[Platt] We make no such claim for our system, just the best care in the world.
[Arlo] Hardly. The World Health Organization, in a 2000 study, found that the US ranked only 37th out of 191 countries examined. http://www.who.int/whr/2000/media_centre/press_release/en/index.html "The U.S. health system spends a higher portion of its gross domestic product than any other country but ranks 37 out of 191 countries according to its performance, the report finds. The United Kingdom, which spends just six percent of GDP on health services, ranks 18th" The summary continues. "The impact of failures in health systems is most severe on the poor everywhere, who are driven deeper into poverty by lack of financial protection against ill- health, the report says. "The poor are treated with less respect, given less choice of service providers and offered lower- quality amenities," says Dr Brundtland. "In trying to buy health from their own pockets, they pay and become poorer." Quite obvious, really. The author of Sick: The Untold Story of America's Health Care Crisis - And the People Who Pay the Price found the same thing. (http://www.sickthebook.com/) "Every day, millions of hard-working people struggle to find affordable medical treatment for themselves and their families - unable to pay for prescription drugs and regular check-ups, let alone for hospital visits. Some of these people end up losing money. Others end up losing something more valuable: Their health or even their lives." Another key indicator is life expectancy (per capita) where the US ranks 48th (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy) behind nearly ever other "Western" country. Interestingly, despite the "privatized" nature of US health care, the US government already spends more per person on health care than Canada. "Health care is one of the most expensive items of both nations’ budgets. The United States spends more per capita on health care than the government does in Canada. In 2003, the government of Canada spent $1886 (in US dollars) per person on health care, while the United States government spent $2548." And despite this, the private person still pays nearly 5 times more for the same health care as her counterpart in Canada. "Despite the American government paying more per capita, private sources also pay far more for health care in the United States. In Canada an average of $630 dollars is spent annually by individuals or private insurance companies for health care, including dental, eye care, and drugs. In the United States this number is $2719" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_and_American_health_care_systems_compared) Canada comes in at 30 on the WHO ranking (the US is 37). The New England Journal of Medicine reported in 2003, "The overhead cost of operating the United States health-care system is more than three times that of running Canada's on a per capita basis, and the gap is getting bigger, according to a study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. Savings gleaned from a national health insurance system like Canada's would be enough to provide medical insurance for the 41 million Americans who now lack coverage, the researchers said." http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news03/health_costs.html Again the bottom line should be the value of human life, despite the capistocrats that want life tied to income, who lives and who dies to be determined by wealth. moq_discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
