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Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (1765)	7/28/2007 11:31:05 AM
From: Road Walker	Respond to of 42652

re: The bottom line is that there is no evidence that supports the contention that their systems work better. Primary Care And Health System Performance: Adults’ Experiences In Five Countries Cathy Schoen 1, Robin Osborn 2, Phuong Trang Huynh 3, Michelle Doty 4, Karen Davis 5, Kinga Zapert 6, Jordan Peugh 7 1 Cathy Schoen is vice president, Health Policy, Research, and Evaluation, at the Commonwealth Fund in New York City. 2 Robin Osborn is vice president, International Health Policy and Practice, at the Commonwealth Fund. 3 Phuong Trang Huynh is a program officer at the Commonwealth Fund. 4 Michelle Doty is a senior analyst at the Commonwealth Fund. 5 Karen Davis is president of the Commonwealth Fund. 6 Kinga Zapert is vice president of Harris Interactive in New York City. 7 Jordan Peugh is a senior research manager at Harris Interactive. Corresponding author. Abstract This paper reports on a 2004 survey of primary care experiences among adults in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The survey finds shortfalls in delivery of safe, effective, timely, or patient-centered care, with variations among countries. Delays in lab test results and test errors raise safety concerns. Failures to communicate, to engage patients, or to promote health are widespread. Aside from clinical preventive care, the United States performs poorly on most care dimensions in the study, with notable cost-related access concerns and short-term physician relationships. Contrasts across countries point to the potential to improve performance and to learn from international initiatives. content.healthaffairs.org

To: TimF who wrote (1765)	7/28/2007 11:43:07 AM
From: Road Walker	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 42652

re: The bottom line is that there is no evidence that supports the contention that their systems work better. Scroll down to the chart under the title "Universal health care economics". en.wikipedia.org You are in denial.

To: TimF who wrote (1765)	7/28/2007 12:12:24 PM
From: Road Walker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42652

re: A big chunk of the "cheaper" part has to do with lower drug prices, it is on topic. It is part of the cheaper. But single payer as opposed to 1000's of employers working through 100's of profit driven insurance companies, and all the paper work, profit, managerial salaries, inefficiency and marketing that that entails, stands alone as a "cheaper" argument. Our system is convoluted and dysfunctional, and as a result consumes 15.2% of GDP compared to less than 10% on average for countries with universal health care. Tim, let me ask you this. If you were "designing" a society from scratch, and looking at health needs, would you have employers on a voluntary basis providing various levels of health insurance? Is that what they are good at (the core competency thing)? As a result of the folks coming back from WW2 and some bad decisions at the time, that where we are. Where do we go from here? A "free market" solution? You would have to make it illegal for companies to provide health insurance. You think that would fly? Do you even want to go there? A single payer system? We can get there if we can overcome the industry lobby groups. More and more companies are supporting national health care because it would make them more competitive internationally and remove a tremendous cost burden. We can cover everyone, which is a good thing for society... the "richest country in the world". Instead of looking at it through an ideological lens, look at it through a pragmatic lens. How can we make it incrementally better?