Having lived abroad for many years, and seen the difference between European and American lifestyles, I am baffled by people who insist that we "absolutely must" have a "European style Universal Health Care" system patterned after a "European Health Care system"
I am here to tell you, this is simply not possible, without a major shift in the American psyche, which I do not believe is possible. At least not for several HUNDRED more years.
First off, there is no such thing as a "European style health care system". Each country in Europe has their own system with its own sets of needs and challenges. And, while the U.S. *may* be able to adopt certain aspects of some of the better parts of European systems, the American Capitalist mentality of greed and immediate gratification, combined with America's general size will make it impossible to implement any true Universal Health Care system.
For one thing, Europeans enjoy generally better HEALTH to begin with. They eat better, smaller portions, spread over the day, not the indulgent 3 meals a day that Americans are brainwashed to believe we need.
Second, Europeans are much better at controlling environmental factors than we are here in the USA. When was the last time you heard of London or Paris beset with smog alerts?
Thirdly, Europeans are much more into preventative medicine. They indulge in things like baths and spas that help reduce stress and eliminate toxins from their body that American bodies are riddled with, because Americans feel that alternative therapies are "commie liberal elitist" things.
In essence, the capitalist system that Americans enjoy and pride ourselves in is and will be our downfall, if we were to ever attempt to implement true Universal Health Care. Are we really ready, willing and able to give up Botox and Rogaine and Liposuction treatments for ourselves, so that our neighbors who have a child (or more than one) who is born with a chronic or critical congenital birth defect can reeive the treatment they need?
I have my doubts, in a world where LOOKING good (Botox, Rogaine, etc) is valued higher than FEELING good or actually BEING better.
IF, and only if America truly gets it through our thick skulls that it is our lifestyle and our environment that is killing us, will we truly be able to see Health Care as the "right" that everyone claims it is.
With rights come responsibilities, and I do not believe that the American psyche, which is currently akin to a whiny hormonal teenager, is ready willing and able to embrace the responsibilities that come with those rights.
And this is something we see every day, as Emergency Rooms are now being used as a quick fix for everything from poison ivy to a sprained ankle, while the kid who REALLY needs treatment, waits in line with a potentially life threatening infection, because he is not exhibiting symptoms because his disability masks the symptoms, but the poison ivy or sprained ankle, because there is visible pain involved is treated immediately.
The next time you are out doing something potentially dangerous or risky, ask yourself, "If I get injured, who will my minor injury prevent from receiving truly emergency potentially life saving treatment?"
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Some of us have been wanting to blow this whole thing off since day one
The point is, whether you receive insurance through your employer or purchase it as an individual is completely beside the point if we still continue to abuse the system and clog up hospitals and ERs with people who don't really need health care if it weren't for their own apathy and sense of entitlement
Rated.
One difference is that for so long in the UK, seeing a doctor was expensive and considered "pestering". If you didn't have something "clearly" serious, whether seen or unseen, you didn't go to the doctor *or* the hospital. It was dealt with at home, and sadly, now, I get the impression that *all* home treatments come under the heading of "alternative therapy". That sprained ankle? Warm water etc. All of that comes under the heading of "alternative therapies", sadly.
I'm not saying that people shouldn't go to the hospital, but a bit of sense is required. If you can bear any weight on the ankle and it's not three times its usual size, it's probably *not* broken, and therefore..... you will be taking time away from someone who *may* need it more.
As they say, if you're fit enough to scream, you'll survive.... the quiet ones are the ones who need urgent assistance.
Sadly the staff are instructed, I think, to treat the noisy ones first because they're usually screaming "lawsuit".
Yet again, it all comes down to dollars.
What you describe is what happens when we put so much value into scraps of paper, and are brainwashed by politicians and the media to believe that those worthless scraps of recycleable paper and ink can buy happiness, love, and health.
But, really, the only thing it does buy is a false sense of happiness, love and health until the next medical catastrophe comes along for which there is no treatment, even when you have the $$ to pay for it
Prohibition failed for a variety of reasons not the least of which was the ills it sought to end had little to do with booze. Even in the dryest most compliant neighborhoods and towns in America we still had men beating their wives and children. They were still spending money on things other than the family needs. It was a reflex reaction to a societal problem.
Universal health care is a proactive response to a societal problem. The problem of spending to much for too little care is both a medical problem and an economic problem. I believe if we get a "public option" in the current health care reform it is a start. When people and companies start opting for the "public option" then Congress will see that we don't need BCBS or Aetna or any of the other health insurance companies. Some of the best health insurance we ever had was when my wife worked at a hospital that was self insured. The comparison to self insured compaines has been totally lost in the current argument.
The other reason why I believe that we will in the near future see universal health care is the greed. The health insurance industry is not the banking industry or the auto industry. People know that we need banks. They love their cars. They hate their health insurance company. It is for that reason that in less than a decade when the cost of health care goes from the near 25% of a family's income it is today to 30 or 40 or 45 or even 50% of their earnings they will treat health insurance companies like crooked politicians- they will gladly throw the bums out.
When that happens we already have three versions of universal health care, Medicare, Medicaid and the VA. Allow congress to empower these programs to negotiate everything from bed pans to heart-lung machines it will begin to not only work but work for less. People who look at Medicare as a poorly run government entitlement program do so because they vote it that way. They block negotiating for goods and services because the companies they would be expected to force to reduce charges are their investments. That all changes when health care is a non-profit insurance company.
I would argue that no matter what system we use, whether it be a strictly government run system, a strictly private run system, or an improvement in the hybrid we currently have, none of that matters, or will ever matter, so long as people see health care as a right, but are not willing to take on the responsibilities that come with that right. When we rid our society of the need to look good rather than feel well, or even, Godforbid *BE* well, then we can seriously discuss how, how much, and who to pay for it all. Until then, quite frankly, those who fund the system, whichever system we use, will have us by the balls, as we continue to allow them to take advantage of us, because we are convinced that we absolutely, positively need them for the smallest, slightest ailment, the money to treat takes away money from REAL cures and REAL treatments for REAL disease and disability that have absolutely nothing to do with lifestyle choices.
But, apparently, the mantra spoken by President Obama, of Personal Responsibility has largely escaped this country's consciousness
IHS medical care is *at best* "third world" medical care. The REALITY is that going completely without medical care is a dramatic improvement over IHS medical care.
And that really is the point of my perspective. Most people want to rid the world of the predatory lions in the insurance industry, I want to strengthen the human prey so they aren't weak and vulnerable to attack by insurance companies.
Or, put another way, most people want to get rid of the ambulance chasers (insurance), I want to reduce the number of ambulances on the road. What is so unrealistic, or in your words "silly" about that?
Guess it's time to move. :)
Seriously (although at least part of me was serious), I didn't see where you mentioned all of the people going to the emergency room for routine problems that should be taken care of in the doctor's office--because they can get treatment only in the emergency room since they lack health insurance (and they have no money to pay a doctor out of pocket). Preventative medicine is a fantastic idea but the medical community here in the U.S. has us convinced that "alternative" medicine is from quacks and a bad idea. We are brain washed. But how do we wake people up?
I don't know how we wake people up. I always tell people, spend some time in a pediatric cancer ward, or a geriatric alzheimer's ward of a hospital or nursing home. Those people obviously have insurance, and the means to pay for their treatment, but the treatment they receive is far from a guarantee of treatment, let alone a cure for something that might well end up being preventable, and takes away from the medical issues that are not yet preventable, because their cause is not yet known, because the money for research into those diseases has been diverted to those diseases that have quick and easy fixes
It *is* time to move. The question is whether we can move our mindset and our psyche to a place where we work more on prevention of the easy and quick fix diseases, thus freeing up money for research into diseases and disabilities that do not *yet* have a cure, or effective treatment for that matter, because their cause is not known, because research funds are diverted to obesity and its related lifestyle complications
Your way of looking at the problem is one way of looking at the problem, certainly. But, another way to look at the problem is to ask WHY are WE *allowing* insurance to do all these things to us?
We are *allowing* insurance to use and abuse (and kill) us because we have been taught to only fix problems once they arise, not avoid problems all together. If we, as a society, took better care of ourselves, we would need less insurance to begin with, and as we use less insurance, the insurance companies will have fewer people to victimize.
To put it another, much more simplified way, most people want to get rid of the greedy corrupt insurance companies and their tendency to suck us dry financially.
I want to reduce the number of sick people that the insurance companies CAN victimize, thus reducing the number of victimizations.
In short, everyone else wants to get rid of the predatory ambulance chasers (insurance companies), I want to strengthen the prey and reduce the number of weak, vulerable people in the ambulances for the insurance companies to feed on, and they will, in turn, die out naturally from financial starvation
Sorry, new here. Still trying to figure out whose for real and whose a fake.
Nice to meet you by the way.
Oh, and you're wrong, but we'll get to that later.
And if you can prove that I'm wrong, I'll concede. But seeing as how we likely have different perspectives on tbis issue, I suspect we're both right from our own particular point of view
Let me explain. Until we have a vaccine that can use MicroRna to make us immune to everything and virutally immortal (save for having our heads chopped off highlander style), people are going to get sick, regardless of how many hamburgers they don't eat.
Carcinogens in the water, air and common household chemicals, combined with the fact that old people just get sick, will lead to a need for these 'predators' of health care.
Also, everyone knows that Europeans don't go to the doctor as much because they're afraid of them. Those doctors have cataracts and pincers. I wouldn't go either. It's the illusion of better health. Take a closer look and you realize they're just hiding their sickness out of terror.
Ok...ok. I'll be good now. Thanks for being a sport.
Apparently you're not paying much attention to the same media as I am. President Obama reversed the Bush ban on federal funding of stem cell research, with hardly a peep from Republicans, as well as signing the Christopher Reeve Spinal Cord Injury Stem Cell clinical trials, AND gave the NIH $5B in grants for cancer and other medical research, all without a peep from The People. There was hardly a mention of these things, let alone any vocal opposiition.
And, yes, reforming the FDA and USDA to give us better food supply is also a part of the equation. But that does not reduce The American People's tendency toward indulgence and instant gratification that has led to us being so over weight and believing that obesity is our biggest national health crisis. Frankly, I think the fact that children are still born with MD, MS, CP, ALS and Spina Bifida is a far bigger crisis than obesity, but people don't see it that way, and I am *trying* to change that
Not so much with the Dems, who can not for the life of themselves get past the "single payer/Medicare for all, or die!" Meme. Clearly you haven't read any of my earlier commentaries where I've already discussed this
Most Americans would be shocked at the level of medical care available just over the border in Mexico. Dental too. American's can do the expat thing and get full health care for $300 a year. It's a good care too. Sometimes the chemo nurses make house calls.
We suck.
It's news to me that a bath is of any use in preventing disease (other than in the hygiene-challenged).
A badly sprained ankle needs some medical attention. You could have torn a ligament. Waiting an hour or two with the leg elevated and a cold pack might help you decide if you need to see a doctor and won't hurt if the leg is badly sprained or broken.
True, Europeans may smoke and drink as much as we do, but they also do more to off set their bad habits than Americans do.
I'm not talking about taking a bath in a tub of tap water at home. I'm talking about going to a spa and soaking in the curative waters of natural hot springs, that encourages circulation and gets the metabolism to increase, allowing for the body to rid itself of toxins.
Thank you for the medical expertise.
I'll be sure to poke you if I need any more advice, ya wee universal genius, you *snuggles*
You say things like it is not possible because we prefer botox and rogaine. You can get those things in Europe as well. The vanity industry does not preclude the existence of an ethical healthcare system.
Also, the healthier living in Europe is, to some degree, a result of the focus and organization towards health maintenance goals.
Third, like Raptor mentioned, we do have versions of not for profit healthcare in the U.S. now.
Fourth, health companies used to be not for profit exclusively. They were deregulated, and a shift was made to stock price over patient care a couple of decades ago. The healthcare industry became a profit motivated industry rather than a service based industry. Previously it had been service based for decades.
Fifth, the model for government provided insurance to add stability to the population and the economy exists in the form of national flood plan insurance. The model is not profitable on the market, but is necessary to provide stability to the economy as a whole. The government is the only underwriter of this type of insurance. Health insurance underwritten by the government would work in precisely the same way.
Insurance is math, logic, and probabilities. Healthcare can be insured. Weather can be insured. Bird droppings can be insured. The logic of math, risk pools, probability, etc work in the same fashion all over the universe. It works in Europe now, and it works in the U.S. now.
My overall point is that it is we the people who have ALLOWED the insurance companies to see health in terms of numbers, logic and probabilities. If we used less insurance, by keeping ourselves generally healtier, then we wouldn't have all this talk about economic-recovery-through-insurance-reform, which is what this "Health Care" bill really is. This Health Care bill has absolutely nothing, or at least very little to do with Health Care, or we would be discussing REAL issues of HEALTH CARE above and beyond prevention of lifestyle diseases such as those related to obesity.
When we start talking about how to cure cancer or reverse paralysis due to MS, MD, CP, etc, THEN we will be talking about Health Care.
And no form of insurance, government run or private insurance is going to make one iota of a dent in HEALTH, it will only ensure that *some* people don't go broke while dealing with catastrophic illness.
Another way to prevent people from going broke from catastrophic illness is to figure out how to reduce and prevent catastrophic illness, and that is what I am focusing on
Probabilities, logic, and numbers must be considered in all logistical questions. Research requires long periods of delayed productivity. Underwriting research helps to prolong it. It is very necessary.
absolutely nothing.
There is NO connection between the NIH/NCI developing a cure for cancer, and insurance paying for it once it is developed.
I find it amusing that the 3 pieces of actual, real health care that have gone through under Obama (the $5B to the NIH, the reversal of the stem cell research ban, and the Christopher Reeves SCI clinical trials act) have almost completely been ignored, while everyone else is worried about who and how and how much to pay for it.
And that is what this boils down to, while everyone else worried about who and how to and how much to pay for something with insurance, I am out to make sure there is something to PAY FOR *with* insurance, and that will ONLY come from better funding of the NIH/NCI, which has absolutely nothing to do with insurance