Thespian2
Thespian2's JournalI have found the "Death Panels"
[link:http://theguardian.com/society/2014/oct/29/how-sick-are-worlds-healthcare-systems-nhs-china-india-us-germany|
snarled about by the ignorant talking heads of the RepuliCons, i.e., Palin, et al. From today's Guardian (UK):
"In fact, while the US can boast some of the best doctors and most advanced medical technology in the world, it doesn’t really have a coherent healthcare system at all. Healthcare in the US is private insurance-based and decentralized, with most care providers owned locally by private companies, and local and state governments controlling access to federal programs.
The private and public systems that overlap in some areas, and leave gaps in others, make the US the country that spends the most per capita and as a percentage of GDP of any country in the world, but paradoxically consistently last among comparable nations in measures of quality of coverage such as infant mortality.
Because their cost is decided by private companies, individual procedures can be extraordinarily expensive. A single MRI scan in some parts of the country can cost as much as $2,871 (£1,780); an appendectomy as much as $29,426 (£18,000), and a caesarean-section delivery as much as $26,305 (£16,000), according to a report by the International Federation of Health Plans. Some procedures can be as much as eight times the price of the equivalent operation in the UK, and a 2013 study by NerdWallet Health showed that medical bills are the biggest cause of bankruptcy in the US."
Did you find the "Death Panels?" Hint: check out "insurance companies." Americans deserve better than their hodgepodge, mostly inadequate system, Affordable Care. Congress and Obama's administration should hang their collective heads in shame for not getting insurance companies out of the health care system. With America's resources, no citizen should be without adequate health care.
Bachelor of Arts degree now equivalent to a high school diploma
Having taught on several levels in the US education system, including high school and university, I was not at all surprised when I read the following comment in the UK Guardian (online):
David Null 1 Jul 2014
(speaking of American education)
"Yes, you can get small classes at $40,000+ a year.... I used to teach at a liberal arts college. And also at a big R1 state university. I guess what struck me at the time was that students had to pay to get the level of education I had gotten for free in high school in Italy. All my students were taking courses titled 'Introduction to...' (chemistry, English lit, algebra etc) which made me wonder what exactly they had studied in high school. I got the impression high school was a parking station for hormonal teenagers where very little learning was accomplished, which meant that a postgraduate degree was the bare minimum to reach university level education."
While I do not paint all students with a broad brush, my 40 years of experience leads me to see much truth in David Null's statement. Furthermore, with the abandonment of public education for voucher systems and charter schools, I see high school education suffering even more. When we add that far-right religious fanatics are doing all in their power to re-write the curriculum to abandon fact-driven education and replace it with their own fantasy world, education in American public schools is breathing its last breath. I wish it wasn't true.
Profile Information
Name: Ken AttawayGender: Male
Hometown: Marietta, Georgia
Home country: USA
Current location: Middle LaHave, Nova Scotia, Canada
Member since: Tue Dec 24, 2013, 12:31 PM
Number of posts: 2,741
