12 Feb 04
Originally posted by ianpickeringIt's certainly much more effective and efficient than the NHS, but again, as you say, people pay through the nose for it, and so it should be much better than an overburdened state-sponsored system
Is the American Healthcare system the best in the world - It should be given the wealth that the US possesses shouldn't it?
If it isn't then which country has the best?
12 Feb 04
Originally posted by rwingettWow, I agree with you...anything's possible.... 🙂
There are 35 million Americans without health insurance. For the richest country on the face of the earth, this is a national disgrace.
You are right...it is disgraceful for the US to give billions of dollars to Israel and other countries when that $$ could go for healthcare here in the States.
12 Feb 04
2 edits
Originally posted by chancremechanicDo you think that donating that money to Israel and other countries is an act of sheer altruïsm ?
Wow, I agree with you...anything's possible.... 🙂
You are right...it is disgraceful for the US to give billions of dollars to Israel and other countries when that $$ could go for healthcare here in the States.
😀
12 Feb 04
Originally posted by rwingettWell, it's also a national disgrace that 60 million Americans are overweight, 40 million smoke, and they sit around in their sedentary lives and vote for democrats that tell them their health problems are the fault of republicans. Yea! How do you like that, Rob? How's your blood pressure? Don't have a stroke. You might die waiting in the ER while our banana republic healthcare system waits to be fixed by democrats. 😉
There are 35 million Americans without health insurance. For the richest country on the face of the earth, this is a national disgrace.
12 Feb 04
Originally posted by kirksey957Lol. You go, brother Kirk! Preach it.
Well, it's also a national disgrace that 60 million Americans are overweight, 40 million smoke, and they sit around in their sedentary lives and vote for democrats that tell them their health problems are the fault of republicans. Yea! How do you like that, Rob? How's your blood pressure? Don't have a stroke. You might die waiting in the ER while our banana republic healthcare system waits to be fixed by democrats. 😉
Part of health care is health awareness. Preventive maintenance would reduce the demand on the health care system, but it wouldn't affect how that system is run. Besides, I don't think people in Cananda, or some of the western European countries, are dropping dead in the aisles because of their health care systems.
Privitization of the health care system must be stopped, and universal coverage should be our goal.
12 Feb 04
Originally posted by rwingettAllow me to rant on a little more, brother Rob. There are so many angles one could take with this issue as it is very complicated. To me, privatization is a good thing, but it has also, in my opinion, opened the door to some aspects of healthcare that have more to do with image than genuine healthcare. If you want to see what socialized medicine would look like, just go to a Veterans Administration (VA) hospital. Truly the biggest waste of government money there is.
Lol. You go, brother Kirk! Preach it.
Part of health care is health awareness. Preventive maintenance would reduce the demand on the health care system, but it wouldn't affect how that system is run. Besides, I don't think people in Cananda, or some of the western European countries, are dropping dead in the aisles because of their health care systems. ...[text shortened]... vitization of the health care system must be stopped, and universal coverage should be our goal.
No one is turned away to my knowledge because they don't have insurance. Poor people can go to some hospitals in their community and get free care.
What really concerns me about healthcare today, at least in this country, is how we have a world where people are dying of diahrrea, malnutricion and some very preventable diseases and there is a subgroup of doctors out there who have nothing better to do than make women have bigger breasts. One in New York recently had a fashion show of his clients who had breast augmentation where they wore revealing clothes to highlight his work. He was a true pimp in the truest expression of the word. And of course he will right it off his taxes as a business expense. This is the dark underbelly of privatization. But it is the world we live in where I can order a pill over the internet that will give me a boner the rest of the day but I got wait all day in an ER to get a flu shot.
12 Feb 04
Originally posted by ianpickeringScandinavian healthcare is considered pretty much the gold standard I think, although for those who have health insurance, the US system is also very good. And what's interesting is the radically different approaches these parts of the world take - high tax, public vs the reverse.
Is the American Healthcare system the best in the world - It should be given the wealth that the US possesses shouldn't it?
If it isn't then which country has the best?
Rich.
13 Feb 04
2 edits
Originally posted by ianpickeringThere is a simple answer to the country with the best health system. It is the country with the best outcomes in life expetancy, child mortality and other easily measured factors.
Is the American Healthcare system the best in the world - It should be given the wealth that the US possesses shouldn't it?
If it isn't then which country has the best?
Sure, life style affects these but health is more than hospitals. That is why public health has provided clean water, eliminated mosquitoes and other disease vectors, and campaigned agaisnt smoking. The obesity epidemic is a public as well as an individual problem.
Based on life expectancy, Andorra has the best health system. Niue has the lowest infant mortalily rate (0), helped by having a population under 1 000.
14 Feb 04
More than 18,000 Americans die every year solely because they cannot afford private health care insurance. This is the finding of a new study entitled “Care without coverage: Too little, too late,” which compares the health of insured and uninsured adults in the US, where 30 million—or one out of every seven—working-age people lack health care coverage.
The study, conducted by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), a private organization affiliated with the National Academy of Sciences, paints a chilling picture of the consequences of America’s for-profit health care system. More than 40 million people, including nearly 10 million children, have no health insurance, and the number continues to grow at a pace of about 1 million each year.
Those without health insurance are more likely to have poorer health and die prematurely than those with insurance, the study found. Uninsured adults received fewer diagnostic and treatment services after traumatic injuries or heart attack, resulting in an increased risk of death even when in the hospital. People without insurance also more often go without cancer screening tests, delaying diagnosis and leading to premature death, the study concluded.
www.wsws.org/articles/2002/may2002/ins-m25_prn.shtml
14 Feb 04
1 edit
Originally posted by ianpickeringAlthough it is a sad reflection of the US health care system, one must realize that a lot of these people w/o health insurance are new immigrants who work minimum wages and cannot afford health care insurance, but a lot of people are your standard American working poor that simply cannot afford insurance. It is one of the major flaws of a Capitalist system. I personally think basic health care should be the right of every American. At the same time, this capitalist system has produced the very finest in medical care for those who can afford it and as a result of competition some of the finest medical schools in the world, but it boils down to the gov't finding a means to provide health care to ALL Americans even if it means less $$ for Israel, less $$ for AIDS prevention in Africa (send them condoms and prevention literature), 87 billion for Iraq could have been spent on health care for Americans, putting a cap on ridiculous lawsuits, making Mexico pay for the health care their citizens are using FREE in the U.S, etc. etc...some things such as health care, electrical power ( remember the outages in California?), some transportation, and some communications should be regulated by gov't...am I sounding socialistic?...🙄
More than 18,000 Americans die every year solely because they cannot afford private health care insurance. This is the finding of a new study entitled “Care without coverage: Too little, too late,” which compares the health of insured ...[text shortened]... concluded.
www.wsws.org/articles/2002/may2002/ins-m25_prn.shtml
15 Feb 04
Originally posted by kyngjActually, when it comes to value-for-money the NHS is pretty efficient; however, adding up tax money and private money, I think we only spend about half what the US spends on healthcare per head.
It's certainly much more effective and efficient than the NHS, but again, as you say, people pay through the nose for it, and so it should be much better than an overburdened state-sponsored system