"Five Myths About Health Care in the Rest of the World."
It's all good, but here's two snippets:
The key difference is that foreign health insurance plans exist only to pay people's medical bills, not to make a profit. The United States is the only developed country that lets insurance companies profit from basic health coverage.
Also:
Which, in turn, punctures the most persistent myth of all: that America has "the finest health care" in the world. We don't. In terms of results, almost all advanced countries have better national health statistics than the United States does. In terms of finance, we force 700,000 Americans into bankruptcy each year because of medical bills. In France, the number of medical bankruptcies is zero. Britain: zero. Japan: zero. Germany: zero.
But really, let's just leave things the way they are....
Posted by Will Bunch @ 11:37 PM
Permalink |
153 comments
Your total ignorance and blind partisanship is astounding and equally pathetic. Keep advocating the spending (read: wasting) of billions of dollars that aren't there. You'll learn the lesson the hard way, like most limp-wristed libs, when your "newspaper" goes bankrupt and you're on the street looking for some other form of government handout. Meanwhile you'll cry foul and demonize "big business"......the same "big business" that employs you, provides a place to shop for groceries, a car to drive, etc, etc, etc. Your jealousy and hatred know no bounds, Bunch. What a sad life you live.
"Your jealousy and hatred know no bounds, Bunch. What a sad life you live."
your comment makes you sound as if you are filled with jealousy and hatred, lip-wristed and all....
I know I shouldn't bother playing with the trolls, but just shut up all ready...Jeez
"Your jealousy and hatred know no bounds, Bunch. What a sad life you live."
your comment makes you sound as if you are filled with jealousy and hatred, lip-wristed and all....
I know I shouldn't bother playing with the trolls, but just shut up all ready...Jeez
The fact that the US is 50th in life expectancy and 29th in infant moratlity (2009 estimate, CIA Factbook) and we pay 3X more per capita than the countries that rank ahead of us is a disgrace....The fact that there are so many brain-dead morons for whom ideology trumps results is even more pathetic...
Here's all you need to know about how good British health care is: when the EPL soccer players blow out their knees, do they trust the NHS to fix them? No. They fly to the USA. There's need for reform but, make no mistake, the absolute top of the line treatment occurs here.
Yo, bpphilly, did you even read the article mentioned? Have you ever been to other countries to see how their healthcare systems work? Have you ever complained about greedy insurance companies? Have you ever been denied care or coverage because it was not financially smart for the insurance company? Have you ever been laid off because "Big Business" was more interested in the bottom line than in your ability to earn a living? Did you ever have to pay for COBRA insurance because your employer stopped covering you? Have you ever been to a beef-n-beer for a victim of a hit-and-run whose family needed to raise money because "Big Business" insurance refused to cover his treatment? Surely we can trust big business insurance to provide the best service for your family in case you ever find yourself desperate. Big Business=integrity . . . AIG? Enron? Worldcom? GM? Instead of engaging in constructive discourse, why don't you just throw around epithets and slurs (and your own brand of hatred) and continue to be part of the problem. Nothin' personal, bro.
bpphilly, your comment has nothing to do with any issue being discussed. The only question I have for anyone against this healthcare is, why is it you dont think that every American should have access to medical care regardless of the ability to pay? You would rather they die on the side of the road? Walk around on poorly healed bones? That is the bottom line of all of this -- providing healthcare to those that are not able to get it on their own.
Scholes: "There's need for reform but, make no mistake, the absolute top of the line treatment occurs here."
Absolutely, but having superior technology does not mean it is as available as it should be. Even though some get paid like a Manchester United or Liverpool player, 99% do not and never will. Which reminds us again that the most technologically advanced society and global leader is far behind the rest of the advanced democratic capitalist countries in the area of social justice and public well-being. So, why do we have such OBSCENE income inequality and poverty?
Some like to call European cultures evil socialists and anti-American, even though they serve as the basic foundation of our country. The Netherlands, where drugs and prostitution are already legal and poverty is nonexistent because the society cares enough to put an effort in, is the founder of modern capitalism. 400 years ago it created the first stock market and the first international corporation. Along with those other anti-American traitors, the socialist Swiss, the Dutch are also the oldest non-stop defenders of individual freedom. Of course, they're smart enough to ensure their own collective health. Why aren't we? Is it not in our national interest?
The Manhattan Project aka nuclear fusion, the entire US Military, NASA, the National Institute of Health, the National Science Foundation are all WORLD-LEADING US GOVERNMENT FUNDED RESEARCH BODIES. Without taxpayers massively funding the research and development of technologies vital to our national interest, we would not be leading the world in medical technology, that's a guarantee.
We need the government reformed, held accountable and doing its job, not abolished by maniacs.
Wow, the lack of posting from the usual right wing gang of idiots who constantly post here, (except for bpphilly, who has been thoroughly and completely excoriated), is....not a surprise. After all, when they are confronted with stone cold facts, all they can do is...nothing. All that they do is move on to another post, hoping to spew their bitter vile and hatred, which is directed at...Americans. Come on, righties, why do you hate America so much?
Will highlights that "the United States is the only country that lets companies profit..." that tells us a great deal about the demented view of the rest of the word. What is a more natural "right"? To be given, for free, the product of another man's labor, or the ability to profit from creating value for your customers? Your glorification of freeloading and the antipathy for profit is disgusting. Go buy me a new car. Make it a fancy sedan with leather interior. Afterall, I have the right to have transportation, and you have a moral duty to provide it.
The fact that the US is 50th in life expectancy and 29th in infant moratlity (2009 estimate, CIA Factbook). Youfail to account for 15% of our population who as they say, "don't test well".
---}}} Your glorification of freeloading and the antipathy for profit is disgusting. {{{--- It isn't "antipathy" for profit, Mr. Smith. It's just pointing out the obvious fact that the healthcare system is inherently more expensive - meaning it delivers less in medical benefits per consumer dollar - when it has to pay for profits for the insurance industry. A rather simple and obvious concept, really. One has to wonder why it has you so stymied and confused.
Why do libs try to run out the idea that universal coverage doesn't cost you anything. Even a fleeting knowledge of economics would tell you differently. I would also think that the US position in statistics such as life expectancy etc. are caused more by lifestyle than quality of the healthcare system.
700,000 Americans, the vast majority of whom have health insurance but insufficient health insurance, hard-working Americans, who are broken by the need to pay health insurance executives with profits made on the misery and suffering of Americans, declare bankruptcy each year because of the weaknesses of our health care system. Amazing, really, that so many "conservatives" are so indifferent to the plight of 700,000 Americans each year. I mean, since they're such patriots, and all. LOL!
Bankruptcy means they are absolved of paying their debts. Someone performed a service for those 700,000 people and didn't get paid for it. What TPS is pushing for is essentially the bankruptcy of all Americans.
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About Will Bunch
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Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
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