Author Topic: US Health Care - Still No. 1 (when compared to sub-Saharan Africa)  (Read 10933 times)

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Michael Tee

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US Health Care - Still No. 1 (when compared to sub-Saharan Africa)
« on: September 21, 2006, 06:52:18 PM »
Not that this latest study will change the "thinking" of our conservative posters on the subject, but what the hell, for the rest of you - - for those who are able to put two thoughts together in a reasonably logical manner without risking total neurosynaptic breakdown - - your latest report card has arrived.  And it ain't good.  (I shortened it up a bit.)

I loved the last paragraph.  SUUUUUURE, private enterprise is "more efficient" than "big government."  Suuuuuuuure it is.  Figure it out, suckas.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/bw/20060921/bs_bw/tc20060921053503

U.S. Health-Care System Gets a "D"

By Catherine Arnst Thu Sep 21, 3:08 AM ET
The U.S. health-care system is doing poorly by virtually every measure. That's the conclusion of a national report card on the U.S. health-care system, released Sept. 20. Although there are pockets of excellence, the report, commissioned by the non-profit and non-partisan Commonwealth Fund, gave the U.S. system low grades on outcomes, quality of care, access to care, and efficiency, compared to other industrialized nations or generally accepted standards of care. Bottom line: U.S. health care barely passes with an overall grade of 66 out of 100.
The survey was carried out by 18 academic and private-sector health-care leaders, who rate the system on 37 different measures. The poor grade is particularly discomfiting, the researchers note, because the U.S. spends more on medicine, by far, than any other country. Approximately 16% of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP) is devoted to health care, compared with 10% or less in other industrialized nations.
. . .
Below Potential.
The U.S. ranks at the bottom among industrialized countries for life expectancy both at birth and at age 60. It is also last on infant mortality, with 7 deaths per 1,000 live births, compared with 2.7 in the top three countries. There are dramatic gaps within the U.S. as well, according to the study. The average disability rate for all Americans is 25% worse than the rate for the best five states alone, as is the rate of children missing 11 or more days of school.

The Commonwealth Fund, which studies health-care issues, commissioned the report last year as part of an effort to come up with solutions to the nation's troubled health-care system. The report "tells us that overall we are performing far below our national potential," says Dr. James J. Mongan, chairman of the team that pulled together the study and chief executive officer of Partners Healthcare in Boston. "We can do much better and we need to do much better," he says.

--As a share of total health expenditures, insurance administrative costs in the U.S. were more than three times the rate in countries with integrated payment systems.

Lanya

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Re: US Health Care - Still No. 1 (when compared to sub-Saharan Africa)
« Reply #1 on: September 22, 2006, 02:10:21 AM »
Clots kill more people here a year than terrorists. 
Planned Parenthood is America’s most trusted provider of reproductive health care.

Plane

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Re: US Health Care - Still No. 1 (when compared to sub-Saharan Africa)
« Reply #2 on: September 22, 2006, 02:16:22 AM »
Who is getting all the money ?

Amianthus

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Re: US Health Care - Still No. 1 (when compared to sub-Saharan Africa)
« Reply #3 on: September 22, 2006, 08:48:53 AM »
Clots kill more people here a year than terrorists. 

Pick any industrialized nation, regardless of the health care system used.

Your quote would apply to that nation as well.

So, it's a pretty useless quote.
Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight. (Benjamin Franklin)

Michael Tee

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Re: US Health Care - Still No. 1 (when compared to sub-Saharan Africa)
« Reply #4 on: September 22, 2006, 11:35:00 AM »
<<Who is getting all the money?"

Figure it out, plane.  Health care is a "for profit" enterprise in the USA.  What part of "for profit" did you not understand?  The REAL joke is that the owners and higher-echelon executives of the free-enterprise hospitals, clinics, insurance companies, etc., are not only getting more of the people's money, they are delivering LESS than their "inefficient" public health sector administrators in countries like Canada.

Michael Tee

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Re: US Health Care - Still No. 1 (when compared to sub-Saharan Africa)
« Reply #5 on: September 22, 2006, 11:41:54 AM »
<<Pick any industrialized nation, regardless of the health care system used.

<<Your quote would apply to that nation as well.

<<So, it's a pretty useless quote.>>

I might have misunderstood but I assumed "integrated payment systems" meant single-payer systems, which as far as I'm aware means government health care such as the Canadian system.

The quote was that the administrative costs of US health care were THREE TIMES those of integrated payment systems.  This means that private enterprise, at least in the health care field, costs more and delivers less.

What did I miss?

Amianthus

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Re: US Health Care - Still No. 1 (when compared to sub-Saharan Africa)
« Reply #6 on: September 22, 2006, 11:43:16 AM »
What did I miss?

Lanya's quip about blood clots. I even quoted it, but you still seem to have missed it.
Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight. (Benjamin Franklin)

Michael Tee

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Re: US Health Care - Still No. 1 (when compared to sub-Saharan Africa)
« Reply #7 on: September 22, 2006, 12:12:16 PM »
I DID miss it.  Sorry.

larry

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Re: US Health Care - Still No. 1 (when compared to sub-Saharan Africa)
« Reply #8 on: September 22, 2006, 01:17:06 PM »
People who ignite religious and political flames do so to augment their own sense of power and place. It is about controlling others and acquiring political power.


No truer words were ever wrote. Look at the faces on the World News reports. We must always keep in mind-   the media is a primary weapon of moden warfare. The big question is, who should we trust? The choices are religion and politics. Follow the leaders and suffer the consequences. Five thousand years of social development and the people of the World are slaves to false preachers and corrupt politicians. There is a great opportunity at this time. There is always great opportunity when chaos create a vacuum of religous and political leadership. I know most people don't know what a vacuum is. Its a machine that suckes up everything in its path. The NWO is the new vacuum.

Lanya

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Re: US Health Care - Still No. 1 (when compared to sub-Saharan Africa)
« Reply #9 on: September 22, 2006, 01:19:24 PM »
Clots kill more people here a year than terrorists. 

Pick any industrialized nation, regardless of the health care system used.

Your quote would apply to that nation as well.

So, it's a pretty useless quote.
May not be quite on topic, but it's far from useless.  Shows that we can spend to the ends of the earth if it's War On Terror---but people's lives, ending here in this country, no money and no insurance?  Hell with them.   Let them die.
Civilized nations have universal health care.   OTHER civilized nations, I hasten to add.  Why don't we?  Aren't the people of our country a valuable resource?  Shouldn't we take care of them, as regards health care? 
Planned Parenthood is America’s most trusted provider of reproductive health care.

BT

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Re: US Health Care - Still No. 1 (when compared to sub-Saharan Africa)
« Reply #10 on: September 22, 2006, 01:27:19 PM »
Quote
Aren't the people of our country a valuable resource?  Shouldn't we take care of them, as regards health care? 

You want health care, provide it locally and fund it with sales tax.

I believe we have had this discussion .

Amianthus

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Re: US Health Care - Still No. 1 (when compared to sub-Saharan Africa)
« Reply #11 on: September 22, 2006, 01:42:49 PM »
May not be quite on topic, but it's far from useless.  Shows that we can spend to the ends of the earth if it's War On Terror---but people's lives, ending here in this country, no money and no insurance?  Hell with them.   Let them die.

So, since it's equally applicable in any other industrialized nation (even those with single payer systems), are you saying that every nation feels like "Hell with them,  Let them die"?
Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight. (Benjamin Franklin)

kimba1

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Re: US Health Care - Still No. 1 (when compared to sub-Saharan Africa)
« Reply #12 on: September 22, 2006, 01:48:02 PM »
you got a point bt
make sure it`s locallized
notice how expenses get super high the larger any organization gets.
ex .charities

Plane

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Re: US Health Care - Still No. 1 (when compared to sub-Saharan Africa)
« Reply #13 on: September 22, 2006, 02:18:08 PM »
<<Who is getting all the money?"

Figure it out, plane.  Health care is a "for profit" enterprise in the USA.  What part of "for profit" did you not understand?  The REAL joke is that the owners and higher-echelon executives of the free-enterprise hospitals, clinics, insurance companies, etc., are not only getting more of the people's money, they are delivering LESS than their "inefficient" public health sector administrators in countries like Canada.

Do Canadian Doctors get sued for malpractice?

_JS

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Re: US Health Care - Still No. 1 (when compared to sub-Saharan Africa)
« Reply #14 on: September 22, 2006, 03:28:34 PM »
You want health care, provide it locally and fund it with sales tax.

I believe we have had this discussion .


Why? Why not do it nationally? Why fund it with a sales tax as opposed to another type of tax?


Do Canadian Doctors get sued for malpractice?


Yes, they do.
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