City Delivers iPads, Still Misses the Entire Point of Public Health
An Alabama city, Mobile, is proudly touting its new pilot program: equipping alleged '911 supercallers' with iPads to facilitate virtual care and—crucially for them—reduce ER costs. The Independent frames this as getting 'people help faster,' which is true if 'help' now means an iPad instead of a doctor, addressing the symptom (frequent calls) rather than the disease (lack of affordable,
accessible primary care, mental health services, or even basic social safety nets). One might wonder if these 'supercallers' wouldn't also benefit from, say, consistent housing, nutritious food, or perhaps a living wage, rather than becoming props in a cost-saving tableau. This tech-forward 'solution' neatly sidesteps the chronic underfunding of public health infrastructure across the US, a
narrative the mainstream media rarely connects to the broader economic landscape. While Mobile scrambles to save pennies on ER visits with Apple products, politicians in Washington – many of whom receive substantial campaign contributions from healthcare lobbies intent on maintaining high costs – continue to argue against universal healthcare, mental health funding, or robust social services. It's
truly a marvel: deploy an iPad rather than address poverty, addiction, or chronic illness. The problem isn't that people call 911 too much; it's that 911 is often the *only* option left when all other safety nets have been shredded.