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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Reader Reactions
“I’ve always said to anyone who wants to live in a socialist country, please move to one”?
Can add to that, “to anyone of all nations of Europe, of Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and ALL other nations who took initiatives in early 1960’s to improve their financial portion of their health care systems, while maintaining dedicated levels of medical-trained professionals whose primary emphasis is serving others; if they desire to live in a country with same level of dedicated medical personnel, but saddled with corporate profit-only-focus similar to mortgage bankers and Wall Street greed that ran amok, as exemplified by United Health’s CEO of recent involved in stock option scandal and who was paid $1.1Billion just to leave in Y2006, go to the only country on earth with such a sick system….the USA”. Also, tell them “be sure to read Wall St Journal’s June 4 article ‘The Importance of Deciphering Your Insurance‘”. 50-70 page health insurance policies, like my wife’s 55-page policy with $5,000 deductible and drug coverage that so far = 54% in copays (ours), to increase July 1 from $755 to $864 per month (+14.4%), due to “increasing costs“ during “tough economic times“, quote the insurer. Yeah. We feel insurers pain. Ours too.
The National Coalition on Health Care, nation’s largest and most broadly representative alliance working to improve America’s health care, notes Y2008 U.S. health care costs = 17% of our GDP, increasing by 6.9% over Y2007, twice amount of inflation. U.S. health care spending is expected to increase at similar levels for the next decade reaching $4.3 trillion in 2017, or 20% of Gross Domestic Product.
We spend 60% more than nations #2 Switzerland & #3 Germany in relation to their percent of GDP for total health care costs.
Problem is, when all other advanced nations on earth starting progressive moves to improve their systems 50 years ago, America still clings to a for-profit system that, similar to other industries, such as banking, mortgage lenders, Wall Street brokers, works toward increasing profit only; thus, discouraging effective medical care.
I’ve always said to anyone who wants to live in a socialist country ,please move to one.Don’t turn the USA into one.People from Canada and Great Britian come here evry day for medical treatment,not the other way around.
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