Silicon Valley’s Ultimate Exit (2013)
&gt; Build an opt-in society, ultimately outside the US, run by technology.<p>Balaji Srinivasan is being considered to run the FDA. If chosen, he is expected to radically weaken its regulatory power, purportedly in the interests of promoting innovation in the pharma space. He&#x27;s described it as the big enemy for any biotech innovator to overcome.<p>When we have an opt-in healthcare system, people who are in perfectly good health will opt into favorable plans only they qualify for. Those born with expensive conditions or who develop a chronic illness won&#x27;t be able to opt in, and will find themselves in a high risk pool paying hardship-tier premiums.<p>When we have pharmaceutical companies opting into less stringent regulatory structures, even the most dangerous drugs will make it to clinical trials - to be tested by people who lack the ability to choose any other way of making a living. Pharma manufacturers will then base their prices on what they believe the highest tier of wealth will bear, ignoring the long tail of underinsured Americans.<p>The problem with an opt-in society is that only some people get the privilege of opting in. It&#x27;s an almost self-contradicting concept. Societies only hold together if their members <i>don&#x27;t</i> favor exit. Members collectively recognize they&#x27;re all on the same side, by way of the social contract they&#x27;ve entered into, and they know the rules need to be the same for everyone. A modicum of loyalty - in Hirschman&#x27;s sense - is an absolute prerequisite for a group to be called a society.<p>When it comes to our health, let&#x27;s show some loyalty to our fellow Americans and use our voices, instead of fleeing the inconveniently poor and sick. The veil of ignorance hasn&#x27;t come off yet, after all: if you get cancer tomorrow, you might well become one of them.