> all audited by a dedicated regulatory body to ensure that comp and waste don't go into excess
Since when has that ever worked for government run operations?
> The hope would be that the industry doesn't actually profit off of human suffering
I.e. industry works to alleviate suffering by providing the things that suffering people want. Their motivation is to make a profit.
The profit tends to be far less than the waste from the inefficiency of government industry.
BTW, the drug industry would serve us a lot better if they weren't strangled by FDA regulations and a screwed up patent system.
See "Regulation of Pharmaceutical Innovation" by Sam Peltzman:
https://www.amazon.com/Regulation-Pharmaceutical-Innovation-...
https://www.amazon.com/Regulation-Pharmaceutical-Innovation-...
where he shows, with statistics, that moving fast saves more lives than it costs.
https://www.amazon.com/Regulation-Pharmaceutical-Innovation-...
And does a statistical evaluation of the effects of the FDA regulations.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/09/how-ame...
https://www.amazon.com/Competition-Monopoly-Medical-Care-Fre...
https://www.amazon.com/Regulation-Pharmaceutical-Innovation-...
https://www.amazon.com/Regulation-Pharmaceutical-Innovation-...
BTW, it was published in 1987, long before climate change became a thing.
Sam Peltzman showed with statistics that the FDA's mandate of "safe and effective" slowed down the development of new pharmaceuticals past the point that there were more deaths.
He took it to Congress, who simply latched on to "safe and effective" as an obviously good idea, statistics be damned.
"Regulation of Pharmaceutical Innovation", Sam Peltzman https://www.amazon.com/Regulation-Pharmaceutical-Innovation-...