The other Awards Obama will will this year...

[kandrathe]

Afterthought: This is not to say that *all* wait times save lives, far from it. But moderate wait times may in fact be an overall benefit to health, rather than a detriment.

You'd need to show me the study. Intuitively, people die from their maladies, and lack of treatment. Even the example of joint replacements, where the lack of mobility results in deteriorating health, or uncertain mobility leads to a fall. Now, if you think that having a wait list of many months actually saves lives, then I'd need some evidence of that. Generally, I'd say that poor health leads to more poor health. For example, an extended injury can lead to a lack of mobility and exercise, which leads to obesity, depression, and other health problems.

Sometimes individuals are too frail for the procedure that they need, and then yes, waiting to get healthy enough to have the "operation" may save the individuals life if their malady can wait. But, I think more often than not, people are healthy enough and would be better off being treated sooner.