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Thanks, Tom, for this valuable and important information. <br><br>Universal care NOW!!!!<br><br><font style="" color="#8064a2"><font style="font-size: 12pt;" size="3"><font style="" face="Verdana">Keely<br>www.keely-prevailingwinds.com<br></font></font></font><br><br><br><br>> Date: Sun, 7 Mar 2010 13:21:02 -0800<br>> From: thansen@moscow.com<br>> To: vision2020@moscow.com<br>> Subject: [Vision2020] Examples Debunk Health Care Myths<br>> <br>> Courtesy of today's (March 7, 2010) Spokesman-Review and Trudy Rubin.<br>> <br>> --------------------------------------------------<br>> <br>> Examples debunk health care myths<br>> Trudy Rubin, The Spokesman-Review<br>> <br>> One of the most bewildering aspects of the current health care debate is<br>> the failure to learn key lessons from health systems abroad.<br>> <br>> Conservative talk show hosts decry the alleged evils of “socialized<br>> medicine” in countries with universal health coverage; they warn grimly of<br>> rationed health care. Yet there’s nary a peep from Rush Limbaugh or Glenn<br>> Beck – let alone Congress – about countries such as Germany, France,<br>> Switzerland, or Japan, where coverage is universal, affordable, and top<br>> quality, and patients see private doctors with little or no waiting.<br>> <br>> And, oh yes, their health costs are a fraction of our bloated numbers: The<br>> French spend 10 percent of GDP on health care, the Germans 11 percent, and<br>> they cover every citizen. We spend a whopping 17 percent and leave tens of<br>> millions of Americans uninsured.<br>> <br>> If you want a very readable short course how European systems really work,<br>> take a look at “The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better,<br>> Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care,” by T.R. Reid, a former Washington Post<br>> foreign correspondent. You might also watch a fascinating 2008 “Frontline”<br>> series, available online, in which Reid was an adviser: “Sick Around the<br>> World: Can the U.S. Learn Anything >From the Rest of the World About How to<br>> Run a Health Care System?”<br>> <br>> So far, the answer seems to be “No,” not because there aren’t valuable<br>> lessons, but because politicians won’t relinquish their myths about<br>> European health systems. Reid takes up that task.<br>> <br>> Myth No. 1, he says, is that foreign systems with universal coverage are<br>> all “socialized medicine.” In countries such as France, Germany,<br>> Switzerland and Japan, the coverage is universal while doctors and<br>> insurers are private. Individuals get their insurance through their<br>> workplace, sharing the premium with their employer as we do – and the<br>> government picks up the premium if they lose their job.<br>> <br>> Myth No. 2, “long waits and rationed care,” is another whopper. “In many<br>> developed countries,” Reid writes, “people have quicker access to care and<br>> more choice than Americans do.” In France, Germany and Japan, you can pick<br>> any provider or hospital in the country. Care is speedy and high quality,<br>> and no one is turned down.<br>> <br>> Myth No. 3 really grabs my attention: the delusion that countries with<br>> universal care “are wasteful systems run by bloated bureaucracies.” In<br>> fact, the opposite is true.<br>> <br>> America’s for-profit health insurance companies have the highest<br>> administrative costs of any developed country. Twenty percent or more of<br>> every premium dollar goes to nonmedical costs: paperwork, marketing,<br>> profits, etc. In developed countries with universal coverage, such as<br>> France and Germany, the administrative costs average about 5 percent.<br>> That’s because every developed country but ours has decided health<br>> insurance should be a nonprofit operation. (We once thought that, too,<br>> until private insurance companies began buying up nonprofit health<br>> insurers like Blue Cross and Blue Shield and converting them into<br>> profit-makers.) In France and Germany, health insurance is sold by private<br>> insurers, who can only charge fixed rates in the nonprofit health field<br>> but can sell other forms of insurance for a profit.<br>> <br>> These countries also hold down costs by making coverage mandatory and by<br>> using a unified set of rules and payment schedules for all hospitals and<br>> doctors. This does not mean a single-payer system or a government-run<br>> health system. But it does sharply cut health costs by eliminating the<br>> mishmash of records and charges used by our myriad insurance firms, who<br>> use all kinds of gimmicks to shift their costs. A unified system makes it<br>> possible for France and Germany to use digital records; every insured<br>> person has a smart card that includes all his or her health information,<br>> further cutting the number of bureaucrats. U.S. companies oppose such<br>> efficiencies, Reid says, “because they spend money on proprietary systems<br>> and no one wants to get together on a common system.” Can we afford this<br>> stubbornness?<br>> <br>> For those who think we could never make the switch to such systems, take<br>> note that Switzerland shifted from private health insurers to nonprofits<br>> in 1994. None of these European plans have to be adopted wholesale.<br>> <br>> Yet there’s no sign we’re even examining them for useful lessons. Some<br>> U.S. senators on the Finance Committee bought Reid’s book, but have you<br>> heard anyone talk about European health systems? Of course not. It’s<br>> easier to embrace our myths and pretend Americans know best about managing<br>> health care. But that’s the biggest myth of them all.<br>> <br>> --------------------------------------------------<br>> <br>> Seeya round town, Moscow.<br>> <br>> Tom Hansen<br>> Moscow, Idaho<br>> <br>> "The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change<br>> and the Realist adjusts his sails."<br>> <br>> - Unknown<br>> <br>> <br>> =======================================================<br>> List services made available by First Step Internet, <br>> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994. <br>> http://www.fsr.net <br>> mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com<br>> =======================================================<br> <br /><hr />Hotmail: Free, trusted and rich email service. <a href='http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/201469228/direct/01/' target='_new'>Get it now.</a></body>
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