment,' said lead author Professor David Sinclair.

Human trials of the pill will begin within six months.​

2. Cures to genetic disease are right around the corner. Scientists show that gene editing can 'turn off' human diseases

Gene editing has already been used to fight diseases, but there's now hope that it might eliminate the diseases altogether. Researchers have shownthat it's possible to eliminate facial muscular dystrophy using a newer editing technique, CRISPR (Clusters of Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) to replace the offending gene and 'turn off' the condition. The approach sends a mix of protein and RNA to bind to a gene and give it an overhaul.

This doesn't mean that doctors suddenly have a cure-all on their hands. They haven't tried CRISPR on real live people, and there's no guarantee that it'd work with every genetic condition under the Sun. The initial test was only 50 percent effective, too. If this gene mending is useful in the field, though, it could do a lot to transform medicine. Doctors could treat the root cause of a genetic disease rather than deal with the symptoms, and possibly wipe it out entirely -- or at least, make it more bearable.​

This is just a start and given another 20 years, genetic disease might be thought of much as we today think of Polio.

3. The use of 3D printing to replace degenerating organs is almost here as well. No need to wait for a holiday set of fatal car crashes to get organs. We will be able to 3D print any organ needed using the stem cells of the recipient, thus avoiding huge complications due to tissue rejection. The Future of 3D Printing in Healthcare

Here a heart is built using a natural matrix of connective tissues instead of 3D printing and stem cells. Scientists Grow Beating Human Heart From Stem Cells

4. Introduction of nanotech robots and chemicals can repair the human body BEFORE there are problems. Tiny Implants Could Give Humans Self-Healing Superpowers

A new military-sponsored program aims to develop a tiny device that can be implanted in the body, where it will use electrical impulses to monitor the body's organs, healing these crucial parts when they become infected or injured.

Known as Electrical Prescriptions, or ElectRx, the program could reduce dependence on pharmaceutical drugs and offer a new way to treat illnesses, according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the branch of the U.S. Department of Defense responsible for developing the program.​

Here microscopic stealth drones are used to combat heart attacks. Drones could be used to seek out arteries to prevent heart attacks


We are on the cusp of indefinite life spans and constant good health IF we cooperate and make sure that such research is able to find its way to a market that can pay for it, thus we need to make sure that the elderly can purchase these treatments, and a government shepherded health insurance system I think is the optimal approach to this.

If this technology rolls out as planned, health insurance is going to become fairly cheap.

And Unicorns really exist.

Oh, Mudwhistle, dont be a Nattering Nabob of Negativism, none of this is "Unicorns Playing in the Mists", but instead I gave links to articles that discuss the ongoing research by such institutions as DARPA and more.

My point is that soon it wont really matter what health insurance system we have in place as all costs are going to start coming down as the need for medical services trends downward.

It all depends on who runs it.....and if the voters insist on rewarding liars that make a living off of defrauding the public it will never work like it does in, say, Germany. Excellent health care system btw.

 

[JimBowie1958]

It all depends on who runs it.....and if the voters insist on rewarding liars that make a living off of defrauding the public it will never work like it does in, say, Germany. Excellent health care system btw.

I think that will be true for about a decade and perhaps a little beyond that.

But once the tech kicks in, it will be in actuarial terms like the whole population was composed of 20 year old Supermen....and Supergirls too.

I doubt even our politicians being able to F that up.

 

[yiostheoy]

Our health care system aka Obamacare can limp along for decades, but what might save it or whatever healthinsurance system we have in place in ten years are the advances in medical technology that are coming out.

I posted the below in another thread, but after some thought, I feel like it merits its own thread for a different discussion.
*********************************************************************************

The way the insurance companies work to reduce medical care costs is one of the few forces downward on medical costs.

Their competition is another downward force in medical costs.

But the real deflationary impact on medical costs will come when we have a truly healthy population that does not need as much medical care and there are several new technologies coming out on that avenue.

1. Genetic engineering drugs that will cause cells to repair themselves as they used to when we were teenagers. Human trials of age-reversing pill to start in six months | Daily Mail Online

Scientists have made a discovery that could lead to a revolutionary drug that actually reverses ageing.

The drug could help damaged DNA to miraculously repair and even protect Nasa astronauts on Mars by protecting them from solar radiation.

A team of researchers developed the drug after discovering a key signalling process in DNA repair and cell ageing.

During trials on mice, the team found that the drug directly repaired DNA damage caused by radiation exposure or old age.

'The cells of the old mice were indistinguishable from the young mice after just one week of treatment,' said lead author Professor David Sinclair.

Human trials of the pill will begin within six months.​

2. Cures to genetic disease are right around the corner. Scientists show that gene editing can 'turn off' human diseases

Gene editing has already been used to fight diseases, but there's now hope that it might eliminate the diseases altogether. Researchers have shownthat it's possible to eliminate facial muscular dystrophy using a newer editing technique, CRISPR (Clusters of Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) to replace the offending gene and 'turn off' the condition. The approach sends a mix of protein and RNA to bind to a gene and give it an overhaul.

This doesn't mean that doctors suddenly have a cure-all on their hands. They haven't tried CRISPR on real live people, and there's no guarantee that it'd work with every genetic condition under the Sun. The initial test was only 50 percent effective, too. If this gene mending is useful in the field, though, it could do a lot to transform medicine. Doctors could treat the root cause of a genetic disease rather than deal with the symptoms, and possibly wipe it out entirely -- or at least, make it more bearable.​

This is just a start and given another 20 years, genetic disease might be thought of much as we today think of Polio.

3. The use of 3D printing to replace degenerating organs is almost here as well. No need to wait for a holiday set of fatal car crashes to get organs. We will be able to 3D print any organ needed using the stem cells of the recipient, thus avoiding huge complications due to tissue rejection. The Future of 3D Printing in Healthcare

Here a heart is built using a natural matrix of connective tissues instead of 3D printing and stem cells. Scientists Grow Beating Human Heart From Stem Cells

4. Introduction of nanotech robots and chemicals can repair the human body BEFORE there are problems. Tiny Implants Could Give Humans Self-Healing Superpowers

A new military-sponsored program aims to develop a tiny device that can be implanted in the body, where it will use electrical impulses to monitor the body's organs, healing these crucial parts when they become infected or injured.

Known as Electrical Prescriptions, or ElectRx, the program could reduce dependence on pharmaceutical drugs and offer a new way to treat illnesses, according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the branch of the U.S. Department of Defense responsible for developing the program.​

Here microscopic stealth drones are used to combat heart attacks. Drones could be used to seek out arteries to prevent heart attacks


We are on the cusp of indefinite life spans and constant good health IF we cooperate and make sure that such research is able to find its way to a market that can pay for it, thus we need to make sure that the elderly can purchase these treatments, and a government shepherded health insurance system I think is the optimal approach to this.

If this technology rolls out as planned, health insurance is going to become fairly cheap.

And Unicorns really exist.

Oh, Mudwhistle, dont be a Nattering Nabob of Negativism, none of this is "Unicorns Playing in the Mists", but instead I gave links to articles that discuss the ongoing research by such institutions as DARPA and more.

My point is that soon it wont really matter what health insurance system we have in place as all costs are going to start coming down as the need for medical services trends downward.

Advances in medical technology normally RAISE medical costs NOT lower them.

 

[JimBowie1958]

Another example, doctors will be able to ahve your blood 'brewed' to match your blood type in emergency situations, thus no more deaths from lack of blood.

Local Doctor Working To 'Brew Blood' To Combat Certain Disorders

 

[JimBowie1958]

Advances in medical technology normally RAISE medical costs NOT lower them.

You really dont see the difference here?

Currently medical advances prolong low quality life, with maybe incremental improvements.

But now we are talking about actuarial factors that will make 99% of medical care preventive, cheap and universally available.

Can you grasp the impact of that now?

 

[mudwhistle]

It all depends on who runs it.....and if the voters insist on rewarding liars that make a living off of defrauding the public it will never work like it does in, say, Germany. Excellent health care system btw.

I think that will be true for about a decade and perhaps a little beyond that.

But once the tech kicks in, it will be in actuarial terms like the whole population was composed of 20 year old Supermen....and Supergirls too.

I doubt even our politicians being able to F that up.

You'd be surprised.
We just had a dickhead in the WH for 8 years that created thousands of new regulations designed for the sole purpose of jacking up costs to health care providers. Nevermind raising the requirements for government contractors.

 

[EvMetro]

The best way to lower medical costs is already here, and it is free. In fact, it even saves money. All we have to do is stop junk fooding, smoking, and boozing. Stop putting unhealthy stuff in your body, and it no longer needs a buncha prescriptions, heart surgery, and diabetes treatment.

 

[mudwhistle]

The best way to lower medical costs is already here, and it is free. In fact, it even saves money. All we have to do is stop junk fooding, smoking, and boozing. Stop putting unhealthy stuff in your body, and it no longer needs a buncha prescriptions, heart surgery, and diabetes treatment.

Go to any store and for the most part they sell junk. Only way to avoid that is grow and raise it yourself.

 

[OnePercenter]

If you want to control healthcare costs, limit to amount of monies that insurance companies and providers can charge.

 

[Mac1958]

Our health care system aka Obamacare can limp along for decades, but what might save it or whatever healthinsurance system we have in place in ten years are the advances in medical technology that are coming out.

I posted the below in another thread, but after some thought, I feel like it merits its own thread for a different discussion.
*********************************************************************************

The way the insurance companies work to reduce medical care costs is one of the few forces downward on medical costs.

Their competition is another downward force in medical costs.

But the real deflationary impact on medical costs will come when we have a truly healthy population that does not need as much medical care and there are several new technologies coming out on that avenue.

1. Genetic engineering drugs that will cause cells to repair themselves as they used to when we were teenagers. Human trials of age-reversing pill to start in six months | Daily Mail Online

Scientists have made a discovery that could lead to a revolutionary drug that actually reverses ageing.

The drug could help damaged DNA to miraculously repair and even protect Nasa astronauts on Mars by protecting them from solar radiation.

A team of researchers developed the drug after discovering a key signalling process in DNA repair and cell ageing.

During trials on mice, the team found that the drug directly repaired DNA damage caused by radiation exposure or old age.

'The cells of the old mice were indistinguishable from the young mice after just one week of treatment,' said lead author Professor David Sinclair.

Human trials of the pill will begin within six months.​

2. Cures to genetic disease are right around the corner. Scientists show that gene editing can 'turn off' human diseases

Gene editing has already been used to fight diseases, but there's now hope that it might eliminate the diseases altogether. Researchers have shownthat it's possible to eliminate facial muscular dystrophy using a newer editing technique, CRISPR (Clusters of Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) to replace the offending gene and 'turn off' the condition. The approach sends a mix of protein and RNA to bind to a gene and give it an overhaul.

This doesn't mean that doctors suddenly have a cure-all on their hands. They haven't tried CRISPR on real live people, and there's no guarantee that it'd work with every genetic condition under the Sun. The initial test was only 50 percent effective, too. If this gene mending is useful in the field, though, it could do a lot to transform medicine. Doctors could treat the root cause of a genetic disease rather than deal with the symptoms, and possibly wipe it out entirely -- or at least, make it more bearable.​

This is just a start and given another 20 years, genetic disease might be thought of much as we today think of Polio.

3. The use of 3D printing to replace degenerating organs is almost here as well. No need to wait for a holiday set of fatal car crashes to get organs. We will be able to 3D print any organ needed using the stem cells of the recipient, thus avoiding huge complications due to tissue rejection. The Future of 3D Printing in Healthcare

Here a heart is built using a natural matrix of connective tissues instead of 3D printing and stem cells. Scientists Grow Beating Human Heart From Stem Cells

4. Introduction of nanotech robots and chemicals can repair the human body BEFORE there are problems. Tiny Implants Could Give Humans Self-Healing Superpowers

A new military-sponsored program aims to develop a tiny device that can be implanted in the body, where it will use electrical impulses to monitor the body's organs, healing these crucial parts when they become infected or injured.

Known as Electrical Prescriptions, or ElectRx, the program could reduce dependence on pharmaceutical drugs and offer a new way to treat illnesses, according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the branch of the U.S. Department of Defense responsible for developing the program.​

Here microscopic stealth drones are used to combat heart attacks. Drones could be used to seek out arteries to prevent heart attacks


We are on the cusp of indefinite life spans and constant good health IF we cooperate and make sure that such research is able to find its way to a market that can pay for it, thus we need to make sure that the elderly can purchase these treatments, and a government shepherded health insurance system I think is the optimal approach to this.

If this technology rolls out as planned, health insurance is going to become fairly cheap.

Jim, my youngest daughter is in college for a degree in the medical field, and holy crap, the things she tells me are coming down the road. The one that blows my mind the most is, as you point out, 3D printing, particularly 3D printing of ORGANS, using human cells as the "ink". Absolutely amazing.

The funny thing is, she's young and thinks it's cool and all, but my mind is just BLOWN. This is STAR TREK stuff.

I've told her that one day maybe she can "print" her old Dad a new HIP.


.

 

[OnePercenter]

Our health care system aka Obamacare can limp along for decades, but what might save it or whatever healthinsurance system we have in place in ten years are the advances in medical technology that are coming out.

I posted the below in another thread, but after some thought, I feel like it merits its own thread for a different discussion.
*********************************************************************************

The way the insurance companies work to reduce medical care costs is one of the few forces downward on medical costs.

Their competition is another downward force in medical costs.

But the real deflationary impact on medical costs will come when we have a truly healthy population that does not need as much medical care and there are several new technologies coming out on that avenue.

1. Genetic engineering drugs that will cause cells to repair themselves as they used to when we were teenagers. Human trials of age-reversing pill to start in six months | Daily Mail Online

Scientists have made a discovery that could lead to a revolutionary drug that actually reverses ageing.

The drug could help damaged DNA to miraculously repair and even protect Nasa astronauts on Mars by protecting them from solar radiation.

A team of researchers developed the drug after discovering a key signalling process in DNA repair and cell ageing.

During trials on mice, the team found that the drug directly repaired DNA damage caused by radiation exposure or old age.

'The cells of the old mice were indistinguishable from the young mice after just one week of treatment,' said lead author Professor David Sinclair.

Human trials of the pill will begin within six months.​

2. Cures to genetic disease are right around the corner. Scientists show that gene editing can 'turn off' human diseases

Gene editing has already been used to fight diseases, but there's now hope that it might eliminate the diseases altogether. Researchers have shownthat it's possible to eliminate facial muscular dystrophy using a newer editing technique, CRISPR (Clusters of Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) to replace the offending gene and 'turn off' the condition. The approach sends a mix of protein and RNA to bind to a gene and give it an overhaul.

This doesn't mean that doctors suddenly have a cure-all on their hands. They haven't tried CRISPR on real live people, and there's no guarantee that it'd work with every genetic condition under the Sun. The initial test was only 50 percent effective, too. If this gene mending is useful in the field, though, it could do a lot to transform medicine. Doctors could treat the root cause of a genetic disease rather than deal with the symptoms, and possibly wipe it out entirely -- or at least, make it more bearable.​

This is just a start and given another 20 years, genetic disease might be thought of much as we today think of Polio.

3. The use of 3D printing to replace degenerating organs is almost here as well. No need to wait for a holiday set of fatal car crashes to get organs. We will be able to 3D print any organ needed using the stem cells of the recipient, thus avoiding huge complications due to tissue rejection. The Future of 3D Printing in Healthcare

Here a heart is built using a natural matrix of connective tissues instead of 3D printing and stem cells. Scientists Grow Beating Human Heart From Stem Cells

4. Introduction of nanotech robots and chemicals can repair the human body BEFORE there are problems. Tiny Implants Could Give Humans Self-Healing Superpowers

A new military-sponsored program aims to develop a tiny device that can be implanted in the body, where it will use electrical impulses to monitor the body's organs, healing these crucial parts when they become infected or injured.

Known as Electrical Prescriptions, or ElectRx, the program could reduce dependence on pharmaceutical drugs and offer a new way to treat illnesses, according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the branch of the U.S. Department of Defense responsible for developing the program.​

Here microscopic stealth drones are used to combat heart attacks. Drones could be used to seek out arteries to prevent heart attacks


We are on the cusp of indefinite life spans and constant good health IF we cooperate and make sure that such research is able to find its way to a market that can pay for it, thus we need to make sure that the elderly can purchase these treatments, and a government shepherded health insurance system I think is the optimal approach to this.

If this technology rolls out as planned, health insurance is going to become fairly cheap.

Jim, my youngest daughter is in college for a degree in the medical field, and holy crap, the things she tells me are coming down the road. The one that blows my mind the most is, as you point out, 3D printing, particularly 3D printing of ORGANS, using human cells as the "ink". Absolutely amazing.

The funny thing is, she's young and thinks it's cool and all, but my mind is just BLOWN. This is STAR TREK stuff.

I've told her that one day maybe she can "print" her old Dad a new HIP.


.

We have the most expensive healthcare on the face of the earth. Insurance companies who own and profit directly or indirectly as providers of the majority healthcare make record profit year after year.

 

[Mac1958]

Our health care system aka Obamacare can limp along for decades, but what might save it or whatever healthinsurance system we have in place in ten years are the advances in medical technology that are coming out.

I posted the below in another thread, but after some thought, I feel like it merits its own thread for a different discussion.
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The way the insurance companies work to reduce medical care costs is one of the few forces downward on medical costs.

Their competition is another downward force in medical costs.

But the real deflationary impact on medical costs will come when we have a truly healthy population that does not need as much medical care and there are several new technologies coming out on that avenue.

1. Genetic engineering drugs that will cause cells to repair themselves as they used to when we were teenagers. Human trials of age-reversing pill to start in six months | Daily Mail Online

Scientists have made a discovery that could lead to a revolutionary drug that actually reverses ageing.

The drug could help damaged DNA to miraculously repair and even protect Nasa astronauts on Mars by protecting them from solar radiation.

A team of researchers developed the drug after discovering a key signalling process in DNA repair and cell ageing.

During trials on mice, the team found that the drug directly repaired DNA damage caused by radiation exposure or old age.

'The cells of the old mice were indistinguishable from the young mice after just one week of treatment,' said lead author Professor David Sinclair.

Human trials of the pill will begin within six months.​

2. Cures to genetic disease are right around the corner. Scientists show that gene editing can 'turn off' human diseases

Gene editing has already been used to fight diseases, but there's now hope that it might eliminate the diseases altogether. Researchers have shownthat it's possible to eliminate facial muscular dystrophy using a newer editing technique, CRISPR (Clusters of Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) to replace the offending gene and 'turn off' the condition. The approach sends a mix of protein and RNA to bind to a gene and give it an overhaul.

This doesn't mean that doctors suddenly have a cure-all on their hands. They haven't tried CRISPR on real live people, and there's no guarantee that it'd work with every genetic condition under the Sun. The initial test was only 50 percent effective, too. If this gene mending is useful in the field, though, it could do a lot to transform medicine. Doctors could treat the root cause of a genetic disease rather than deal with the symptoms, and possibly wipe it out entirely -- or at least, make it more bearable.​

This is just a start and given another 20 years, genetic disease might be thought of much as we today think of Polio.

3. The use of 3D printing to replace degenerating organs is almost here as well. No need to wait for a holiday set of fatal car crashes to get organs. We will be able to 3D print any organ needed using the stem cells of the recipient, thus avoiding huge complications due to tissue rejection. The Future of 3D Printing in Healthcare

Here a heart is built using a natural matrix of connective tissues instead of 3D printing and stem cells. Scientists Grow Beating Human Heart From Stem Cells

4. Introduction of nanotech robots and chemicals can repair the human body BEFORE there are problems. Tiny Implants Could Give Humans Self-Healing Superpowers

A new military-sponsored program aims to develop a tiny device that can be implanted in the body, where it will use electrical impulses to monitor the body's organs, healing these crucial parts when they become infected or injured.

Known as Electrical Prescriptions, or ElectRx, the program could reduce dependence on pharmaceutical drugs and offer a new way to treat illnesses, according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the branch of the U.S. Department of Defense responsible for developing the program.​

Here microscopic stealth drones are used to combat heart attacks. Drones could be used to seek out arteries to prevent heart attacks


We are on the cusp of indefinite life spans and constant good health IF we cooperate and make sure that such research is able to find its way to a market that can pay for it, thus we need to make sure that the elderly can purchase these treatments, and a government shepherded health insurance system I think is the optimal approach to this.

If this technology rolls out as planned, health insurance is going to become fairly cheap.

Jim, my youngest daughter is in college for a degree in the medical field, and holy crap, the things she tells me are coming down the road. The one that blows my mind the most is, as you point out, 3D printing, particularly 3D printing of ORGANS, using human cells as the "ink". Absolutely amazing.

The funny thing is, she's young and thinks it's cool and all, but my mind is just BLOWN. This is STAR TREK stuff.

I've told her that one day maybe she can "print" her old Dad a new HIP.


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We have the most expensive healthcare on the face of the earth. Insurance companies who own and profit directly or indirectly as providers of the majority healthcare make record profit year after year.

Which has what to do with my post, precisely?
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[EvMetro]

The best way to lower medical costs is already here, and it is free. In fact, it even saves money. All we have to do is stop junk fooding, smoking, and boozing. Stop putting unhealthy stuff in your body, and it no longer needs a buncha prescriptions, heart surgery, and diabetes treatment.

Go to any store and for the most part they sell junk. Only way to avoid that is grow and raise it yourself.

One can find healthy food at the local grocery store, but I agree that it is hard to find in all that junk food. I would bet that 90% or more of the population does not even know the difference.

The best way to lower health care costs is to lower the demand for it. Personally, I hate going to doctors, so I changed my ways years ago to ensure that I could stay away from them. I used to have to see them to get prescriptions for blood pressure and cholesterol drugs, and a half dozen other drugs to help offset the side effects and other problems, but I put an end to all that. My food bill is cheaper now, and I don't take prescription drugs anymore. I don't get scared if I get a muscle twitch in my chest anymore, and I only see the doc once a year now, to hear him praise my blood work and give me a thumbs up to another year until my next check up.

I don't know how much it would have cost if I had stayed a junk food eating fat ass and then had the inevitable heart attack, but from what I understand, this problem costs the country over 300 billion dollars per year.

 

[JimBowie1958]

Jim, my youngest daughter is in college for a degree in the medical field, and holy crap, the things she tells me are coming down the road. The one that blows my mind the most is, as you point out, 3D printing, particularly 3D printing of ORGANS, using human cells as the "ink". Absolutely amazing.

The funny thing is, she's young and thinks it's cool and all, but my mind is just BLOWN. This is STAR TREK stuff.

I've told her that one day maybe she can "print" her old Dad a new HIP.


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Well, dont encourage her too much, lest she decides to go for a WHOLE NEW Dad, lol.

An interesting problem too is the life like androids I call "simulants" that one cannot tell is a natural person or a robot.

Many people will get such bots too look exactly like famous movie actresses and models, but what if they choose to make it look exactly like your wife or daughter?

That could get kind of 'complicated', if you ask me.

BTW, you will probably be able to get your printed hip around 2024, seriously.