Rant 2

Well we’ve seen this before. It seems that the whole debate regarding universal health care is being resisted based on a lot of fear.

Fear of the cost
Fear of the “government gettin’ into our bizness”
Fear of losing the coverage I have
Fear of death panels
Fear of change

How about simply focusing on why the US is ranked 37th in the world in their health care system (last WHO report)? We are ranked one slot below Costa Rica, seven slots lower than Canada and a full 10 slots below the United Arab Emirates.

I have an idea. Why don’t we attempt to emulate programs like those found in France, Italy, Spain (ranked 1st, 2nd, and 7th respectively) according to the last ranking by the World Health Organization. Despite our health system being the most costly, we fail to score high on performance based on access, equity and health outcomes because we fail to find some way to offer a universal health care option for it’s populace.

In a study done by The Commonwealth Fund (www.commonwealthfund.org)…” Among the six nations studied – Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States – The US ranks last, as it did in the 2006 and 2004 editions of “Mirror, Mirror”. Most troubling, the US fails to achieve better health outcomes than the other countries, as shown in the earlier editions (of the study), the US is last on dimensions of access, patient safety, efficiency, and equity.

With the inclusion of physician survey data in the analysis, it is also apparent that the US is lagging in adoption of Information Technology and national policies that promote quality improvement.

I think rather than fear mongering and catering to special interests, we should approach this subject with an open mind with the ultimate goal of helping all persons in the country by developing a framework that assists (rather than hinders) access while driving down costs.

This is one of the few developed countries that almost penalizes a potential patient if they have the audacity to get sick or injured during “off-hours”, on a weekend or holiday. Because doing so almost guarantees that they will receive substandard treatment based on the staffing and ability to get procedures “pre-approved” and other “managed care processes” completed.

Wake up folks. This is an issue. It won’t “go away” and will affect all folks regardless of social stature or economic standing. A solution needs to be developed and endorsed by the people and our legislators. We can’t wait for the medical industry to endorse anything as they obviously have benefited by the present “pay as you go piece-meal” system in place today.
The reason Medicare works is that there is perhaps a 3.5% surcharge on base medical costs for the purpose of administration. In comparison, standard healthcare provided through Insurance companies yields a much higher administration fee… (some estimates I’ve seen put it in the 10% - 15% range). This is huge and adds no discernable value to the process or the service.

Their needs to be public option in any “reform” that Washington considers. I only hope that the message isn’t blunted by self-serving bureaucrats in an attempt to maintain the status quo.