[Vision2020] America's Health Care is a National Disgrace

[Saundra Lund]

Hi Nick,

Thanks for a great commentary!

It's a no-brainer that America's health care is a national disgrace when 46
MILLION citizens -- 8 MILLION of whom are children -- have no health
insurance at all  :-(

Other much needed reforms in the area of health care:

"Require all clinical trials be made public to prevent drug companies from
downplaying negative results.

Fix the "doughnut hole" coverage gap in Medicare's prescription-drug
program, which puts a heavy financial burden on consumers.  Remove the ban
preventing price negotiations with drug companies.

Publicize rates of hospital-acquired infections and fund comparisons of
prescription drugs to help consumers make more informed decisions."
Source:  Consumer Reports, February 2007.


Saundra Lund
Moscow, ID

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do
nothing.
- Edmund Burke

***** Original material contained herein is Copyright 2006, Saundra Lund.
Do not copy, forward, excerpt, or reproduce outside the Vision 2020 forum
without the express written permission of the author.*****

-----Original Message-----
From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of nickgier at adelphia.net
Sent: Monday, January 08, 2007 5:11 PM
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] America's Health Care is a National Disgrace

Greetings:

This my radio commentary on KRFP 92.5 FM for tomorrow morning at 8 and 9:30.
All of last year's columns can be heard or read at www.NickGier.com.

Next week's topic for MLK's BD: "How Did We Lose Our Racial Color
Blindness?"

AMERICA'S HEALTH CARE IS A NATIONAL DISGRACE

Nick Gier, Professor Emeritus, University of Idaho 

President Bush frequently praises the American health care system as the
best in the world, and many Americans pronounce the two words "socialized
medicine" as if they were poison.  But countries with single payer systems
spend far less than we do, are much more satisfied with their care, and
experience far better health than Americans do. Ranked according to 16
health categories, the U. S. is next to last among 13 industrialized
nations.

In 2004 Americans paid $6,100 per person compared to an average $2,550 per
capita in all other industrialized nations. A large portion of that cost was
for drugs with Americans paying twice as much than citizens of these
countries. Single payer systems are simply more efficient. Annual health
administration costs in Canada, for example, are $300 per person versus
$1,000 in the U.S. Administrative costs for Medicare are 2 percent as
opposed to 13 percent taken by private insurance. 

Another aspect of the large U. S. costs is the fact that American doctors
make  twice as much as other doctors do (an average $200,000 versus $100,000
per year).  These doctors also start their careers with little or no debt,
compared to American physicians, who start their careers with an average of
$100,000 in outstanding loans.

With regard to health statistics, the most dramatic differences are found in
teen STD rates. Five times more Americans 15-24 have HIV than German youth
of that age.  The U.S. teen syphilis rate is six times than of the
Netherlands, and our teen gonorrhea rate is a whopping 74 times higher than
the Dutch. 

Governmental programs that provide uncensored sex education and promote
condom use are the key to this success in youth sexual health.  Contrary to
what one might expect, European youth have fewer sex partners than Americans
do and begin sex slightly later than Americans.

The U.S. infant mortality rate is 5 babies per 1,000 as opposed to 2 per
1,000 in the Czech Republic, Finland, Iceland, and Norway.  America would do
much better in this category if it could provide prenatal care to all of its
citizens. Studies have shown that for every $1 spent on prenatal care, $3 is
saved by preventing complications that result from unsupervised pregnancies.
The rate among African Americans of 9 infants per 1,000 approaches third
world countries.  In 2005, more babies per 1,000 survived in Cuba than in
America.

Although other countries are catching up, Americans are still by far the
most overweight, impacting health costs significantly.  For every three
Americans who are obese, only one Dane is, even with a diet heavy in dairy
products.

A recent study of illness in the U.S. and Great Britain found that in every
major category, Americans were sicker than their British counterparts.
There were twice as many American diabetics, and the American cancer rate
was 4 percent higher.  The study was adjusted for ethnic diversity, so two
reasons where given for the disparity.  First, there is much more obesity in
America; and second, there is much more stress due to economic and health
insecurity, especially among the 46 million without health insurance.  
	
Those who demonize socialized medicine have the misconception that the
people who have it do not like it.  Surveys in the late 1990s, however,
indicated that only the Italians at 20 percent were more dissatisfied than
Americans at 40 percent.  Danes were 91 percent satisfied; Finns, 81
percent; French, 65 percent; Swedes and British, 57 percent.
	
A common response to European success is that they are homogenous societies
with few ethnic divisions.  Germans, however, have been living with a large
Turkish minority for decades, and other European countries have taken large
numbers of refugees in the last 20 years.  Denmark has received more per
capita than any other country in the world.

As the new Democratic Congress convenes, they should consider legislation
that will move the U.S. to a single payer system as soon as it is feasible.
The savings in administrative costs alone would, using 2001 figures, easily
cover all the uninsured.  I support Princeton economist Paul Krugman's
proposal to extend Medicare to every American.