I have been curious for a while. Is there any actual data that having the FAA issuing medicals improves the safety of flight?
While it seems like it would be common sense, it is possible that it is not possible to predict very accurately when people are going to medical problems that cause flight safety issues and that people who have a problem don’t generally want to be flying. If both of those have not implausible likelihoods, it could be the case that issuing medicals does not improve safety, or at least not at a reasonable cost per life saved.