Haha...you and Boba can go to Mexico and try your luck at one of those hospitals. I hear you can have open heart surgery for $100 and a Corona. Good luck!!!
Compare the U.S. healthcare to an equivalent economy, on a lesser scale, like France/UK/Germany. Mexico is barely above the status of 3rd world nation. Again, how many Americans who've gone to see a doctor once in a year is not the big driver on healthcare costs. It's redundant visits, unnecessary testing, poor record keeping and lack of electronic automation used in medical records, outright fraud and poor preventive care. The U.S. ranks 38th in life expectancy worldwide, behind such notables as Cuba, Puerto Rico, Chile and Cyprus, yet we pay more in healthcare costs than all these country's GDP combined. Do you still think the system doesn't need fixing because it sounds like you're arguing in favor of doing nothing.
Redundant visits, extra tests, and poor record keeping are not creating the majority of these healthcare costs. Electronic medical records are already implemented by 50% of hospitals. It is the smaller practices that don't want to invest in it. And you can't compare the United States to those countries. We have cities that are larger than Puerto Rico and Cyprus. We have a population of 311 million people so our sample size is much larger. Cyprus only has 1 million people; so a small number of people could affect their life expectancy numbers. I'm saying that switching to a single payer government system doesn't change the issue of healthcare costs. I believe that healthcare costs will always be the same because of the reasons I've listed. The only way costs will drop is for our society to change.
Got it. Leave it be because there is no better alternative. Good luck with that. I'd love for you btw to provide a citation that states roughly 50% of U.S. hospitals use electronic medical records for actual patient healthcare files, not for billing or administrative purposes. Everything I read says that the majority of U.S. hospitals still have most patient records kept on paper. Can you have your medical history from childhood referenced on your primary care doctor's laptop?? Didn't think so. Or if you see a specialist, can he pull up your records from your primary care doctor or a consulting specialist who's treated you before on his laptop?? The U.S. is behind every major industrialized nation in the world in life expectancy, I simply pointed out those nations most people would be surprised to discover have better longterm care outcomes than the U.S. yet spend a fraction of what we do per person on healthcare. I listed in previous posts what are the main drivers in healthcare costs. Don't take my word for it. Look it up. http://www.regence.com/transparency/regence-and-reform/what-drives-up-health-care-costs.jsp There are wasted expenses built into the system which in turn balloon healthcare costs.
My point is that the problem isn't the insurance companies. The United States provides great medical care and that comes with a price. But our population size, racial makeup, and number of medical visits drive the cost up. So you're complaining about something that won't change. Here is a chart for the Center for Disease Control showing that back in 2010 we had 50.7% using EMR. I'm sure that number is higher now in 2012. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/emr_ehr_09/emr_ehr_09.htm The US is not behind every major country in life expectancy. The US provides solid medical care for almost every disease imaginable. Plus, you cannot compare the countries you listed because they are a completely different population size. If you only have 1 million people in your country and 1000 people live an extra year, that dramatically boosts your number. The US would need 1 million people to live an extra year just to keep pace. You want to know a big cause of shortened life expectancy? Obesity. Americans are overweight and do not lead a healthy lifestyle. This could decrease your life expectancy by up to 7 years. You don't need to be a physician to know this stuff. Live healthy= live longer!!
When I say racial makeup, it is not meant as an attack. The United States is made up of 30% African Americans and Hispanics. These races have higher cases of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, prostate cancer, liver disease, etc. So when you compare the US to another country you have to take into account the racial makeup of a country. For example, Canada only has 3% African Americans and Hispanics. So they will have a different set of medical issues in that country.
African Americans and Hispanics aren't the only people who get specialized illnesses. A human body is a human body, period. If I have a heart attack and you have a heart attack, the process will be exactly the same. Mine might be less severe than yours or in a different part of muscle. But it's being deprived of oxygen exactly the same way. Way to single out how blacks and Hispanics are so different from the rest of the world simply because they are black or Hispanic.
Is this dude serious? You just targeted the poor and disenfranchized who tend to be the most unhealthy in all countries.
Damn, you guys don't get what I'm saying. I'm not saying blacks and hispanics are the only people who get specialized illnesses. I'm saying racial makeup and population size affects the number and kinds of illnesses you get. And whether you like it or not, blacks have higher rates in all of the diseases I mentioned than Whites. Facts are facts! For the last time...IT IS NOT A RACIAL ATTACK!! Here are the CDC stats for African Americans and look at the cases of obesity and hypertension. We also account for 44% of new AIDS cases. So to say it doesn't matter means you don't know the facts. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/black_health.htm http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/aa/
No, I'm not targeting the poor and disenfranchised. I said blacks and hispanics have a higher number of cases of all the illnesses I mentioned above. Economic status does not matter. For the same reason, you can't compare Africa to Israel. The racial makeup of their countries are different, so they have a different set of diseases they are fighting. And the size of your population obviously will affect the number of medical visits you have. We have 311 million people in our country, so to compare it to a country with 1 million people is ridiculous.
And you dont think socioeconomic status doesnt matter when being poor means less access to healthcare less quality food less access and time for tegular exercise. Again are you really serious? Show me the data please
I'm sure it does play a factor, but I wasn't bringing that up. You're bringing up just another factor contributing to our high healthcare costs, so thank you. I was pointing out how racial makeup plays a big role. And I think I've shown enough data on that. Please click the CDC links I posted above.
Both the U.N. and the CIA list the United States 38th globally in life expectancy. We are behind Australia, Canada, Japan, Israel and every member country of the EU. And we pay more in healthcare annually than all those countries COMBINED. Americans are being raped by corporate healthcare management.:smt077
I agree. I think the idea that everyone in our country should have access to great healthcare is something I support and the United States has always historically stood behind. That is why we have the highest spending per capita than any other nation. That's why our costs are so high because we invest heavily in healthcare and we even make sure those that come to an emergency room are taken care of even if they have no insurance. So the idea that making a government run single payer system will eliminate the high costs is simply not true. Controlling costs means we have to live different as a nation: - Eat healthier - Exercise regularly - Eliminate or reduce smoking and alcohol abuse - Lower drug use - Lower the number of violent crimes requiring hospital visits - Practice safe sex reducing sexual diseases like HIV and AIDS
Life expectancy is impossible to compare. For example, America has a larger population than Australia- 311 million versus 22 million. So if 1 million live an extra year longer in both places it will have a higher net gain for Australia because that is a higher percentage of their population. And we are not some third world country. People aren't dying early here because of poor medical care or management. They are actually living on average 76 days longer than they should because they live in America.
Exactly. Government agencies are the most terribly inefficient places. A single government run healthcare agency is the worst idea I could possibly imagine.
Healthier diets and more exercise would dramatically impact the longterm health of most Americans, as would smoking less and less alcohol consumption. But overall drug use, ER visits due to violent crime and 'safe sex' to reduce the spread of HIV aren't huge drivers in U.S. healthcare costs. About a million U.S. citizens have HIV, and nonfatal gun crime has steadily dropped the last 5 years, it's about 400-500k. THese are all problems, however other than eating healthier and getting more exercise, none of the other solutions you listed as potentially controlling costs would have more than a negligible impact on the exorbitant expense of health care costs. As for Paniro questioning what has the federal government ever run well; THe Department of Transportation/The U.S. Postal Service(without a single penny of taxpaxer money spent to run it)/ The National Weather Service/The National Institutes of Health, FDIC/ WIC/ The Department of Health and Human Services and literally dozens of federally administered programs that are run on budget or less with a very high success rate in their given task. Who do you want to be responsible for making sure our air is clean to breathe and our water safe to drink?? A deregulated corporation that's dumping tons of industrial sewage every year?? Or Uncle Sam?? When's the last time anyone you know got sick and died from eating bad meat or poultry??? We ARE the government, and the government is GOOD. That's why WE should be paying for all of OUR healthcare, through the government, not HMOs. http://www.governmentisgood.com/articles.php?aid=7 The greatest progressive website on the entire interwebz!!!lol
