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Originally posted by Blzer -
Re: U.S. Dead Last in Healthcare ranking
As some of you may know, I'm a med student. I'm finishing my last year, I'll be done in May and starting my residency in pediatrics in July. My main interest is in public health, and I will also be getting a masters in public health during my residency. I'm going to be dedicating a chunk of my career to public health and child health advocacy.
During the past four years in school, I have been involved with several organizations that deal with the state of health care in the US. So I feel I have a decent prospective on how things are working (or not working) in the US. The bottom line is that our health care system, as it is now will not be sustainable into the future. Changes will have to be made, and I can only hope they are the right kind of changes.
The fact that we spend so much money and yet leave so many uninsured is troubling. Democrat or Republican, we should all agree that we need to work on ways to improve access to health care. We have the resources and we can easily build the infrastructure to care for everyone in the country."You can not ensure success, but you can deserve it." - John Quincy Adams
PSN: raginrapidsComment
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Re: U.S. Dead Last in Healthcare ranking
This topic and political overtones are inseparable.Comment
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Re: U.S. Dead Last in Healthcare ranking
Not impressed with our healthcare or doctors. I've had a problem with my leg/buttocks for over a year; spent close to two thousand dollars on doctors, and still not even slightly better. But you can bet your *** they want to be paid, and now. Don't even think about walking in without insurance.
Now I'm scheduled for a $700 injection that they "hope" might work.
Every time I drive away from a doctor's office, I feel like I've just been duped.
Take care of yourselves and practice all of the preventative maintenance you can. Don't count on a doctor to fix you.
Edit: Heck, I know there are some great doctors out there; I'm just bitter due to my situation. A year of limping, tons of cash, and no improvement can get a guy down.Last edited by longshadow11; 01-09-2008, 11:51 PM.Comment
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Re: U.S. Dead Last in Healthcare ranking
Being an employee at a state hospital I can tell you a few of the factors that make this a skewed report. Americans (of which I am a proud member) go to the hospital for everything. I have a friend from Vietnam incidentally that I had to beg to come in to see a doctor when she was at death's doorstep. People in other countries do not abuse their healthcare systems to the extent that we do. The most frustrating part of working in a hospital is seeing the same names over and over again for things such as mis-management of diabetes, and the common cold or flu.
I know some of you will say oh that is your job, and if you don't like it quit, but the problem is that the healthcare industry is forced to appease everyone that walks through the door or risk a lawsuit. Lawyers, insurance companies, and politicians ruin healthcare for the masses at the cost of helping John Doe who sits and eats a box of cookies knowing damn well that he shouldn't because he is a diabetic. I am all about helping people who can't help themselves or cannot afford healthcare, but those people who chose not to help themselves by taking their medication or giving a cold the time to run it's course are the problem that makes insurance so expensive for all of us, and clog up emergency rooms for true emergencies.Comment
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Re: U.S. Dead Last in Healthcare ranking
france is where they had thousands of elderly die a couple of yrs ago(over several days) in the heat wave cause they didnt have ac. they just kept dying. where was their #1 healthcare looking out for their elderly.
france sucks. except for mr longoria of course.Comment
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Re: U.S. Dead Last in Healthcare ranking
The evidence that our health care needs reform is absolutely overwhelming. While I have not read the entire thread, the people defending our system consistently are using opinion and no facts. You can say "France sucks" all day but the fact of the matter is they have better health care. The USA is the best country in the world but that doesn't mean everything is perfect here. We need to fix the things that are wrong.
To those just saying that French doctors suck; how can you say they suck when the French are consistently #1 on world health care rankings? Especially when we are light years behind.
I picked out these particular paragraphs to show that the French system is not that far away from ours. Most importantly, it is not "socialized medicine!" I do hope that many of you will read the whole articles. If you truly care about this country, how can you not look at systems that have a proven track record every year. If you were an NFL GM would you not try and model the Patriots or Colts success? The same goes in health care. We need to learn from the one's who have achieved great success and use those lessons to improve ourselves.
Source: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine...8/b4042070.htmIn Sicko, Moore lumps France in with the socialized systems of Britain, Canada, and Cuba. In fact, the French system is similar enough to the U.S. model that reforms based on France's experience might work in America. The French can choose their doctors and see any specialist they want. Doctors in France, many of whom are self- employed, are free to prescribe any care they deem medically necessary. "The French approach suggests it is possible to solve the problem of financing universal coverage...[without] reorganizing the entire system," says Victor G. Rodwin, professor of health policy and management at New York University.
France also demonstrates that you can deliver stellar results with this mix of public and private financing. In a recent World Health Organization health-care ranking, France came in first, while the U.S. scored 37th, slightly better than Cuba and one notch above Slovenia. France's infant death rate is 3.9 per 1,000 live births, compared with 7 in the U.S., and average life expectancy is 79.4 years, two years more than in the U.S. The country has far more hospital beds and doctors per capita than America, and far lower rates of death from diabetes and heart disease. The difference in deaths from respiratory disease, an often preventable form of mortality, is particularly striking: 31.2 per 100,000 people in France, vs. 61.5 per 100,000 in the U.S.
Source: http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/...n/eddutton.phpAn understanding of how France came to its health care system would be instructive in any renewed debate in the United States.
That's because the French share Americans' distaste for restrictions on patient choice and they insist on autonomous private practitioners rather than a British-style national health service, which the French dismiss as "socialized medicine." Virtually all physicians in France participate in the nation's public health insurance, Sécurité Sociale.
More literature:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/paren...dex/index.htmlComment
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Re: U.S. Dead Last in Healthcare ranking
I think Americans are on way to much medicine and want to live way too long. Get over it. When 30+% of your population is obese I think it is safe to say American's really don't care about "health care".Comment
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Re: U.S. Dead Last in Healthcare ranking
The drug companies have got you won over. You act as though the cost of a social health care system would cost you more than the current US system. Its completely untrue. Obviously you haven't read any of the facts and figures presented here. The US cost per capita in health care is far greater than any other country and that's without even insuring almost 50 million Americans. Sure your taxes would rise under a social health care system but it would more than benefit you since you would no longer be paying for a very expensive health care system. You would actually SAVE money. That's what the health industry doesn't want some of you guys to figure out.
Do you realize that the overhead of US health insurance companies is at least 15% higher than a similar social program? Yet you guys act as though the socialized programs are money wasters. No money is wasted on high paid CEOs or advertising. That money alone could be used to insure the people in the US without coverage.
Lastly, why on earth did you bring up capitalism in your comments? Capitalism and democracy exists in Canada and almost every other industrialized country. Just because most first world countries have socialized health care doesn't mean we are commies. 50% of personal bankruptcies in the US are at least partially due to health care problems. That's terrible.
No matter any way you look at it, I think everyone deserves health care as a basic human right.Comment
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Re: U.S. Dead Last in Healthcare ranking
Um, they had A/C the problem was they didn't have ENOUGH hospital space. Remember France is a moderate climate and the heatwave wasn't just a run of the mill situation. That summer was the hottest summer in over a hundred years. Elderly people are more prone to die under those conditions. France has rectified those problems since that summer as they now have summer programs and have people working with the elderly to minimize another situation like that.
BTW around the same time frame hundreds of people were hospitalized and died in Chicago due to a heatwave. Should we declare Chicago as worthless for that too?
Rudyjuly that was a great last post. I can't add more to it.Member of the Official OS Bills Backers Club
"Baseball is the most important thing that doesn't matter at all" - Robert B. ParkerComment
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