American Health Care vs. Socialized Medicine July 23, 2009 at 2:04 am
Health care reform is the big debate in American politics right now, with the so-called public option being likened to European-style socialized medicine. That’s supposed to be a bad thing, I guess.
By the magical knowledge-bearing powers of the internet, I discovered some research which compares the United States with 18 other industrialized nations by the rate of preventable deaths. Preventable deaths are defined as: “deaths from certain causes before age 75 that are potentially preventable with timely and effective health care.”
In a Commonwealth Fund-supported study comparing preventable deaths in 19 industrialized countries, researchers found that the United States placed last. While the other nations improved dramatically between the two study periods—1997–98 and 2002–03—the U.S. improved only slightly on the measure.
Source: Measuring the Health of Nations: Updating an Earlier Analysis
To make it worse, the United States also spends more on health care than any other nation. Before you get too upset, you have to remember that health care is treated as an industry in this country. So if we judge the health care sector alongside other commercial enterprises, everything’s going great. Why change?
[...] Sure, the US health care system is working great – as a business. For keeping people healthy? Not so… Health [...]
Why change? Exactly! Why would you change an industry that makes really good money off the backs of the middle class. That’s just not the capitalist (read American) way of doing things. Afterall what’s wrong with making a healthy profit? Just ask Bernard Madoff, he knows best!