fuck, sometimes I wish “identifying the problem” and “fixing the problem” were always completely separate jobs

like realistically i know there are tons of ways this could turn out absolutely terrible. but it is terrible already. the damn conflicts of interest.

i mean, they do kinda already have it as separate jobs with medical care. a lot of the time anyway. A doctor comes up with a diagnosis for what’s wrong with you, and writes a prescription for medicine. Which you then buy at a pharmacy. And there’s good reasons for that.

I mean there CAN still be conflicts of interest– if the doctor is getting unfair kickbacks from a pharmaceutical company, which laws try to prevent… Or if the doctor and the pharmacy are part of the same hospital, which (despite being SUPPOSEDLY a nonprofit) is still sending everyone frantic emails every month about how profits are down and need to go up by any means possible.

AND being separate comes with its own problems. like doctors having no idea what a med costs and whether any insurance will cover it and whether their patient can afford it, and whether the patient’s pharmacy is likely to have it in stock or even be contracted to provide it, and sometimes whether it even still exists or was discontinued from all manufacture 15 years ago.

But. at LEAST the doctor doesn’t directly get a cut of the proceeds from every medicine they tell you you have to buy.

I feel like there should be a similar system for, like. electricians.

when an electrician tells you what needs to be done to fix your fuse box and how much it’ll cost, i want them to have absolutely no thoughts in their head about that money going to THEM. i want two separate professions, diagnostic electrician and repair electrician, who both get paid for what they do, but are not allowed to be the same person working on the same job.

grrr.