America's still the best

doublej · 05-13-2008, 01:16 PM

Did anyone see the Frontline a few weeks ago on PBS about the medical systems in other countries. Pretty interesting stuff. Kind of an eye opener for me. If you get a chance take a look. The medical insurance system here is filled with coruption, I believe that is undeniable. In Germany for example the average administrative costs are around 5.5%. In the US they are around 22%. I have good insurance and actually my wife and daughters are double covered. But it could be better, alot better, cost wise. Do I want universal coverage? No, but do we need to fix some stuff, absolutely!

FloggingSully · 05-13-2008, 01:20 PM

Originally Posted by Cyclone85

I don't think they are equivalent statements at all.

No, they aren't equivalent, but if you believe your statement then you have to agree with SGallons aswell. If you disagree with something being 'not bad' then you think it's 'bad'

FloggingSully · 05-13-2008, 01:23 PM

Originally Posted by doublej

Did anyone see the Frontline a few weeks ago on PBS about the medical systems in other countries. Pretty interesting stuff. Kind of an eye opener for me. If you get a chance take a look. The medical insurance system here is filled with coruption, I believe that is undeniable. In Germany for example the average administrative costs are around 5.5%. In the US they are around 22%. I have good insurance and actually my wife and daughters are double covered. But it could be better, alot better, cost wise. Do I want universal coverage? No, but do we need to fix some stuff, absolutely!

There was a report on NPR a few weeks back about the Japanese system which seemed pretty good. Japan is the world's leader in "healthy life expectancy" or something like that and have a system similar to the Hillary Clinton/Mitt Romney universal health insurance plan.

arm-spin · 05-13-2008, 01:27 PM

Hey, I like it in Canada. I don't have much interest in moving to Scandinavia. And we do have an excellent women's wrestling program. We don't think anything of it- I was suprised to learn there are issues with girls wrestling in the US.

doublej · 05-13-2008, 01:29 PM

Originally Posted by FloggingSully

There was a report on NPR a few weeks back about the Japanese system which seemed pretty good. Japan is the world's leader in "healthy life expectancy" or something like that and have a system similar to the Hillary Clinton/Mitt Romney universal health insurance plan.

From what I saw it didn't look the Japanese system was as good as say the German plan. I don't remember which required a national insurance card which would be a sticking point for many in the US.

sgallan · 05-13-2008, 01:37 PM

Hey, I like it in Canada. I don't have much interest in moving to Scandinavia. And we do have an excellent women's wrestling program. We don't think anything of it- I was suprised to learn there are issues with girls wrestling in the US.

Many US Americans are uptight or anal about things like that. Canada is much more European in their cultural leanings. It is one of the things I like about it.

doublej · 05-13-2008, 01:40 PM

I think one of the problems with with healthcare here is the size of the country and the diversity here. Other than China and India we have more than 70 million more that the next country population wise (Indonesia) and almost twice as much as #4 Brazil. Many different groups to please and many varying beliefs. It has become politcal rather than logical on alot of levels. Considering someone, most likely a govt entity would have to create and then implement and control a system for 304 million people is kind of a scary thought to me.

matclone · 05-13-2008, 01:56 PM

A daunting task no doubt. But we've done similiar things. We managed to create a functional public pension system (Social Security) for example. We mobilized for WWII. We just need the political will. But the alternative is continuing a highly dysfunctional healthcare system. And if you want to consider it in terms of the economy (i.e., the effect on us all), we pay far more for health care (in terms of a percentage of GDP), than other first world countries, and we arguably get a lot less as evidenced by 42 million uninsured. As TR Reid pointed out in his documentary on PBS, no one in England, or Germany, or France goes bankrupt because of healthcare costs, yet healthcare costs are one of the leading causes of bankruptcy in the U.S.

doublej · 05-13-2008, 02:24 PM

I have to admit that I didn't think it was possible before I saw that frontline. Now I don't see how it isn't. I believe that the German system was still private but was regulated.

Cyclone85 · 05-13-2008, 02:40 PM

It's not 42-million uninsured....this was answered previously. It's much much less.

Originally Posted by matclone

A daunting task no doubt. But we've done similiar things. We managed to create a functional public pension system (Social Security) for example. We mobilized for WWII. We just need the political will. But the alternative is continuing a highly dysfunctional healthcare system. And if you want to consider it in terms of the economy (i.e., the effect on us all), we pay far more for health care (in terms of a percentage of GDP), than other first world countries, and we arguably get a lot less as evidenced by 42 million uninsured. As TR Reid pointed out in his documentary on PBS, no one in England, or Germany, or France goes bankrupt because of healthcare costs, yet healthcare costs are one of the leading causes of bankruptcy in the U.S.

America's still the best

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