“A system where everyone takes care of everyone and therefore everyone gets exactly what they need” existed among tribal peoples for hundreds of thousands of years (and still does wherever that lifestyle hasn’t been stamped out), but is not readily applicable in present-day society.

The next closest thing I can recommend is Patch Adams’s book Gesundheit!: Bringing Good Health to You, the Medical System, and Society Through Physician Service, Complementary Therapies, Humor, and Joy, which advocates a health-care system not based on the exchange of money.  A social revolutionary who has devoted his career to giving away health care, Patch is the founder of the Gesundheit Institute, a home-based medical practice in West Virginia that has treated more than 15,000 people for free.

ID: 678
posted:
updated: 06 Feb 2004