As an amateur sociologist, I had seen the health care system in my own country grow from a “cottage industry” to a three-trillion-dollar-a-year enterprise—employing millions, dominating neighborhoods and even skylines, setting off political fights over who should pay for it, and dooming politicians who choose the wrong answer. And what does this enterprise have to offer those who are not actually employed by it? Longevity is promised, among other things including freedom from disability, safe childbirth, and healthy babies. In a word, it offers us control—not control over our government or
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