Is our health care system the best in the world? Yes.
Are a majority of Americans satisfied with the system as it is? Yes.
Do most American’s believe our health care system needs change? Yes.
…but if it’s so bad, why are some of the wealthiest people in the world coming here for their health care?
This is definitely a point at which we need to stop and clarify our terms a bit. Many of the best doctors and medical facilities in the world are here in the US. The wealthy can get access to the absolute best medical care here. But the problem is one of distribution; the way our health care is rationed today means that most Americans don’t see that side of American medicine. What most Americans receive would not be mistaken for the Mayo Clinic. So do we actually have the best health care system? Absolutely not.
All you need to do is look at the outcomes. The US doesn’t have the best health in the world. As a matter of fact, we’re not even close. Of course, in typical conservative style, Roosh poo-poos the statistics. After all, facts are for commies:
And yet, often cited are World Health Organization Statistics citing such items as national longevity, live birth rates and such, attempting to paint a bleaker picture and calling for Change® in America, so we can get in line and be more like the rest of the world.
…but the WHO is an arm of the UN, who brought us the long debunked Man-Made Global Warming scam and thereby disqualifies itself as a source of reliable statistical basis, let alone scientific integrity.
National longevity? Sounds like a statistic only the liberal elite would use. So let’s look at some less technical proof — what citizens of industrialized nations think about their health care system, and what they pay for access to that system.
If we have the best health care system, how come Americans don’t seem to think particularly highly of it? At best, we’re average — but, of course, we’re paying twice as much for our healthcare.
More importantly, why aren’t we the best? It has nothing to do with our doctors — our doctors are the best. However, only a portion of the population has access to those doctors. When one-third of Americans admit that they have skipped treatment because of cost problems, our system as a whole is failing. Just having the best doctors isn’t enough when many Americans don’t have access to them.
That’s a big reason why Americans top the list in thinking a major health care overhaul is needed. It doesn’t do Americans any good to know that the Saudi Royal Family comes to America to get the best health care. As it turns out, most of us are not royalty, and most of us are counting our pennies to decide if we should go to the doctor.
Let’s define our terms even further: we have the best *health care* system in the world, bar none. The system of not only caring for patients, but for innovating care (something that the Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia and Canada don’t do, and which the UK and Germany only do sparingly), is the very best there is, anywhere.
To the extent we have a problem, it’s in *health insurance* - the system by which people pay for the health care. The left promiscuously mixes the two to try to confuse the issue.
As to your survey results, they directly contradict several other sets that show *very high* satisfaction with our health CARE system.
Oh Mitch, where do I begin? We have, arguably, the best health care practitioners in the world. You cold argue that. Conservatives like you take that fact to say we have the best health care system. People, in general may be satisfied with their providers, but that is completely different than their insurance. The left knows that our problem is with the health insurance companies, which is why we know we need a public option at least and universal care at best.
Mitch, we have the best *providers* in the world, and as a country we have the worst health care system in the modern world. How can you even remotely disagree when we have a system that lets more infants die than at least 15 other countries according to the CIA. Infant mortality speaks directly to access, equity, and how we care for our entire population. You cannot blame infant mortality on eating too many big macs either, like you guys try to do with longevity rates.
How can our system be the best when we have the worst health outcomes in the modern world while at the same time having the best providers?
The US lags behind other industrialized nations in three of the most important metrics of public health 1) Life expectancy, 2) Infant mortality, and 3) Obesity. Yet we spend, per capita, more then any other nation.
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN07651650
Hmmmmm.
NorthernMNer,
What most people don’t realize about the part about paying more than any nation, is that our government even spends more on health care than nations that have universal coverage paid for by the public. So we are already spending more public money than those countries, we just don’t get the public plan. 15% of our GDP is health care, but 8% of that is from the government and 7% is from private/other sources. We spend the public dollars but don’t get the public benefit.
If we had the best system, poor people and middle class people would come here for it. The wealthy come here because they can afford it, while others can’t.
Even wealthy people do not come here. They analyzed admission reports at the major border hospitals, and less than .5% of admissions were Canadians.
Mitch, we have the best *providers* in the world, and as a country we have the worst health care system in the modern world. How can you even remotely disagree when we have a system that lets more infants die than at least 15 other countries according to the CIA. Infant mortality speaks directly to access, equity, and how we care for our entire population.
Well let’s see. According to the CIA, the infant mortality rate in the United States is about 0.626% whereas Singapore reports that they have the lowest infant mortality rate in the world at 0.231%.
Even if we ignore all of the factors that affect infant mortality reporting (e.g. differences in recording methods about what constitutes a live birth, immigration, behavior of the mother, genetics, etc.) that have nothing to do with the quality or availability of health care, you are expecting us to draw conclusions about our health care system based on an overall rate that is measured as a fraction of a percent and differences that are a fraction of a fraction of a percent.
I’d say that any country which has an infant mortality rate of a fraction of a percent is doing pretty well in that regard and any “differences” between them and other countries who have infant mortality rates of a fraction of a percent are too minute as to support any meaningful generalization about that country’s health care system.
Much less serve as a justification for the kind of policy that is being debated in Congress.