Lets avoid Misleading Hype; We have Postings here By British National Health Member refuting all the misleading And False hype. Anyone Who Needs important Medical aid Gets it quickly. And Our USA Massively Expoensive (28% of our Entire Economy, vs 5% for next biggest spending :France) is rated 28th best results in the world. And European Nations have very major independent (Non-Government) Doctors, etc. German Universal National Health is Based on commercial Insurance Companies, Medicine, and Doctors (I have 2 MD Cousins there) Regulated to prevent our massive Profits of in the 20’s % or More.
Our Vastly more expensive Health Business System is rated 28th in the world, and we have Far Higher Infant Death than any European Country. Only Mexico has a higher Infant Mortality Now in North America, but they Bagan National Health for Pregnant Women last year. Canada also began Provincial Health recently. Only we, in the Richest Nation in the World, do Not have Universal, One payer Health System. Just the Facts Other Nations know, we avoid.
I don’t think these kinds of comparison prove anything. You cited the following.
France: A very large portion of French healthcare is “hidden” because it’s not included in healthcare statistics, but in other government expenditures. A very big example of that is the fact that France pays for medical education; a very big item in the U.S., which doctors (who typically owe a lot of money coming out of school) have to recoup in their charges here, with after-tax dollars.) This is buried in the “education” budget, not the “healthcare” stats. Also, France pays for doctors’ malpractice insurance; a huge item in the U.S. where it’s not unusual for doctors to pay more for their insurance than they receive in “net” earnings after paying for insurance. Neither thing is included in the “cost of care” in France.
France pays nothing at all for illegal immigrants’ care. Not a dime. We usually pay 100% of it. France requires proof of legality at the point of service.
The national healthcare system in France does not pay for all costs. Typically, it pays 80% reimbursement to the patient, who pays “up front” for his care, thus discouraging overutilization. There are provincial authorities who often “make up for” those deductibles for the truly poor.
The government buys all medications in obviously huge quantities, directly from the manufacturer. It will not provide some meds provided in the U.S.
On another subject: A good part of American costs are due to the fact that the more expensive tests, like MRIs and CTs are performed twice as often here as in other developed countries. Of course, some 90% of MRIs for example, show nothing that needs to be done. But in 10% of the cases, something definitely needs to be done. So, are we, then, to cut the number in half to match the rate of other developed countries? Sounds good unless you’re in the 5% for whom it might be a life-saver.
Medical costs in Mexico are, indeed, much lower than here. I have had occasion to contract for medical services there for others. They are about 1/3 to 1/2 of the cost here for the very same thing. Meds are even cheaper because you can buy them over the counter in Mexico (of mixed quality, of course and some are counterfeit). An unfortunate result of the latter is rampant self-treatment, which we can largely thank for antibiotic-resistant strains of TB, staph, and other things.
And, the cost of living in Mexico is significantly lower than here.
And, of course, Mexico has the luxury of pushing many of its citizens off on the U.S. for free medical treatment. Also, many, if not most, of the illegals in the U.S. are on the low end of the socioeconomic scale in their countries of origin (that’s why they’re here, not there), and have had poor diets and health habits as well as awful environmental exposures their whole lives prior to coming here. So, the ranking of places like, say, Norway, which do not have 20 million illegals from the very bottom of the health scale as we do, do not have that situation pulling their “outcomes” down. Again, we take care of what is probably most of them for free.
