By Greg Mendel

November 29, 2008 7:09 PM | Link to this

Americans who think our health care system is the best in the world know little more than rumors about those in other industrialized nations. And haven’t been very sick.

Actually, we have good health care. It’s the delivery system that’s Third World. Third World at 20 times the price.

By man book

November 29, 2008 8:47 PM | Link to this

thats correct greggor.

you go bookman!

By "The Corporal"

November 29, 2008 8:59 PM | Link to this

Health care and what people choose to do regarding their health and personal choices/preventative measures are two different things.

I have traveled to 26 countries on five continents and I can assure you there is none better.

In addition, many foreign heads of state who live in the most developed countries in the world come here (the Mayo Clinic, etc.) for their treatments.

By RB from Gwinnett

November 30, 2008 12:05 AM | Link to this

Does anybody know anything about the state of people sueing doctors in other nations? Do doctors have to pay insane malpractice insurance fees? Just curious as that is a factor in our healthcare cost structure.

By Bud Wiser

November 30, 2008 7:07 AM | Link to this

I have wondered how you people fit the reality into your litle world about those (who can afford to) always fly to the U.S. for their medical care, when warranted.

Also, I have been on dozens of cruises. For those of you who prefer to hang in the ‘hood, let me explain that those beautiful ships are manned by a truly wonderful melting pot of international citizens. At the advice of those nice folks, I have come to purchase an insurance policy for each trip that would include the price of returning me to the U.S. for my medical care, should conditions warrant.

Case closed, for me.

You tools can drive to Canada or wherever for your preferred socialized treatments, if they are available, only after taking your ticket number 17007 (now serving number 14), and waiting.

Look around you and get your head out of the sand, or wherever you park it these days. Don’t say “I want socialized medicine for me and all Americans” without projecting first (if you have the mental capacity, that is) a picture of your spouse, child, grandchild, or other loved one on that waiting list, and you sitting beside them, helpless to change that number 17007 to number 14.

Oh, BTW, to RB from Gwinnett: I’m glad you do not know where I live so you can come over to my property and “trip” on my driveway and suffer a catastrophic injury.

By Ben

November 30, 2008 7:18 AM | Link to this

Yeah, I’m sure those stats Bookman noted have nothing to do with all the ignorant fools that live here and the choices they make rather than the system itself. But hey, this way Bookman and his lefty friends can have even more control over us. Can’t wait to be forced to buy an insurance plan, and ask some politician if it’s ok and cost effective every time I need medical care.

What we really need to do is find a way to continue making new pharmaceuticals without subsidizing the cost of such to all these foreign plans which simply COULD NOT EXIST in the form Bookman touts if we weren’t paying for such a high percentage of everyone else’s drugs.

By Taxpayer

November 30, 2008 7:33 AM | Link to this

In other words, Jay, we cannot afford the health-care system that we currently are saddled with and the consensus of people that truly know what they’re talking about is that the system is wrought with waste and inefficiencies. Therefore, a more affordable system should be possible by reducing the waste and minimizing the inefficiencies. That sounds like a fiscally responsible and conservative approach to me. Surely, your conservative readers would agree.

By Bud Wiser

November 30, 2008 7:35 AM | Link to this

Amen Ben.

There must be a lot of (at least among the non-Godless) Democrats that are Southern Baptists … you know, the ones that say “Do as I say do, not as I do.”

With Hillary and the parade of Clinton administration people returning to DC, you know, the change you can believe in, the Democrats of BHO have already shown their legions of tools the power of recycling their garbage.

By Joey

November 30, 2008 8:00 AM | Link to this

I agree that our system is not perfect. However, prior to inplimenting any reform we should identify the problems. And that takes us to what the U.S., our government, does so poorly.

Our Government is not able to study and analyze a problem; immigration, banking and finance, economy, healthcare, etc.; then decide on a fix; then implement that fix.

Hence we are almost certainly destined to create a national healthcare system that not only provides poor healthcare, but provides it inequitablily.

By GodHatesTrash

November 30, 2008 9:53 AM | Link to this

In 2002 I was traveling around the Carib. After a couple of weeks in Aruba, Caracas, and a week in the Yucatan, I stopped in Porto Plata in the Dominican Republic to spend a beautiful September with some German friends that I had met while working for a northern Virginia international security group.

My fourth day there I was involved in a reasonably serious motorcyle accident. I spent seven days in the hospital after six hours of emergency surgery.

I had a single room, 60 channels of cable TV. During the 24 hours after my surgeries, the eye surgeon visited me 4 times, including a visit at midnight. The other surgeon involved visited my room 3 times. The hospital medical director came by twice. The nursing staff was excellent, the short-timer on the floor had been there fifteen years. The doctors and nurses were very collegial and cooperative, no tirades and/or imperiousness from the doctors to the nurses that is so evident in American hospitals. Shift changes were seamless, no nurses and residents coming in the room every 15 minutes and asking you “now what are you in here for? Who’s your doctor”, etc..

The food was wholesome and tasty.

The bill for my seven days was $11K, including doctors. The nurse practicioner from my insurance company said that it would have cost in the $50-60K range in the US.

By Road Scholar

November 30, 2008 10:17 AM | Link to this

Corporal: Do you take advantage of the “socialized” medicine of the VA? It has been rated the best run healthcare system in the US. Computerized records available to all hospitals, better trained doctors and administrators, etc. Also “subsidized” by US taxpayers.

I do not begrudge this to our military, but long for this system to be established for all citizens.

Oh, and thank you for your service.

PS Oh hell yes! THWG! 45-42!!!! Reaction of Bulldawgs watching the third quarter and their 401K’s…when will it end!!!

By Greg Mendel

November 30, 2008 11:53 AM | Link to this

The best American health coverage plan — according to my doctor — is Medicare.

The fact that the leading cause of bankruptcy in this country is medical bills should be reason enough to reform the system.

By One Stop Shopper

November 30, 2008 12:11 PM | Link to this

I’ve heard that the US has the best cosmetic and sports surgeons that money can buy. After all, the show must go on. Right.

As for doctors that the average insured American would likely see… Well, let’s just admit that the average insured American picks from a different list of “In Network” providers than those with an above average net worth would pick from and we won’t even get into a discussion of what’s covered by that monthly “premium”.

For all the uninsured, at one time it was “pot luck” at the emergency room, until the cost of treating all the uninsured became too great to pass on, in its entirety, to others. The emergency rooms that can still afford to accept the uninsured are fewer and farther between by the day and if you can wait until you can see a doctor at an emergency room then you obviously were not sick enough to be there in the first place. The travesty.

Now the average insured American and even many uninsured have better options. Thanks to Wal-Mart, folks can walk right in off the street and get all sorts of illnesses taken care of for $69.95 plus tax and prescriptions for the more common medicines for only $4.99 plus tax. Just think of it — in and out in under an hour with prescription in hand for what ails you and they even accept cash, credit or debit cards without even asking for a driver’s license, birth certificate, passport, or other picture ID. Now, if Wal-Mart only offered low-cost dentistry, life would be good, indeed. By the way, they do sell oil of cloves and string for those in need of an emergency bi-cuspid extraction.

Further, with the advent of the Internet, self-help documentation from the likes of Mayo Clinic and others is allowing individuals access to high quality professional care, via FAQs, etc., at no additional cost at all (assuming you either already have Internet access or you are able to get to a library as needed). Only in America.

By Joey

November 30, 2008 1:34 PM | Link to this

godhatestrash (9:53): So the cost of medical care in the U.S. is 5-6 times more than its cost in the Dominican Republic?

What is the average or median income for citizens of the Dominican? What is the cost of living? These and other factors must be taken into account before you can conclude that medical care is less expensive there.

By "The Corporal"

November 30, 2008 1:48 PM | Link to this

To Road Scholar

Nope. The VA doesn’t even know who I am and I plan to keep it that way.

By One Stop Shopper

November 30, 2008 2:34 PM | Link to this

Not quite, Joey at 1:34. The cost of transportation to such medical care must be taken into account. Once there, it’s simply a matter of whether the medical facility will admit you and at what cost. There are actually an increasing number of persons traveling outside the US in order to get “healthcare” at a more affordable price and with equivalent or better quality of care.

By GodHatesTrash

November 30, 2008 2:43 PM | Link to this

If you fat clowns would stop “dining out” at McDonalds, and quit buying your groceries at Walmart, your health would improve exponentially.

And park your SUVs and walk, you lazy slobs.

By Leni

November 30, 2008 4:20 PM | Link to this

Would the improved health care give everyone the same benefits as its chief sponsor the (cowardly) lion of the senate? Or would it be closer to the program recommended by Hudson Institute ethicists which i s based on rationing, no heroic measures for elderly, teens grievously injured in automobile wrecks, premature infants, and others not considered “useful.” Then there’s Dr. Peter Singer of Princeton. I prefer the libertarian method myself.

By sunshine and thunder

November 30, 2008 5:08 PM | Link to this

LAWYERS ARE PRICED IN TO OUR HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

Legal reform will go a long way toward reducing health care costs. Of course the dog washers for the tort bar are now in charge in Washington.

Socialized medicine = health care rationing.

The same people that ran Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the same people that run the local DMV, the same people that ran Atlanta into the ground financially? You want them to ration your medical services? I hope you never get sick!

By sunshine and thunder

November 30, 2008 5:33 PM | Link to this

JAY

Hawaii is ending the only state universal child health-care program in the country, after just 7 months.

By Taxpayer

November 30, 2008 6:37 PM | Link to this

Jay,

If only you could get some of your posters to read the article before they jump to conclusions. Then again, what would they complain about.

By david wayne osedach, san diego/ U.S.A.

November 30, 2008 7:45 PM | Link to this

Please tell me why the United States cannot offer a National Health - like Canada amd Britain? Don’t tell me that it is special interests…

By Greg Mendel

November 30, 2008 7:52 PM | Link to this

*”Socialized medicine = health care rationing.” — Sunshine

What do you think is happening now?

Coverage is the focus. Administration, alone, of private health care coverage is 7% of costs. Administrative costs of Medicare is 2%.

But, there’s no silver bullet. The entire system is wasteful and inefficient. And like the rest of the American economy, medicine operates on the principle that greed is good. American doctors make at least 10 times more than doctors in the rest of the world, and they aren’t substantially better.

By Greg Mendel

November 30, 2008 7:59 PM | Link to this

Here’s a comparison of systems.

(Dunno if I got the link/format right.)

By sunshine and thunder

November 30, 2008 8:58 PM | Link to this

GREG MENDEL

You wrote:

What do you think is happening now?

What I think is happening now is that the American health care system is heavily regulated by government and is unfairly targeted by tort lawyers who are empowered by democrats such as Hank Johnson and Barack Obama.

Why can’t I buy a health policy that doesn’t cover pregnancy? Why can’t I buy a health policy that is transferable from state to state? Why can’t I buy a health policy that only covers catastrophic illness?

Because it is regulated and uncompetive.

Why do doctors pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for malpractice premiums even when they have no claims against them?

Why do lawyers run our health care system and why do we pay lawyers for outrageous settlements every time we pay our health insurance premiums?

Let’s address some of these problems before we turn the whole thing over to bureaucrats who, not only do they wear pants like the rest of us, but they can’t even put them on properly.

By sunshine and thunder

November 30, 2008 9:04 PM | Link to this

GREG MENDEL

You wrote:

American doctors make at least 10 times more than doctors in the rest of the world, and they aren’t substantially better.

What is your source?

By Copyleft

December 1, 2008 8:12 AM | Link to this

Yeah, we wouldn’t want “healthcare rationing,” would we?

It’s much better to have a system where only the rich can afford healthcare, and everyone else is screwed. After all, they CHOSE to be poor, and should be punished for it!

Thank goodness the last nail has finally been hammered into the laissez-faire coffin and we can get on with more productive ideas.

By One Stop Shopper

December 1, 2008 8:19 AM | Link to this

Here in Georgia, the lobbyists for the “healthcare industry” pretty much dictate to the Republican congress and governor what will be. The Republicans certainly have the the majority and if they wanted to implement change, real change, such as insurance policies that don’t cover items that are not wanted, policies that only cover catastrophic illness and are affordable, policies that are not riddled with so many loopholes that the insurance company can deny anything that they want, a free market that allows hospitals to open up when and where doctors want, etc., then they could. It would just cost them because they would be going against the business owners that helped put them in office to begin with. Republicans do what their masters tell them to do and that is to either stay out of their businesses until they need a bailout or pass laws to further protect or enhance their businesses no matter who suffers as a result. It’s all about lining the pockets of the business owner. It’s not about “we” the people with Republicans.