(05-18-2020 08:04 AM)ken d Wrote:  Higher education in America was already on the brink of a major restructuring even before COVID-19. Closings, mergers and reduced course/degree offerings were going to escalate sharply over the next decade or so. This pandemic has only accelerated the timetable for this trend. Ironically, it also gives schools and states political cover to do what they knew they needed to anyway.

The challenge will be for our economy to find ways to adjust to a new reality in which many students will be entering the workforce sooner. Nationally, we may need to rethink our strategic needs. The idea that we didn't have the manufacturing capability in place to quickly produce something as simple as protective masks and gloves is scary. How many other strategically important items are no longer manufactured in America? Maybe we need to accept some higher prices to be sure we aren't at the mercy of a potential adversary like China. I'm not sure America has the collective will to do that.

That sounds really good, but who is going to pay for the increased costs in this country? As you noted "I'm not sure America has the collective will to do that." I don't think we do, either.

As someone who worked in the healthcare supply chain for over thirty years, my job was to keep supply costs as low as possible. There was about a 25 year period where supply costs were constantly falling, because everything was moving out of the country. Reimbursement for all health care services has been under downward pressure for several years, so we had to reduce costs to survive. Most hospitals struggle financially. So if we bring back medical manufacturing to the U.S., there are going to be significant increases in healthcare costs under the current healthcare system we have, which is already the most expensive in the world. That is why I doubt this will happen.

Duke University Health will be just fine. The Duke Endowment can help if needed. They gave the Health system a $50 million dollar grant last year:
https://today.duke.edu/2019/03/duke-rece...c-research

The smaller hospital groups and independent community hospitals are going to get killed in this crisis. Rural hospitals will really get hit hard. They already have been taking a beating for years and many are just barely hanging on.