Charlie Munger Said It’s Evil And Asinine To Keep Pumping Chemotherapy Into People ‘That Are All But Dead’ Just To Make Money ‘After The Game Is Over’
Medicine has never been a polite subject for the longtime Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger. The investing legend has spent decades studying markets, businesses, and human behavior and applies the same clear logic when it comes to health.
during a 2018 appearance on Fox BusinessMunger told the landlord Liz Claman One corner of modern medicine disturbed him deeply. In his view, some treatments persist long after their benefits have worn off, creating suffering and huge costs that have little chance of helping patients.
When treatment turns into profit
Claman asked Munger about his comments criticizing how the U.S. healthcare system sometimes handles end-of-life care. Munger did not soften the matter.
“It’s stupid to dump a bunch of chemotherapy on people who are almost dead,” Munger told Claman. “It makes them miserable, it costs a lot of money, it doesn’t help anyone.”
He went further, arguing that financial incentives could push treatment beyond the point where it was helpful.
“It’s not an exaggeration to say this is bad,” Munger said.
The Berkshire Hathaway leader had served on hospital boards and said those experiences shaped his view of how the system works. His criticism focused on cases where aggressive treatments were pursued because of revenue generation rather than meaningful medical benefit.
Even Munger would “throw a long bomb”
Claman then came up with a personal scenario. What if Munger had been diagnosed with cancer and doctors had said that treatment at least had a chance of extending his life?
Munger had a different answer than some viewers expected.
“Of course I’ll try,” he said. “Maybe I’d throw a long bomb.”
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However, he quickly added that there is a point where medicine must recognize the truth.
“There comes a time when the game ends,” Munger said. “And it’s wrong to continue playing games to make money even after the game is over.”
The difference, in his view, was between trying a treatment that had a real chance of success and continuing aggressive treatment when the outcome was essentially decided.
Why did Munger think single-payer was inevitable?
The interview quickly moved to a wider area The structure of the American healthcare system. Claman asked whether the United States would eventually move toward a single-payer system.
The country already uses versions of it, Munger said.
“We have a lot of single-payer drugs now,” he told Claman, pointing to the Medicaid and Medicare programs that already cover millions of Americans.
He also rejected the idea that such systems destroy capitalism and pointed to the north as evidence.
“Other countries like Canada have Medicaid for everyone and no one wants to give it back,” Munger said. “Canada hasn’t lost capitalism.”
His argument was simple. As Berkshire Hathaway Chairman noted, healthcare costs have risen from roughly 5% of U.S. GDP decades ago to nearly 17%. Warren Buffet It was once called the “tapeworm” of the American economy.
Why does Munger’s warning still resonate?
Munger died in 2023 at the age of 99, but his comments continue to resonate in today’s health debates.
End-of-life treatment costs remain one of the most expensive parts of the U.S. medical system. Research from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services shows that the majority of lifetime healthcare expenditures occur in the last years of life.
This reality is at the center of ongoing debates regarding cost, ethics, and patient choice. Some doctors argue that aggressive treatment offers hope. Others say the system often struggles to balance medical facilities and quality of life.
Munger’s point wasn’t that medicine should stop trying. This was the importance of incentives.
And as with many of his statements, the Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman delivered the message the same way he’s approached investing for nearly a century: clearly, logically, and without much concern about whether it offends anyone.
Image: Shutterstock
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This article Charlie Munger Says It’s Bad and Stupid to Keep Pumping Chemo into People ‘Who’re All Dead’ Just to Make Money After ‘The Game Is Over’ originally appeared Benzinga.com
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