Report: US Health Care System Is a Liability

[babylonsister]

Report: US Health Care System Is a Liability
Americans spend a lot more than top countries, but aren’t as healthy

by Anthony Shadid


WASHINGTON - If the global economy were a 100-yard dash, the U.S. would start 23 yards behind its closest competitors because of health care that costs too much and delivers too little, a business group says in a report to be released Thursday.

The report from the Business Roundtable, which represents CEOs of major companies, says America's health care system has become a liability in a global economy.

snip//

In a different twist, the report took those costs and factored benefits into the equation.

It compares statistics on life expectancy, death rates and even cholesterol readings and blood pressures. The health measures are factored together with costs into a 100-point "value" scale. That hasn't been done before, the authors said.

The results are not encouraging.

The United States is 23 points behind five leading economic competitors: Canada, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom and France. The five nations cover all their citizens, and though their systems differ, in each country the government plays a much larger role than in the U.S.

The cost-benefit disparity is even wider - 46 points - when the U.S. is compared with emerging competitors: China, Brazil and India.

more...

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/03/12

[Juche]

1. We need massive reform

What we need is a single payer system that covers everyone and that is administered by physicians who study the most cost effective treatments available so that we get the most health benefit per $ spent. We could probably save $800 billion plus a year doing that. HR 676 claims we can save $400 billion in administration and bulk purchases with single payer, and Peter Orszag claims we spend about $700 billion in medical care each year that doesn't actually do anything to improve health because we haven't invested enough time and money to find out what treatments are effective and which aren't.

So we may have $700 billion in unneeded spending due to lack of transparency, $100 billion due to lack of bulk purchases and $300 billion in higher overhead because of how we run the system

But my hopes are low that we get real reform. What I've LOVE to see is with Obama's healthcare plan, if the public option offers bulk purchases and uses transparent R&D into what works and what doesn't so that premiums go and stay low. That way the public plan becomes far cheaper than the private plans, and eventually pushes them out of existence.

[havocmom]

2. Perhaps reform more than health care delivery? Reform med school finances

and perhaps even malpractice insurance. Would that help to make it more feasible for promising talent to become and stay doctors, skilled technicians and other health care providers? Would we help keep costs down if we made the schooling less expensive and got a form of single payer system for malpractice insurance too?

Just kicking around some of the components to the whole cost issue.

Start with single payer for health care insurance. Then get some career help for soon to be unemployed insurance company bean counters who have been practicing medicine by rationing it based on accounting methods. They will need more socially helpful employment so they can take care of their families and remain productive, tax paying citizens. ;)

Then, make schooling more affordable, perhaps REALLY affordable with stipulation that graduates work for more average income. If they don't have huge education debt, they don't need huge incomes. Rehabilitate malpractice insurance and care givers' need for huge income comes down further.

I am not suggesting doctors and other professionals not be paid for the hard work of attaining their professional status. Just wondering if we could lower their costs and have them lower ours to match. They should be well paid for their efforts. But they should not be one of the many conduits to funnel $$ from struggling wage earners into corporate coffers.

[Juche]

3. I think alot of people leave medicine because of stress and paperwork

So that needs to be addressed. I think lifting the cap on how many doctors and nurses we graduate each year needs to be done too, as we have a shortage of both. So we need more schools to train them.

There are programs that give you discounted medical training in exchange for spending time working in a poor neighborhood. Also alot of community colleges offer degrees in nursing, and they only charge about $1000 a semester.

[undeterred]

4. Is Obama going to figure out that we need single payer?

Its not only the morally right thing to do, its the only economically reasonable thing to do. He's going to have to tune out the insurance companies and big pharma, which take-take-take and contribute nothing to the system.

[annabanana]

5. I think he still believes it is politically impossible.... How can we

break through the presidential bubble?

[babylonsister]

6. You asking me?

No clue. Maybe you should write him a letter; I hear he reads some of them.

I don't know how feasible that is either. Maybe he's trying to do the best he can with what he has to work with, given so many opinions he has to deal with?

I do know he's going to have lots of Dem support...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5231945&mesg_id=5231945

[Winterblues]

7. But if we took care of our citizens we could not take care of our Military Industrial Complex

Don't you people want space age weapons? Who could possibly rather have health care for the people rather than billions for the contractors?

[area51]

8. Rec. #3

Every year, 100,000 people die due to lack of healthcare in the U.S..

Find out more about single-payer healthcare.