I have been considering what I call the fundamental question of healthcare: 'what healthcare system gives the best treatment to the most patients?' This question, simple though it is, seems to lack any established answer.
The importance of this question seems self-evident. Is anyone aware of any research or proposals that seek to address it?
Scott Alexander reviewed this book that reviewed health care systems in different countries:
https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/book-review-which-country-has-the
https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/highlights-from-the-comments-on-health?s=r
Thanks for the pointers. I've reread this now - it is a good read and interesting throughout!
Intriguing though health economics is, I think I am more focused on the actual treatments. I want to understand, when faced with a patient, the methods that can be used to pick the treatment. I am interested in how effective each method would be for the patient and how well they would scale to an entire population.
It seems strange that these questions have been omitted in a book comparing healthcare systems.
Regarding the plausibility of biological X-risks:
Is anyone aware of any instance of a disease killing the entirety of a town?