I was facetiously referring to my relative position in the US, not the rest of the world. 1) A problem with Obamacare is that there will still be millions uninsured. In fact if you throw out the 47 Million number of uninsured that the looney left like to toss around, and use a more realistic 13 - 15 million. There would be roughly the same number of uninsured with Obamacare as before its implementation. IOW nothing gained (except maybe the existing conditions changes) and billions (we don't have) spent in the process. 2) I read a report to congress on health care recently. (suggested by one of our resident liberals) If memory serves, the US does pay more on average BUT they receive more on average as well. More diagnostic equipment and shorter wait times for procedures I remember for sure. One apparently causative issue, as I recall, is that US doctors are among the highest paid in the world. They also spend more becoming doctors than most. (overpriced fucked up education system?) And then there is the fact that Americans are running to a doctor with every little ache and pain. The current US system probably needs some reform. But to let the US federal government take it over would be like throwing gasoline on a fire.
Perhaps some specific examples would help you make your case. Saying "bigger bang for the buck" is as vague as you can get. Bring to the table factual examples that demonstrate your point.
Actually the number comes from the US Census Bureau. "Census Bureau: Number of U.S. Uninsured Rises to 47 Million Americans are Uninsured: Almost 5 Percent Increase Since 2005." If you include anyone who hasn't had insurance within the last two years, the number is around 87 million. Yes, that high. So the above statement is factually incorrect. 2) I read a report to congress on health care recently. (suggested by one of our resident liberals) If memory serves, the US does pay more on average BUT they receive more on average as well. More diagnostic equipment and shorter wait times for procedures I remember for sure. Actually Americans generally receive less. They visit the doctor less than Canadians (and therefore have less preventive care) <http://econ.arts.ubc.ca/evans/384physic.pdf> and wait times are only applicable to elective procedures. Actually Americans visit the doctor less -- see above.
Fair question. Here is a link to a huge statistical report providing the data on healthcare for virtually all countries. Page 107 of the report deals with healthcare expendirures and demonstrates that Americans pay significantly more as percentage of GDP than citizens of any other developed nation. Specifically Americans pay 50% more (15% of the GDP) than Canadians (who pay 10%) and the ratio is even worse with most other countries. Despite these substantial expenditures we're behind the rest of the developed nations in almost all categories like child mortality, immunization, life expectancy, number of doctors per capita etc. http://www.who.int/whosis/whostat/EN_WHS09_Full.pdf