Two Cents for the Hospital Debate

Day 790, 18:50 • Published in USA USA • by Lieutenant Scheisskopf

Given all the media time the topic of hospitals has gotten, I figured it was time to weigh in on the matter myself. Take away the following if you fear the tl;dr prospects of this article: the way things are now are less than ideal, but combining moving tickets campaigns with some construction is optimal. Building in New York, at least, should be a priority if no other regions are considered. Either way, there's some compromise possible between the differing camps, and this might just be it.


Taking off my military fatigues to play doctor

Framework
My examination on Day 790 showed me that there are 7,915 citizens living in the eUSA's "wasteland" regions-- any naturally eUS region which is not California or Florida. A decent percentage of these citizens are already dead or have since left the game, while others are part of a new eUS baby boom and need to be saved. What everyone needs to realize, though, is that the current debate should be focused on finding solutions for preserving the next baby boom, since implementing a new hospital strategy does not occur overnight and would take significant time in Congressional legislation, building hospitals, choosing regions, and the like. Simply said, the debate everyone is having needs to be looking beyond the present.

For the 7,915 citizens I mentioned above, here is the numerical breakdown by region. You will note that I did not list Karnataka in this evaluation at any point, since it remains to be seen whether or not Karma Taco remains eUS-- I anticipate it being returned to eIndia before too, too long.

Washington= 423.......... Oregon= 142.......... Idaho= 56.......... Nevada= 105.......... Arizona= 179.......... Utah= 69.......... New Mexico= 52.......... Colorado= 182.......... Wyoming= 22.......... Montana= 51.......... North Dakota= 30.......... South Dakota= 21.......... Nebraska= 62.......... Kansas= 96.......... Oklahoma= 105.......... Texas= 608.......... Minnesota= 134.......... Iowa= 83.......... Missouri= 167.......... Arkansas= 88.......... Louisiana= 99.......... Mississippi= 47 .......... Alabama= 115 .......... Georgia= 229 .......... Tennessee= 173 .......... Kentucky= 143 .......... Illinois= 330 .......... Wisconsin= 156 .......... Michigan= 291 .......... Indiana= 202 .......... Ohio= 296 .......... West Virginia= 41 .......... South Carolina= 82 .......... North Carolina= 249 .......... Virginia= 230 .......... Washington, D.C.= 72 .......... Maryland= 140 .......... Delaware is being held by eCanada .......... Pennsylvania= 276 .......... New Jersey= 231 .......... New York= 1135 .......... Connecticut= 88 .......... Rhode Island= 34 .......... Massachusetts= 206 .......... Vermont= 35 .......... New Hampshire= 34 .......... Maine= 69 .......... Alaska= 95 .......... Hawaii= 142

Combined, this group is greater than the amount of citizens living in California and is over 80% of Florida's size. This group is also, more alarmingly, nearly 1/3 of the eUSA's full population. Again, some decent amount of these citizens are dead, so take these numbers with a grain of salt. Regardless, things need to be changed.


Time to operate

Addressing the Issue
It places the eUSA at a major disadvantage having to defend over 50 regions. ePoland, eHungary, eRomania, and many other powers enjoy the luxury of only having to defend a few regions, and in doing so, can have fortress-level protection over all of them. To put a Q5 in every state, or even a Q2, would be astronomically costly and provide a rate of return below the value of the hospital in most cases. So to trim down the list of places which need a hospital, I suggest not even looking to build in any region with under 100 citizens. In doing so, we remove 21 of 47 regions to consider-- the 1,292 citizens living in regions with fewer than 100 people could be targeted by moving tickets campaigns (in keeping with the hospital discussion, I think calling it an "ambulance" program would make more sense) and relocated to a fortress or another hospital region.

Twenty-six regions to place hospitals still presents a substantial financial burden, but if the Q2 in every state strategy were to be adopted, I would be more supportive in only those 26 regions. I would still prefer to trim the list further, filtering the remaining regions by additional criteria. For reasons of material value, defense and wall importance, and real life (RL) significance, I came up with the following regions which would need hospitals installed, and have suggested the appropriate quality level for each.

- New York (Q5)
- Texas (Q4 or Q5)
- maybe: Washington and Illinois (Q3)
- any of the following: Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Arizona: (Q2)
The remaining regions whose population is greater than 100 but were not named here, would also be targeted by moving tickets ambulances.

This sprawling metropolis needs some quality healthcare

New York and Texas
Combined, New York and Texas hold over 1700 citizens, and are two of the RL USA's most populous states-- which explains their in-game population levels. Texas holds a solid portion of eUSA companies and is strategically important by sitting at the country's southern border with eMexico; its location along the border would require a southern invader to either attack Texas, or to go several regions around Texas (a costly gold maneuver) before moving into the Southeastern eUS.

For similar reasons as Texas, New York would also need a Q5 hospital to accommodate businesses and RL populations. The eUK can only attack a handful of New England states and New Jersey, so a hospital in New York acts as a bottleneck against any eUK offensive; were they to attack a New England state, they would need to move through New York to advance further in the country. Because eCanada holds Delaware for strategic defense reasons, any eUK attack on New Jersey would activate a chain reaction war with eCanada; for this reason, along with New York's greater population size, New York and not New Jersey or Pennsylvania would hold the Q5 hospital in the Northeast.

For other regions, smaller hospitals would be sufficient

The Others Considered
It surprised me that Washington had over 400 citizens-- most of which may be dead eHungarian accounts, however. If the region does have a large number of eUS citizens, though, the region would need a hospital, as well. Illinois, also holding over 300 citizens, is obviously an RL priority for Chicago, and protecting a high oil region would also be useful. The remaining Q2 suggestions all fall in regions with over 200 citizens, and are regions which have sizable RL populations.

Georgia barely made my cut, but its 230 citizens and status as the United States' 8th most populous state made its inclusion necessary in the end-- although I could justify removing it from getting a hospital if the list looked too costly. Indiana was chosen because of its resources, as was Arizona, but either could also be discarded from this list. Arizona in particular was important to me because it holds consistent iron for the eUSA, and makes New Mexico the country's only unprotected region bordering eMexico. People may be perplexed by my concern with eMexico, but those who remember eColombia's invasion several months ago will recall that it is important to consider all possibilities in planning for the country's defense.

Doctor's fees won't be free...
Making It Happen
Some people probably read the first few paragraphs and thought "that sounds nice, but it's going to cost a ton." They're right-- this is not going to be cheap, and the government is going to require a lot of money for it in the form of tax revenue. The most important thing is to realize that we can pursue an infrastructure campaign and simultaneously implement more comprehensive "wasteland replacement" operations. By building in some of or all of the regions I outlined, we at least reduce the need to urgently help people whose health will be plummeting without any relief. As some have indicated elsewhere, these less than Q5 hospitals are just to help people get on their feet before being able to relocate to a Q5 region on their own-- or if they were really persistent, could still manage to live in their RL state.

God Bless America,

Lt. Scheisskopf

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