Mine died at 71 as well, DS. He was diagnosed with a faulty heart valve and was all for having the relatively-common replacement surgery replaced, but NYLCare 65, the HMO he was with, kept putting it off, electing to change/increase his medication. His primary care physician finally hospitalized him, and he was dead within a week when the valve failed and he literally drowned because of his own lungs filling with fluid.
According to doctors I spoke to off the record, capitated care organizations such as NYLCare assigned a dollar " value" to each patient based on age, sex and existing physican factors, i.e. smoking, past illnesses, family history, etc. The primary care physician responsible for orchestrating all care received a financial incentive to keep the cost of treatment for each patient under that amount.
We took them to court and helped shut NYLCare down. I tend to agree with you regarding medical care in general.
