A while back, you would argue that America had the best health care in the world. Anything to the contrary was rubbish to you. You said it with such authority, such conviction.......demanding that people agree with you. After all, you were an accountant to health care providers.
In the end, as with everything else you have postulated on this thread, those claims couldn't have been farther from the truth. They were nothing more than the rantings of another myth-based, fable-addled neocon. You and your friends have managed to hijack this country, and superimpose your lies and your hunches and your biases on a country that was considered one of the best.
No longer......we are despised in almost every capital of the world. More and more, we have the look of a third world country. We have been made the fool in Iraq.
And the consequences are stunning..........your president is no longer welcomed in most of the world and in the northern half of this nation. Our gov't is in turmoil. The ties that bind the Republic are unraveling. I hope you are happy!
******************************************************
Survey: Americans get deficient health care
By Rob Stein
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — Americans pay more when they get sick than people in other Western nations and receive more confused, error-prone treatment, according to the largest survey to compare U.S. health care to that of other nations.
The survey of nearly 7,000 sick adults in the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Britain and Germany found Americans were the most likely to pay at least $1,000 in out-of-pocket expenses. More than half went without needed care because of cost, the survey found, and more than one-third endured mistakes and disorganized care when they did get treated.
While patients in every nation sometimes run into obstacles to getting care and deficiencies in treatment, the United States stood out for having the highest error rates, most disorganized care and highest costs, the survey found.
"What's striking is that we are clearly a world leader in how much we spend on health care," said Cathy Schoen, senior vice president for The Commonwealth Fund, a private, nonpartisan, nonprofit foundation based in New York that commissioned the survey. "Clearly, we should be doing better."
Other experts agreed, saying the results offer the most recent evidence that the quality of care delivered by the U.S. system is seriously eroding as health-care costs soar.
"This provides confirming evidence for what more and more health-policy thinkers have been saying, which is, 'The American health-care system is quietly imploding, and it's about time we did something about it,' " said Lucian Leape of the Harvard School of Public Health.
The new survey, the eighth in an annual series of cross-national surveys conducted by Harris Interactive for the foundation, is the largest to examine health-care quality across several nations during the same period.
The survey, published in the journal Health Affairs, questioned 6,957 adults who had recently been hospitalized, undergone surgery or reported health problems between March and June this year.
"These patients are the canary in the coal mine of any health-care system," Schoen said.
Nearly a third of U.S. patients reported spending more than $1,000 in out-of-pocket expenses for care. Canadians and Australians came next, with 14 percent of patients spending that much. The proportion reporting similarly high costs was far lower in the other countries.
Americans also were more likely to report forgoing needed treatment because of cost. About half of Americans said they had decided not to fill a prescription, see a doctor when they were sick or get recommended follow-up tests. About 38 percent of patients in New Zealand reported going without care, as did 34 percent in Australia, 28 percent in Germany, 26 percent in Canada and 13 percent in Britain.
About one-third of U.S. patients reported problems with the coordination of their care, such as when test results were not available at the time of their doctor's appointment or when doctors ordered duplicate tests. In the other countries, between 19 percent and 26 percent of patients reported similar problems.
Americans also reported the greatest number of medical errors. Thirty-four percent reported getting the wrong medication or dose, incorrect test results, a mistake in their treatment or care, or being notified late about abnormal test results. Thirty percent of Canadian patients, 27 percent of Australian patients, 25 percent of New Zealanders, 23 percent of Germans and 22 percent of Britons reported errors.
seattletimes.nwsource.com |
