eb white wrote:
have you talked to someone who actually has to use the health are you praise so much? it sucks across the board. how long do you think it takes to get an mri in canada? how long do you think it takes to get the same mri in the usa? if all of the health care systems in other countries are so great, how come you never hear of americans flying off to other countries to get treated but people fly here from all over the world to get treated? our system is far too expensive but it provides the best care.
Unlike conservatives who take one or two anecdotal cases use that as a basis for public policy, I've actually spent quit a bit of time talking directly with people in Europe who are quite pleased with their health care system. I worked in Switzerland for a few months with people from Switzerland, France, and Germany. The vast majority were very happy with their plans. Sure there were people that didn't like some aspects, but it wasn't like there was any mass dissatisfaction. All three countries have a base program paid for through tax dollars and the option to purchase options for enhanced coverage; for example one colleague has a daughter in gymnastics and wanted specialized physical therapy.
The whole "Canada health problem" is a red herring tossed around by conservatives who get all their information from talk radio and Fox News instead of factual sources. Intelligent and informed people know that while the Canadian health care system does have funding issues it's not a debacle and is frankly much more efficient at delivering services than the US system.
As far as medical tourism, average people from other countries are not coming to the US for treatment. Wealthy people from other countries are coming to the US for treatment. Average people from the US are going to Mexico, India, and European countries. A friend on mine who was uninsured found it was cheaper to fly to London, spend a week in a hotel, and fly back than it was to get treated in the US. I've had other friends who've received excellent, prompt, and inexpensive care when they've been injured in accidents in Europe.
There is also no solid evidence the US consistently provides the best care. Surely for those that can afford it it provides the most prompt care. Most studies that look at the success rate of care rank the US somewhere around 20 to 25, not anywhere close to #1.
The issue at the core of the court decisions, the individual mandate, is key to cost reduction because it gets health care providers out of the business of cost shifting. No one is a position of responsibility is talking about denying care and without the individual mandate people will not buy insurance until they're sick. We throw out the mandate and we have to throw out the requirement that insurance companies provide coverage. The obvious solutions are either bring back the public option or go to a single payer system but neither of those are agreeable to conservatives either.
So the mandate is originally a conservative idea that liberals didn't like but agreed to as a compromise to get the insurance companies on board. Conservatives, who consider compromise the equivalent of get their dicks slammed with a hammer, reversed course and started fighting their own idea in order to kill the health care bill.
This whole thing has nothing to do with improving health care or constitutionality or the deficit. Conservatives want only one thing, power, and they are willing to do anything no matter how intellectually dishonest to get it. They didn't care about the deficit when they were in power, they didn't care about the constitutionality of the mandate when they proposed it, and they only proposed solutions to health care issues when it suited their corrupt constituency. Most of the "solutions" were really poison pills aimed at maintaining the profitable status quo.