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Do you have anything to back that up? Are you saying that people with stage 3 or 4 cancer are more likely to survive in the US than a person with stage 2 cancer in say, France or Canada?
In the case of stage 1 colorectal cancer where surgery is available and patients have the best chance of survival, five-year survival is just 70% in the UK compared to 90% in the US and 80% in Germany. Similarly, five-year survival for stage 1 breast cancer in the UK is about 78% compared with 97% in the US and 93% in other EU countries.
A Lancet Oncology global study last year found that 91.9 per cent of Americans with the prostate cancer were still alive after five years compared to just 51.1 per cent in the UK.
But all of this avoids the real questions. Would the British have a longer life expectancy and better healthcare outcomes if it abolished the NHS and went to a private system? Or would the United States have a longer life expectancy and better healthcare outcomes if it adopted a national healthcare system? Which country with a national healthcare system has better health outcomes than the United States?
And please, don't use life expectancy as a measure of the quality of healthcare. There are far more factors to life expectancy than just healthcare. The United States has high rates of murder, car accidents, drug abuse, obesity, etc. Give me real health statistics.
The truth is, not only would health outcomes tend to be worse in this country if the government socialized our medical here. But even more importantly, the rate of new healthcare innovations would drop dramatically. Where do you think the UK gets its cancer treatments? Where do you think France gets its cancer treatments? Those other countries are the beneficiaries of our "for profit" healthcare system.
American companies spend millions or billions to produce medications that other countries simply rip off, by ignoring our patents. They need us, we don't need them. Do you see?
I understand that, my point is we need to question why health care itself is soexpensive that it requires insurance. Don't get me wrong, I want everyone to have insurance, but I also understand that not everyone can afford to pay that premium monthly therefore the actual cost of healthcare needs to be reduced somehow for those without insurance so they can go to a private practice or even the ER and receive affordable healthcare not affordable insurance.
There was a time when medical care was not so costly. Of course back then, there was not a whole lot that could be done to prevent or treat let alone cure disease. People routinely died of an abscessed tooth before penicillin became readily available in the 50's.
Life expectance was substantially shorter than it is now. The longer you hang around, the more likely you will be diagnosed with something nasty.
The U.S. is the only nation in the developed world without universal healthcare. It also spends more than any other nation on a per capita basis and has high infant mortality rates and lower life expectancy rates. Reportedly, 60% of all personal bankruptcies in the U.S. are triggered by medical expenses. This is unheard of, elsewhere.
The rest of the world takes a very different approach towards healthcare.
despite the fact that they are out there, you havent heard the many different republican plans because the mainstream media refuses to publish them. google "republican health care plans" and you will get a ton of them.
Been there/done that.
ACA became law 3.5 years ago. Since then, the house has voted at least 41 times to repeal ACA and has not offered up any alternative.
I am not counting the silliness that was pitched 2 weeks ago that began with, first we repeal ACA that gained no traction within the house.
If I have missed something, please supply a bill # /sponsor.
The irony of all this is the resemblance between ACA and the healthcare plan once pitched by the very Republican Heritage Foundation as well as Romney care in Ma.
Tort reform. Exactly the right answer. Medical insurance costs are high because medical costs are high, and meidical costs are high, in part, because malpractice insurance is high.
Any medical procedure has risks. When things go wrong, the first thing people do is blame the doctor, and run to their attorney. And, they go for the big bucks.
Even if they don't win their suit, it costs the doctor or hospital money in attorney fees.
I think that is one of the biggest reasons for the high cost of medical insurance, and it need not be that way, if the politicians would focus on tort reform.
Malpractice insurance is primary used to defend an MD, medical practice or hospital.
The people in the U.S. are manipulated by lawyers to expect someone to pay the big $ when something goes wrong. Most of this litigation is based on a percentage of the win, meaning it costs the " injured party " nothing to sue.
I think you slipped a decimal point. Ignoring the bogus government figures, there are nearer 20 million illegals in the US. They get free medical care.
The 1986 law requires most ERs to stabilize anyone who comes through the door regardless of their ability to pay. No law requires any MD, medical practice or private hospital to treat anyone who is uninsured and cannot pay.
Even if you point out that people in the United States are less likely to get
screened for cancer, than are people in other countries. And so the people in
the United States are more likely to only realize they have cancer in later
stages of the disease. The reality is that, even people finding out they have stage 3-4 cancer, are more likely to survive that cancer, than they would be if they had stage 2 cancer in another country.
Again, do you have anything to back that up? You can say "Here is what I will provide", but you didn't answer the question at all. You seem to have pulled those stats out of your nether regions.
Show me anything suggesting that patients with Stage 3/4 cancer do better in the US than patients with Stage 2 cancers in other industrialized countries.
Did you have a SmartPhone, a game console, some music device, IPad, etc.? Healthcare is affordable if you prioritize it over "stuff."
There was, what, 30 million people without health insurance and some who couldn't get it because of pre-existing conditions. Assuming none of them were eligible for Medicaid, the system just needed fixing for those people. It certainly didn't need government interference in everyone else's life.
I agree that a heck of a lot of people put a higher priority on stuff than taking responsibility for their own healthcare insurance.
The number of uninsured is close to 50 million. The number of people with sub prime healthcare policies, high deductibles/low annual/lifetime caps is equal to that number.
24 million people have diabetes in the U.S. If they are not insured by their employer's group healthcare, they likely have been dropped from their private carrier or, dependent upon state, payments for healthcare services exclude Diabetes or any complications arising from Diabetes.
Most of these people are not eligible for Medicaid. Adults who are unemployed, receive TANF and/or SNAP benefits do not automatically qualify for Medicaid. 20 states intend to expand Medicaid by 1/2014 to help reduce the gap between ACA and existing Medicaid. 24 states have no plans to do so. Most of these state have the most uninsured/underinsured.
A quick way to reduce the cost of health care? Easy. Get rid of health insurance completely. Everything that the insurance industry touches gets more expensive. Instead of that though we of course are going the opposite direction and requiring more of it. Geez I wonder if there was any lobbying going on, hahha.
There was a time when medical care was not so costly. Of course back then, there was not a whole lot that could be done to prevent or treat let alone cure disease. People routinely died of an abscessed tooth before penicillin became readily available in the 50's.
Life expectance was substantially shorter than it is now. The longer you hang around, the more likely you will be diagnosed with something nasty.
The U.S. is the only nation in the developed world without universal healthcare. It also spends more than any other nation on a per capita basis and has high infant mortality rates and lower life expectancy rates. Reportedly, 60% of all personal bankruptcies in the U.S. are triggered by medical expenses. This is unheard of, elsewhere.
This was just covered with some very good verified information as to why this is not what it seems but then here it is again a short time later.
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