Why does America rank last in health care system performance?
According to a study just released by American Public Health Association we rank lowest behind behind, Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand and the United Kingdom? We are 27th in life expectancy 21st in child health ranking (infant mortality and low birth weight) BUT we spend TWICE as much money per person than those other countries. Why? Oh, I forgot to mention that all these countries, the ones that pay half of less per capita for better health care use the government to get closer to the goal of universal health care.
Politics - 19 Answers
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1 :
because the medical industry is making billions... and then spreading propaganda about how horrible socialized medicine is...
2 :
Because our health care is run by private for profit organizations .
3 :
Healthcare price-gouging. This is what happens when we allow the free market to handle necessary services.
4 :
I'm almost positive that European's pay much more for healthcare seeing that they have a socialized health care system.
5 :
Why does America rank last in health care system performance? I'm guessing it's because they didn't account for things like getting timely medical treatment. After all, people from those countries you listed often come TO the US to receive medical treatment much sooner than they would have in their home countries. And things like life expectancy have much more to do with a person's diet and exercise regimen than how often they saw a doctor.
6 :
Ignorance and unhealthy lifestyles for one thing. We don't follow our own advice. But we could save billions of dollars in healthcare if we all took some personal responsibility. 1. Common chronic conditions account for 75% of our healthcare spending. These are coronary artery disease, diabetes, asthma, depression, and congestive heart failure. If 1% of these people changed their lifestyles and took control of their health, we would save $77 BILLION. 2. Reduce medical mistakes. Healthcare reform plans that work like airlines do after a crash would save us $17 BILLION a year. 3. $312 Billion is wasted on misdiagnoses. Programs such as Best Doctors would save us tens of billions of dollars. 4. Electronic prescriptions would save $4 BILLION a year. No mistakes, no forgeries, instant checks on interactions and against the patient’s history. 5. Use retail clinics for minor illnesses and injuries. Some of these are in drugstores, some in stand alone buildings. Uninsured can save 30-80% off what a doctor’s visit would cost and it’s tons less than the ER. Visits to the ER for colds and flus cost us billions each year. 6. Get all agencies together to share info. For cancer that would be the drug companies, bio tech, and diagnostic companies. Share their results, get the treatments out to the patients faster and more inexpensive. This would reduce the number of failed drugs, the ones you see taken off the market shortly after releasing them. Again billions would be saved. 7. Stop unnecessary treatments. Ordering a CT scan of the sinuses for a cold is absurd. If just half of this was cut, it would be enough to insure every person without insurance. 8. Don’t hire smokers or have programs for employees to quit. Smokers (like Obama) use up 42% of a company's healthcare costs. 9. Award prizes for affordable drugs. Scrap the patenting of drugs and instead award companies monetary prizes for breakthrough meds. The savings would be $480-600 BILLION. 10. Make all insurance companies offer to let employees choose the best plan for them like federal employees can. There’s no fee for service. Doctor visits, hospitals, surgery, are all bundled. The payoff would be $1.5 TRILLION over 10 years. Everybody pays a hidden tax to pay for the uninsured. The average family pays about $700 a year in taxes and premiums. Implementing three of these ideas would save enough to insure every low-income uninsured child in the US. The average American eats about 42 servings of broccoli, 54 apples, and 96 cups of ice cream a year. And we are concerned about healthcare? Why don’t we start with ourselves.
7 :
Americans are also fatter and don't exercise. We also have to pay a lot of money to see the doctor but in other places it's free or something. The last time I went to the doctor it cost like $100 and I was in there for about 5 minutes.
8 :
Next time you need a triple by pass fly over to Cuba or some other European socialist s hole and let us know how things work out.
9 :
That would be because Hillary fixed health care in the 90's, right?
10 :
I don't know about the American Public Health Association, but the first question I ask when I hear about a new "study" is: who are these people? Who funds their study? Where are they located? What other studies have they done? I don't trust any of these organizations anymore. They all have an agenda. And, I participated in a study once that studied how certain organizations conduct studies - pretty amazing stuff.
11 :
27 times more fast food and cigarettes would be a good start. 27x the obesity. 27th in exercise.
12 :
Because the capitalists have taken over the healthcare system. And they need to make a profit. Quality care isn't nearly as important as making a buck. When my hospital went from non for profit to a for profit, I can tell you that every single department was cut to the bone, and the quality of supplies and services went down also.
13 :
One reason is because we pay too much for health care to include prescriptions. We pay more because our laws force doctors to carry tons of insurance. We pay more because the pharmaceutical Companies claim that we pay for the research done in the country. Some of it is because many of our young people refuse health insurance at work figuring they will never get sick or pregnant. Lots of reasons few answers. SFC US Army Retired
14 :
Not an equal repartition of the spending. You forgot to mention education. Same thing as the rest. Since we base everything on capitalism, there are schools with the best books in the world, nice cafeterias, nice sport facilities. On the other hand, there are schools that literally have NO books at all. Not a single one. Same for all your list ... rich get richer, more educated, benefit from better health care ... the poor ... all we say to them is "F U C K you cause you're poor"
15 :
You know, this is really pathetic... You people that want socialized medicine should pull your heads out. My brother-in-law is a doctor, and the reason that health care is out of control expensive is this: 1. Insurance companies, and government regulation of those companies. 2. Frivolous lawsuits, or lawsuits where the injured party receives a lottery win when he gets injured. 3. Government regulation of industry, and especially politicians with their hands out, taking money from companies. 4. Government regulation of pharmaceuticals, and politicians with their hands out. My brother in law spends almost $200K in malpractice insurance every year, and he's NEVER had a lawsuit against him - but he has to maintain it so that a client can't take him for millions if something goes wrong. Tort reform and deregulation would allow doctors to get back to their patients and spending less time filling out reams of documents for the government to track stuff.... talk about a waste of a doctor's time.
16 :
One reason, and don't scoff, is because of trial lawyers. lawsuits and shiesters like John Edwards add a lot of costs to our system. Another reason is that out government is made up of about 90% lawyers. This means that all of our policies are made by lawyers. Policies like energy, health, education....all decided by lawyers and not by doctors, teachers and scientists. I would rather see my doctor than some guy in New Zealand, but hey you do what you want.
17 :
Hmmm! Then why do people come here from all over the world for health care? They even come down from Canada. I know people from Canada who do just that. I'm going to have to think about this one. Hmmm! think....think....thin......thi....th......might have something to do with our lifesyle. You think?
18 :
Because although I know it sounds counterintuitive, some things are more effective and more efficient when funded by governments. I love our healthcare system - it's one of the most effective and efficient in the world, especially our pharmaceutical benefits system where medications that meet strict evidence based criteria are government subsidised for low income earners. The bulk purchasing that results gives big savings.
19 :
Dude, check and see who funds the American Public Health Association. Follow the money and you can find the truth. If there is any problem with the health care system in america, it's because the damned democrats beginning with Lyndon Johnson forced so many regulations on it that it now costs $1000 for a damned band aid (not really $1000, it's hyperbole but you know what I mean). If government would get out of the insurance and health care business, you'd see a huge change. But noooooooo, we have to have more government involvement in the health care business so it gets more and more screwed up. Government has never done anything efficiently (See Social Security) or cheaply.
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