*SO* agree! I try to tote around my records and know them intimately whenever I have a problem (not often, 2003 was the last time I really had a problem), but most docs charge you $25 to get a copy of the records. If you don't know what tests have been run, then the specialists usually don't even bother to look before ordering a new round of tests, many of them being the same ones. Broken.
Lots of good ideas in this thread...some bad ones too. First some things should be regulated and some should not. The trick is deciding which is which. For example I think there should be a cap on the markup of physical items used in treatment and in OTC pharmaceuticals used by DR's and hospitals. What do I mean? A hospital should not be able to charge $7 per pill for a standard OTC Advil, nor should they be allowed to charge $25 for what amounts to a plastic bucket to piss in. This is just gouging people and should be regulated. Also I don't think a Dr should be allowed to see more than 4 patients per hour...PERIOD. Also there should be no flat rate "office visit charge. They can bill by the minute if they wish but seeing 40+ patients an hour and charging all of them a flat rate office visit only leads to the "assembly line" feeling for the patients. Nothing worse that actually needing help and getting put into the DR's assembly line system where the DR spends less than 30 seconds in your room assessing your condition and leaving you with a prescription for something completely unrelated. It should also be illegal for a DR to get kick backs on prescribing medication. Free samples for the patient...sure. However, when DR's get kick backs many are inclined to prescribe stuff that is either not needed or is inferior to another product they do not get a kick back on. What shouldn't be regulated is how much a DR can make. No one is going to go to school for 10 years to get out and make $50k/year. Now as someone else mentioned it would be great to make more of their pay a performance bonus. Ever wonder why the people at McDonalds can't ever get your order right? They aren't paid enough to care if your order is right or not. If Dr salaries get capped, this will be the level of service you can expect in the health care system....NO THANKS. As far as WHO can get Insurance and how? Personally I think rather than give everyone a fish we should teach them to fish for themselves. If the government wants to invest in new programs, how about a job placement and relocation program? How about programs to allow single parents to get subsidized day care while attending college? How about helping more people get that education? This helps people get jobs that already provide the insurance. Now instead of a lazy couch potatoes getting fat and being a sponge on the tax payers you create productive members of society who are independent and self-sufficient. All that said this is NOT what the Obama administration wants, so it will NEVER happen. They WANT people to become lazy, unthinking, submissive couch potatoes so reliant on the government that will believe anything they are told without question. They want people so indebted to the government programs created by the libs that it will in effect lock the libs into power with the people fearing the loss of all that the government provides for them.
Good example of waste, patient-paid of course, in terms of time and human pincushioning in addition to out of pocket. Without meaning to turn this into a Medicare/aid thread, (although the nearest counterpart to a complete US health care system), how 'bout dem paper-only submissions! No computer-based, or time efficient means of analysis for culling (potential) fraud, based on ANY criteria.
I think heathcare would be a disaster considering our current economy but then I don't think the issue is about healthcare at all. I so feel sorry for those without though. I think Oboma is just trying to secure his reelection. If they really wanted to help the economy why don't they stream line the tax structure and begin making our own products again. Metoo
The good news is if Obama continues driving the value of the US dollar down, eventually all the jobs the US companies shipped overseas will come back since it will be be cheaper here.
The United States's health care ranking Per the World health Organization 38th. 1 France 2 Italy 3 San Marino 4 Andorra 5 Malta 6 Singapore 7 Spain 8 Oman 9 Austria 10 Japan 11 Norway 12 Portugal 13 Monaco 14 Greece 15 Iceland 16 Luxembourg 17 Netherlands 18 United Kingdom 19 Ireland 20 Switzerland 21 Belgium 22 Colombia 23 Sweden 24 Cyprus 25 Germany 26 Saudi Arabia 27 United Arab Emirates 28 Israel 29 Morocco 30 Canada 31 Finland 32 Australia 33 Chile 34 Denmark 35 Dominica 36 Costa Rica 37 United States of America 38 Slovenia 39 Cuba 40 Brunei 41 New Zealand 42 Bahrain 43 Croatia 44 Qatar 45 Kuwait 46 Barbados 47 Thailand 48 Czech Republic 49 Malaysia 50 Poland 51 Dominican Republic 52 Tunisia 53 Jamaica BTW I believe that Angrycat is Russian, and while Russia is not on the list the Eastern Block countries that are on the list are even worse than the US, so his "single payer experience" does not involve a Western Europe type experience.
And what does that oft touted list even mean? Italy is number 2 for goodness sakes! In Italy we have an expression, "You go in with one illness, you come out with 2". Most older people avoid hospitals like the plague as the feeling is that once you go in you won't be coming out alive. In Italy there is a joke about OBGYN care, when you call up to let them know you are pregnant and need your first pregnancy appointment they say, "Auguri" and then give you an appointment date two weeks past your due date.
Healthy Life Expectancy WHO Estimates from 1999 I don't think the relative rankings have changed much. US is #24. All those countries above HAVE a national health service. AngryC's Russia is #90, so evidently depressive Russian fatalism does not lead to good socialized medicine. But Spain 5 does very well.at no Total Rank Member State Population Males Females 1 Japan 74.5 71.9 77.2 2 Australia 73.2 70.8 75.5 3 France 73.1 69.3 76.9 4 Sweden 73.0 71.2 74.9 5 Spain 72.8 69.8 75.7 6 Italy 72.7 70.0 75.4 7 Greece 72.5 70.5 74.6 8 Switzerland 72.5 69.5 75.5 9 Monaco 72.4 68.5 76.3 10 Andorra 72.3 69.3 75.2 11 San Marino 72.3 69.5 75.0 12 Canada 72.0 70.0 74.0 13 Netherlands 72.0 69.6 74.4 14 United Kingdom 71.7 69.7 73.7 15 Norway 71.7 68.8 74.6 16 Belgium 71.6 68.7 74.6 17 Austria 71.6 68.8 74.4 18 Luxembourg 71.1 68.0 74.2 19 Iceland 70.8 69.2 72.3 20 Finland 70.5 67.2 73.7 21 Malta 70.5 68.4 72.5 22 Germany 70.4 67.4 73.5 23 Israel 70.4 69.2 71.6 24 United States 70.0 67.5 72.6 25 Cyprus 69.8 68.7 70.9 26 Dominica 69.8 67.2 72.3 27 Ireland 69.6 67.5 71.7 28 Denmark 69.4 67.2 71.5 29 Portugal 69.3 65.9 72.7 30 Singapore 69.3 67.4 71.2 31 New Zealand 69.2 67.1 71.2 32 Chile 68.6 66.0 71.3 33 Cuba 68.4 67.4 69.4 34 Slovenia 68.4 64.9 71.9 35 Czech Republic 68.0 65.2 70.8 36 Jamaica 67.3 66.8 67.9 37 Uruguay 67.0 64.1 69.9 38 Croatia 67.0 63.3 70.6 39 Argentina 66.7 63.8 69.6 40 Costa Rica 66.7 65.2 68.1 41 Armenia 66.7 65.0 68.3 42 Slovakia 66.6 63.5 69.7 43 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 66.4 65.0 67.8 44 Georgia 66.3 63.1 69.4 45 Poland 66.2 62.3 70.1 46 Yugoslavia 66.1 64.2 68.1 47 Panama 66.0 64.9 67.2 48 Antigua+Barbuda 65.8 63.4 68.3 49 Grenada 65.5 62.4 68.5 50 U. A. Emirates 65.4 65.0 65.8 51 North Korea 65.1 51.4 53.1 52 Venezuela 65.0 62.9 67.1 53 Barbados 65.0 62.4 67.6 54 Saint Lucia 65.0 62.4 67.6 55 Mexico 65.0 62.4 67.6 56 Bosnia Herzegovina 64.9 63.4 66.4 57 Trinidad+Tobago 64.6 62.8 66.4 58 Saudi Arabia 64.5 65.1 64.0 59 Brunei 64.4 63.4 65.4 60 Bulgaria 64.4 61.2 67.7 61 Bahrain 64.4 63.9 64.9 62 Hungary 64.1 60.4 67.9 63 Lithuania 64.1 60.6 67.5 64 FYRO Macedonia 63.7 61.8 65.6 65 Azerbaijan 63.7 60.6 66.7 66 Qatar 63.5 64.2 62.8 67 Cook Islands 63.4 62.2 64.5 68 Kuwait 63.2 63.0 63.4 69 Estonia 63.1 58.1 68.1 70 Ukraine 63.0 58.5 67.5 71 Paraguay 63.0 60.7 65.3 72 Oman 63.0 61.8 64.1 73 Turkey 62.9 64.0 61.8 74 Colombia 62.9 60.3 65.5 75 Tonga 62.9 61.4 64.3 76 Sri Lanka 62.8 59.3 66.3 77 Suriname 62.7 60.2 65.2 78 Mauritius 62.7 59.0 66.3 79 Dominican Republic 62.5 62.1 62.9 80 Romania 62.3 58.8 65.8 81 S. Korea 62.3 59.9 64.7 82 China 62.3 61.2 63.3 83 Latvia 62.2 57.1 67.2 84 Belarus 61.7 56.2 67.2 85 Algeria 61.6 62.5 60.7 86 Niue 61.6 61.0 62.2 87 St. Kitts and Nevis 61.6 58.7 64.4 88 El Salvador 61.5 58.6 64.5 89 Moldova 61.5 58.5 64.5 90 Malaysia 61.4 61.3 61.6 91 Tunisia 61.4 62.0 60.7 92 Russian Federation 61.3 56.1 66.4 93 Honduras 61.1 60.0 62.3 94 Ecuador 61.0 59.9 62.1 95 Belize 60.9 58.5 63.3 96 Lebanon 60.6 61.2 60.1 97 Iran 60.5 61.3 59.8 98 Samoa 60.5 58.7 62.3 99 Guyana 60.2 57.1 63.3 100 Thailand 60.2 58.4 62.1 101 Uzbekistan 60.2 58.0 62.3 102 Jordan 60.0 60.7 59.3 103 Albania 60.0 56.5 63.4 104 Indonesia 59.7 58.8 60.6 105 Micronesia 59.6 58.7 60.6 106 Peru 59.4 58.0 60.8 107 Fiji 59.4 57.7 61.1 108 Libya 59.3 59.7 58.9 109 Seychelles 59.3 56.4 62.1 110 Bahamas 59.1 56.7 61.6 111 Morocco 59.1 58.7 59.4 112 Brazil 59.1 55.2 62.9 113 Palau 59.0 57.4 60.7 114 Philippines 58.9 57.1 60.7 115 Syria 58.8 58.8 58.9 116 Egypt 58.5 58.6 58.3 117 Viet Nam 58.2 56.7 59.6 118 Nicaragua 58.1 56.4 59.9 119 Cape Verde 57.6 54.6 60.6 120 Tuvalu 57.4 57.1 57.6 121 Tajikistan 57.3 55.1 59.4 122 Marshall Islands 56.8 56.0 57.6 123 Kazakhstan 56.4 51.5 61.2 124 Kyrgyzstan 56.3 53.4 59.1 125 Pakistan 55.9 55.0 56.8 126 Kiribati 55.3 53.9 56.6 127 Iraq 55.3 55.4 55.1 128 Solomon Islands 54.9 54.5 55.3 129 Turkmenistan 54.3 51.9 56.7 130 Guatemala 54.3 52.1 56.4 131 Maldives 53.9 54.4 53.3 132 Mongolia 53.8 51.3 56.3 133 Sao Tome Princi 53.5 52.1 54.8 134 Bolivia 53.3 52.5 54.1 135 India 53.2 52.8 53.5 136 Vanuatu 52.8 51.3 54.4 137 Nauru 52.5 49.8 55.1 138 Bhutan 51.8 51.4 52.2 139 Myanmar 51.6 51.4 51.9 140 Bangladesh 49.9 50.1 49.8 141 Yemen 49.7 49.7 49.7 142 Nepal 49.5 49.4 49.5 143 Gambia 48.3 47.2 49.4 144 Gabon 47.8 46.6 49.0 145 Papua New Guin. 47.0 45.5 48.5 146 Comoros 46.8 46.1 47.5 147 Lao 46.1 45.0 47.1 148 Cambodia 45.7 43.9 47.5 149 Ghana 45.5 45.0 46.0 150 Congo 45.1 44.3 45.9 151 Senegal 44.6 43.5 45.6 152 Equatorial Guinea 44.1 42.8 45.4 153 Haiti 43.8 42.4 45.2 154 Sudan 43.0 42.6 43.5 155 Côte d'Ivoire 42.8 42.2 43.3 156 Cameroon 42.2 41.5 43.0 157 Benin 44.2 41.9 42.6 158 Mauritania 41.4 40.2 42.5 159 Togo 40.7 40.0 41.4 160 South Africa 39.8 38.6 41.0 161 Chad 39.4 38.6 40.2 162 Kenya 39.3 39.0 39.6 163 Nigeria 38.3 38.1 38.4 164 Swaziland 38.1 37.8 38.4 165 Angola 38.0 37.0 38.9 166 Djibouti 37.9 37.7 38.1 167 Guinea 37.8 37.0 38.5 168 Afghanistan 37.7 36.7 38.7 169 Eritrea 37.7 38.5 36.9 170 Guinea-Bissau 37.2 36.8 37.5 171 Lesotho 36.9 36.6 37.2 172 Madagascar 36.6 36.5 36.8 173 Somalia
The WHO rankings take into account 1. Health Level: 25 percent âHealth levelâ is a measure of a countries âdisability adjusted life expectancyâ. 2. Health Distribution: 25 percent âResponsivenessâ measures a variety of factors such as speed of service, choice of doctors, and amenities 3. Responsiveness: 12.5 percent âResponsivenessâ measures a variety of factors such as speed of service, choice of doctors, and amenities 4. Responsiveness Distribution: 12.5 percent âHealth Distribution and Responsiveness Distributionâ Access to hospitals, specialists, treatments etc. 5. Financial Fairness: 25 percent âFinancial fairnessâ measures the percentage of household income spent on health care. And in America you wait and come out bankrupt. I would love to see what the Italians would think of our health care system. I know the French engineers tht work for Michlien in South Carolina pack any seriously ill family member that can fly back to France for treatment. And my Canadian colleagues in Ohio would run up to Winsor for anything more serious than a sore throat, even though both sets of people had BC/BS