CORRESPONDENT OF THE DAY
U.S. Isn't Getting Health Care It Pays For
Editor, Times-Dispatch: The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the United States spends 15.3 percent of its gross domestic product on health care, or $6,714 per capita annually. Compare that to the United Kingdom, which spends 8.4 percent of GDP ($2,784 per capita), or Canada, which spends 10 percent of GDP ($3,672 per capita), and one quickly realizes that Americans are not getting what they pay for.
Although the U.S. spends more in terms of both GDP and real dollars, Americans born today have a shorter life expectancy than our British and Canadian friends as well as an obesity rate 10 percentage points higher than the British and more than 15 percentage points higher than the Canadians.
Perhaps the greatest tragedy is that there are 46 million uninsured Americans, according to the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation's project known as "Cover the Uninsured." These people can obtain care only when their health is at great risk, and it is the rest of us who are left to pay their often expensive bills. In contrast, there are no uninsured Britons or Canadians and they pay even less than we do for results that are equal to or better than our own. Are we really getting what we pay for?
Jonathan F. Wyss.
Richmond.
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Ok try this system. Medical costs for tests and medications are priced at the true cost of the item. A pill that is made by the millions shouldn’t cost $3.00 for a human and the same pill for an animal $.03. There is no legitimate reason for that. A test/procedure that takes seconds to perform shouldn’t cost $5,000.00. A hospital stay that charges enormous prices for water and aspirin because they are standard items used in a room should be included in the cost of the room. Doctors should price their services by what it costs to perform them not on all the overhead which includes tests and insurance to cover lawsuits. People should be told up front what a procedure or stay should cost prior to agreeing to it. Patients should approve a bill before it is submitted to an insurance company. The true cost of health care is such that it no longer shows what things cost but all the add ons to cover peoples reputation from lawsuits. Get control of the system back into the hands of the patients. Why does the cost of a eyeglass lens cost over $400.00 when there is a machine used in Africa that can make them from most any for of glass in less than 20 minutes? Health care can be made affordable as soon as it is made accountable to those who use it not the insurance companies and the government. When was the last tiem you knew what the true cost of a procedure was before you agreed to it?
Yes we can have affordable health care without government intervention if you just got back to the basics. What is being doen to prevent the millions of dollars in fraud by the medical community in our current system that drives up the prices?
The article cites sources that are not “conservative” although, yes, the website is biased towards a different viewpoint than yours. That does not mean those numbers are not accurate..you can take “facts” and interpret them many ways.
It is sometimes difficult to see the root cause and effect relationships. Back in the day.. “scientists” thought if you put grain and cotton in a box that you would create mice.. um.. yeah.. draw mice perhaps.
We can take a fact that about 9 million people make over 75K and say.. well they are “choosing” to spend their money on other things besides insurance. Well.. some might have pre-existing conditions that make it prohibitively expensive.. Some may feel like spending their money on a big screen.. and some may now have insurance and were only in-between jobs.. all are possible.
BTW.. I don’t come on here calling other people’s sources rubbish and putting down other news sources. I have seen plenty of bias in the media against conservatives in what you would call mainstream.. Fox news is very popular and must present news in a way that a LOT of people respect since it has such good ratings.. Me? I look at a lot of different media.. mostly on-line.. CNN, FOXNEWS, RTD and then research stories if I am interested to see what the “truths” are. I then form an opinion. It isn’t a perfect science.. and I appreciate other people’s opposing views when they are presented in a way that doesn’t denegrate another person or party. Sometimes, I see merit in parts of an argument.. but it still may not be enough for me to switch my view.. or maybe it will. If the evidence is presented properly.
The American Spectator? That old radical right wing rag? Come on now. No one believes their rubbish, do they? Similar to Fox-only and Boss Drug Man in Palm Beach.
If one believes the Am Spec, probably won’t believe stats from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Those who do rely on our Census Bureau, note following: Per March 27, 2007 Release: U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Dept of Commerce, the revised estimates show that, in 2005, 44.8 million people, 15.3 percent of the population, were without health insurance…projections for Y2008 based on growth of uninsured “citizens” (illegals not counted) put the # well over 47 million.
“Yes I am ranting because they pass their idea off as the only solution.”…so, stop ranting and advise your solution, per earlier suggestion. You do have a solution for lowering our costs and covering all citizens, don’t you? Proceed. Please tell us a Better Way, surely better than 30+ other democracies (not counting China, which is not one).
“China….if a sick person comes to the hospital with no way to pay.. they are sent home to die.”….Rings similar to desires of some Americans with good inexpensive employer insurance. Let the poor simply go away.
“socialized system of government controlled health care?”…We have such with Medicare. Besides such health care, we have socialized public schools grades K-12, libraries, police & fire depts, military, many entities. The main desire is not socialized system. It is desire for medical personnel and hospitals remain private entities, not government run. Current for-profit insurers remain as it. You like yours? Keep it. #1 desire is added option of a national public non-profit insurance pool available to everyone, even those with prior conditions, to purchase. For the working poor who can afford little payment, they pay little payment. By the way, Germany has 200+ sickness funds with goal for reduction to 50, based on competition among each for better quality at lower contribution rates. Plus, they have private plans.
The easy part is getting everyone enrolled in the insurance.
The difficult part is “insuring” that everyone gets care.
The Brits get around this tricky litle corner by buying their own premiums and coming to the US when things get sticky.
The Canadians just slip over the border.
Their systems look good and everybody is happy.
Of course there is always the problem of those pesky high tax rates.
Well I guess you can’t have everything…
http://spectator.org/archives/2009/03/20/the-myth-of-the-46-million
This is an interesting article that points out some of the flaws with using that 46 million number and why the problem may be smaller than we are led to believe. There are about 9 million illegals included in the 46 number.. so while it isn’t a majority..it is pretty significant. The article also discusses the way the survey is taken and how the results could be skewed depending upon whether people were temporarily w/out insurance (inbetween jobs for example).. or were in a “permanent” state of not having insurance. They also point out that 9.1 million of the uninsured have incomes in excess of 75 thousand.. so many would think they could pay for it and are just choosing not to.. The article also does state a hospital can’t turn people away.. so there is access.. just not insured access.. which is different.
We can discuss this point all year and the result will still be the same. The government will pass a health care system that they say will cost XX number of dollars. In ten years they will be saying they need more money to pay for a cost that has exceded 5XX the cost. This will result in higher taxes and higher costs which will drop more people from the system. Then there will be the tiered system used by the VA which sets it’s levels of care according to the income of the user. In 20 years we will have a system so screwed up people will be demanding to know how it got that way and wanting a newer better system. I hope I am still living to hear how Bush/Chenney, Rush and the republicans caused that mess. I hope all of you wanting to change can live with it because I think you all have a rude awakening coming.
SSN,
Please cite your source before making such claims that most of the 46 million uninsured are illegal immigrants. I cited mine as the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation. What is yours?
“Editor, Times-Dispatch: The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the United States spends 15.3 percent of its gross domestic product on health care, or $6,714 per capita annually. Compare that to the United Kingdom, which spends 8.4 percent of GDP ($2,784 per capita), or Canada, which spends 10 percent of GDP ($3,672 per capita), and one quickly realizes that Americans are not getting what they pay for.“
Both countries set what they will or will not pay by governmental decision so of course they keep payments low. They also must get the money from somewhere. Ever check out their tax rates? Americans would go ballistic over similar ones.
Likewise they set quotas and if you are over the quota, “sorry”.
Many British are buying their own health insurance in addition to the government plan because they are unhappy over the coverage. Britain allows its citizens to go out of the country if the needed care is not available. Would you want to?
“Posted by ( wyssjf ) on June 05, 2009 at 10:24 am
To Mr. Right,
American healthcare is fantastic if you can afford it. The problem is that there are 46 million Americans who cannot afford healthcare. “
Incorrect. The actual claim is that 46 million don’t have healthcare, no tthat they can’t afford it.
Who are these 46 million? A large part are illegals, another large part is those that can aford it but don’t buy it. A closer figure of those that want, but can’t afford is in the 1 to 2 million range (out of 300+ million), and those can go to their state social services.
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