On the bright side, all these extra deaths of the poor and uninsured in the US means job openings for illegal aliens.
France best, U.S. worst in preventable death ranking
France, Japan and Australia rated best and the United States worst in new rankings focusing on preventable deaths due to treatable conditions in 19 leading industrialized nations, researchers said on Tuesday.
If the U.S. health care system performed as well as those of those top three countries, there would be 101,000 fewer deaths in the United States per year, according to researchers writing in the journal Health Affairs.
[…]
“I wouldn’t say it (the last-place ranking) is a condemnation, because I think health care in the U.S. is pretty good if you have access. But if you don’t, I think that’s the main problem, isn’t it?” Nolte said in a telephone interview.
Almost all of the republican candidates claim that the US is #1 in the world in health care. Of course most of them believe the earth is about 6000 years old too.
Health care is best managed by vegetables.
I bet most of the candidates have never been to a European, Japanese or Australian hospital in their life. That’s usually the problem with Americans, they assume all is best in the US without checking if it is actually true…..
When I needed stitches for a cut I got in Florida it took 7 freaking hours before they helped me out. The last time I went to the ER in the Netherlands I was out in 30 minutes…. It has gone down though. Since the Dutch government changed the healthcare system to a more private system the quality of care has decreased….
With 100,000 unnecessary deaths in a year, the U.S. health care system makes the war in Iraq look like a real bargain!
The One
I assume you don’t have any kind of insurance and pay cash for all your medical needs.
I suppose we should just let the weak die if they cant afford to stay alive. Survival of the fittest, right?
I don’t believe in a welfare state either but there has to be a happy medium.
To The One
“And if they would die, maybe they should do so, and decrease the surplus population.”
-E Scrooge
“Doc, i eat twenty cheeseburgers a day and I like it.”
“Fine. No problem. Take these for cholesterol, these for hypertension, these for reflux, these for fatigue, these for impotence, these for pain. See you next year!”
US Heathcare… maintaining your lifestyle by any pill necessary…
A complete privatized system simple doesn’t work, because the doctor has no reason to make you healthy and every reason to simply eliminate the symptoms and keep you coming back for more pills.
Plus in sue-happy America, insurance for doctor is a large part of the cost…
Disclaimer: I live in frozen Canukistan. Our system has its own share of problems but it’s not so bad.
The One,
You are making a very flawed assumption. The problem with health care for profit is that no one controlling the situation actually cares about our health. The job of a health insurance company is decidedly NOT to provide health care.
In fact, they are required to provide the worst possible care by law. Corporations are required by law to maximize profit. If that means denying health care, they must do so to the best of their ability.
Further, drug companies are also required to maximize shareholder profit. So, they advertize to make us think that our normal healthy condition requires medication. So, here in the U.S., we are 5% of world population and consume 56% of world medication. So, we live our lives in a drugged stupor so as not to notice that we have horrifically bad health care.
Oh, and if they included more countries, we’d be even lower. I last heard our rank as 47th best in the world. But, at least we spend the most on it, 16% of GDP. The next highest, Germany, spends 11% of their GDP.
Rock on overmedicated fools!! GOUSA!!!
I should add that even an incompetently run government system would at least have as its charter the idea of providing care. They may not do the best job in the world, but would at least have that as their charter. Our current system is lacking this completely.
#12
In a sense you are right and it stems from when government began expanding into public health care. Basic health care became a luxury for most every citizen at the moment the HMO system came into existence.
We should have all seen what was coming by looking at the horrible conditions of the already government run VA health system. But blindly too many clamored for the government to take over or facilitate private health care, and as a result here we are.
#6,#16 – tcc3
Nothing I’ve written even remotely resembles what you are accusing me of saying. I can only assume that while in school your reading comprehension scores were a great disappointment.
Now with the ad hominem attacks. If you have a point of view I suggest you defend it. “Huh-un” and “yo mamma” are not valid responses.
I have adequately defended my point of view. I only question your blatant misrepresentation by adding and twisting them to fit your argument.
If this was not your intention then my earlier statement stands.
Sadly this is one aspect of any society that should not be privatized for profit and this is health care.
So what benefits exactly does a government provide for its citizens from the taxes it collects? Not a damn thing as everyone pays for all essential services on top of the taxes paid as well.
Are we returning to a pre-FDR society? All the post depression promises have all been shown to be not worth the hot air used in making them.
It seems to me that society at large suffers from a collective form of Alzheimer’s and politicians know this.
Yeah for democracy!
Cheers
The One,
I must say that I too interpret your statements that way. For example, in your first post, you said:
Health care is not broken, only the people that believe everyone else should pay for their existence.
If you feel that everyone should pay their own way, then the poor should not have health care.
Many of the poor are just lazy which may be the reason they are poor.
Unless you believe that there are available jobs equaling the number of unemployed, this is a patently false statement.
Unless you believe that the working poor with three part time jobs, none of which have any benefits, are somehow lazy despite working harder than you do, this statement is patently false.
Unless you believe that people in such situations really should not be treated for illnesses, your whole logic is dead wrong.
If you really believe all of these things, you are essentially a heartless bastard with no ability to empathize with others.
So, yes, I believe the characterization above stating that you believe poor people should crawl off and die, is actually an accurate representation of your statements. If you believe otherwise, then you are not following your own statements through to their logical conclusions.
Awake,
I’m truly sorry to hear of your situation. Unfortunately, the answer to it, given the current political landscape where only Kucinich is talking about nationalized health care, is to emigrate to a country with health care that is not for profit.
I have diabetes. I have been considering this option for some time. I think I can still get into Canada. Perhaps if I were smarter, I would do so. This will be a real brain drain on this country as everyone Awake (deliberate) enough to realize it will be leaving.
Yep, kill them all illegal bastards, they are the cause of all the problems, should round them up in camps and put them in gas chambers
BTW, members of congress have socialized health care, and look at how long they live!
I think that this study is a bit overly optimistic.
The World Health Organization ranks the United States as 37 in the world.
#16 – An average Joe who goes to work every day, pays his bills and is in most ways a good citizen can be broken by something as simple as an appendectomy or a required medication.
Absolutely true.
And as far as I can see, no one actually works harder in our society than the working poor. Aside from their low paying, no benefits, dead end jobs, they have have to consume far more of their non-working time navigating obstacles that the wealthy overcome with the swipe of a plastic card.
To make sense of this report and the argument that follows it, all that’s necessary is to replace the word “access” with “entitlement”. Then we’ll have an honest discussion.
There’s nothing wrong with saying that peopel – all people – are ‘entitled’ to some level of medical care, if that’s how you feel; in fact, I agree. But it’s disingenous to talk about “access” as if someone was just blocking a door to the hospital.
It’s all about how much we feel responsible for other people – strangers – and how much we’re willing to pay. Naturally our larger, more stratified, less connected society looks worse than European nations in these simplistic statistical comparisons.
People just have this dream that government health care will make things better. Other countries aren’t the US, and the higher death rates here are because people are less healthy, period. A ‘free’
health care system won’t change that.
You have regular posts pointing out these differences, but then when it comes to government run health care, you forget everything you’ve said before.
I’m curious to see the full text of this study to see how they came up with their numbers. My suspicion is that this is another example of finding that Americans are not as healthy. Aren’t the French and Japanese and Scandinavians knwon for healthy diets?
#23
Health Care is not broken in the sense that we still have fine doctors and nurses, great medicines, and loads of hospitals. The base is still intact.
What’s broken are the publics expectations of what the health care system can provide. The population is aging and the number of people that expect free health care is growing. The present system can not sustain this growth for much longer.
I might add that over the years the added government rules and regulations have been introduced as needed to tweak the system into an eventual demise. Then like white knights the government can step in and save the day. The citizens will shout with glee not realizing they have been had and another freedom has disappeared.
We’ve seen government acquire other freedoms using much the same process so there is nothing hidden here from anyone that bothers to look.
The fact that I do care about the poor makes me want to see them unshackled from the government tit.
Another Milton Friedman monetarist philosophy dies embarrassingly. Free market medicine only works if you ignore every example of where it fails.
#31 – MikeN,
How do you explain our much higher infant mortality?
#30, jim,
To make sense of this report and the argument that follows it, all that’s necessary is to replace the word “access” with “entitlement”.
Good point. So who is entitled to health care? Should someone who builds your car deserve health care? OK, then why doesn’t the person who serves your beer deserve some. Does your Mayor or local cops deserve medical treatment? Then why not that Viet Nam vet who can’t get into a VA hospital for another 8 months since the cutbacks.
You make a very good point, just who is “entitled” to medical treatment?
…it’s disingenuous to talk about “access” as if someone was just blocking the door to the hospital.
I guess you have never been to the hospital seeking treatment when you can’t pay. No, they don’t block the door. They do let you wait. And wait. And wait some more. If it’s an emergency, they might see you now, but if it isn’t, then you wait some more. When you finally do get to see a doctor, you will receive the barest minimum of treatment. Why? Because that is all any For Profit Hospital is required to provide. No one pays them for your treatment.
So if you want to call that access, then fine. Most normal people wouldn’t though.
#32, The None,
The fact that I do care about the poor makes me want to see them unshackled from the government tit.
Good line. Ranks right up there with “Let them eat cake”.
#33, Edwin,
Well said. I like it.
#37
Although I agree with many of your points, you are obviously not going to accept anything I offer so I’ll let it go.
Perhaps you can ask Mr. Catshit to solve the health care issue as he seems to be quite taken with himself. He surely has all the answers but must find it difficult going through life as the love child of Siegfried and Roy.