The other thing is that hospital bed usage and occupancy is apples and oranges comparing the 1970s to the 2020s.
They had 3 times as many hospital beds and their patient census was mostly relatively short-term admissions like surgeries, broken bones, heart attacks, births, etc. IE Relatively straightforward problems with clear fixes.
Now we have a third of the bed capacity, but what capacity we do have is constantly and indefinitely blocked by the elderly, the demented, the obese, the poor, the homeless, criminals, addicts and social admits with no place to go.
The other thing is that hospital bed usage and occupancy is apples and oranges comparing the 1970s to the 2020s.
They had 3 times as many hospital beds and their patient census was mostly relatively short-term admissions like surgeries, broken bones, heart attacks, births, etc. IE Relatively straightforward problems with clear fixes.
Now we have a third of the bed capacity, but what capacity we do have is constantly and indefinitely blocked by the elderly, the demented, the obese, the poor, the homeless, criminals, addicts and social admits with no place to go.