How do you know you are not hearing the straight scoop from the media? Health care.
How many industrialized nations are there? Twenty-five or so? And our nation is among them. We don’t have the highest standard of living, nor the second highest, but we’re up there. We’re talking compared to Europe, Britain, Scandinavia, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
How many of those nations have virtually free health care for their people? A few? Several? No. We’re talking all of them. Well, all but one. All but the US.
Yet U.S. health care is the most expensive to provide. It costs a greater portion of our GDP, by twice as much, compared to the next most costly.
Many Americans presume that in exchange, our health care is far superior to that of any other nation. This may be true for the ultra-rich who can afford to fly to see specialists whenever they want. Although, recent studies have shown that in several fields our specialists are no longer pre-eminent.
For the rest of us, reliant on HMOs, or medical care audited by insurance companies, health care is not so great. Most of us cannot see a doctor of our choice, nor make a reasonably timely appointment, nor certainly get a house call. This is not even to mention the millions of Americans who are not insured at all.
The World Health Organization has ranked nations in order of the quality and effectiveness of their health care systems. The U. S. ranked 37th.
That’s not even among the developed nations is it? Our system costs twice as much, one third of which goes to insurance costs, and we rank 37th, just below Costa Rica. Fifteen below Colombia by the way.
Why aren’t you hearing about this in the mainstream media? Because the insurance companies are big advertisers on the mainstream media. Insurance companies make 30% off of American health care bills right now. They don’t want to hear any flowery talk of socialized medicine. Insurance companies insist we call that option a “single payer system,” and they demonize the idea as big government. Yes, bigger government, and in exchange, predatory insurance behemoths gone.
Oh you can’t see the doctor of your choice? ..or get a timely appointment? ..maybe you can’t even get CIPRO when your drunk buddy infects you with the anthrax virus he meant for somebody else!
I have a solution! How ’bout a single government payer …funded via taxes paid by the (formerly) rich doctors and their evil friends?! How ’bout we let anyone so inclined spend $100,000 of their own money to put themselves through medical school so they can live in a tent on hospital grounds offering their services for free?!
How ’bout we hold a neighborhood bake sale to purchase an MRI machine?! Let’s revamp the oh-so-difficult MCAT to be more inclusive …perhaps just a single question would be sufficient to catapult would-be doctors to the top of the list. Here it is: CAN YOU SPELL RHETORIC? Eric! You Pass! Congrats!
Why do you bring “rich” doctors into this? I have relatives who are doctors (who oppose health care reform, naturally) and friends who are doctors in Europe and who are very well off too. I don’t think anyone opposes paying doctors well considering we ask them to play God basically. I’d prefer my health was entrusted to a smart, well-rewarded god.
What’s CIPRO? Though maybe I’m happier not to know. Did I spell rhetoric correctly? With computer spell-checking nowadays I don’t think spelling is a sufficient qualification to choose medical school candidates.
You’re right… I shouldn’t have focused on rich doctors. I should’ve focused on rich lawyers, perched in the wings, waiting to sue anyone for anything and, naturally exempt from any discussion on healthcare reform. You know which specialty has the highest malpractice insurance premiums? OB-GYN. You know why? Because unless they give their patients high-cost unnecessary sonograms and, heaven forbid, little baby Petunia is born with 11 toes, they get sued. Not for poor care but for Mother Nature’s antics. Guess what that means? No OB-GYNs in small towns and rural areas …certainly none in low-income counties because they can’t afford to pay their insurance premiums without the higher reimbursements. Medicaid pays $.10 on the dollar and even do-gooders need to make ends meet. Poor prenatal care translates into all kinds of health issues for babies which then, of course, can’t get the good healthcare they need, etc.
Or, on a lighter note, let’s talk about end-of-life issues. A huge portion of medical costs in this country are incurred in the last several weeks of life. I JUST witnessed this with a friend of mine. His father was in the CCU for 3 weeks, intubated, ventilated, virtually no chance of recovery from the minute he got there. Days later, and probably about $1,000,000 in hospital costs/doctors’ fees, Voila! Pull the plug and he dies within a 1/2 hour! Can you spell EUTHANASIA?
Or maybe I should’ve talked about personal responsibility. Hey, buddy! You drank a fifth of Jack every day for 30 years and now you need a liver transplant? Go to the back of the line. Hey, lady! You’re 5’2″ tall and weigh 250 lbs and you need bilateral total knees because of osteoarthritis? Back of the line. Smokers? Back of the line!
Don’t even get me talking about the big drug/medical equipment companies and how they are literally in charge of medical education and how doctors don’t know diddly squat about health or wellness or alternative therapies or pretty much anything else that doesn’t translate into big bucks for big powerful companies (not necessarily American).
Oh, believe me, I’m all for healthcare reform 😉