It Will Happen II

Hearing anyone extol the virtues of the American healthcare system, one has to wonder about the vacant realty between their ears. We have the most expensive medical care in the world, with a huge proportion of the costs directly related to 'administrative functions'.

Perversely, our extra spending doesn't seem to buy us better medical care. According to virtually every meaningful statistic, from simple measures like infant mortality to more carefully constructed data like "potential years of life lost," Americans are no healthier (and are frequently unhealthier) than the citizens of countries with universal health care. Nor do Americans always get "more" medical care, as is commonly assumed.

The citizens of Japan, for example, have more CT scanners and MRI machines than we do. And the French, whose system the World Health Organization recently declared the planet's best, have more hospital beds. They get more doctor visits, too, perhaps because their access to physicians is nearly unfettered — a privilege even most middle-class Americans surrendered with the spread of managed care. In fact, aside from cost, the measure on which the United States most conspicuously stands out from other advanced nations may be public opinion: In a series of polls a few years ago, just 40 percent of us said we were "fairly or very" satisfied with our health care system, fourth worst of the 17 nations surveyed.

People are getting sick and tired of the parasites, lining their pockets while America's citizens are being denied needed care. Wake up Dem's. This is something to fight for and to win with. This is what government exists for and this is the right time.

Is America a truly great nation if we neglect our own citizens?
More here.
Posted on The Human Stain