WHO Cares?
 

The stats in the challenge points you posted are from a report from The World Health Organization's The World Health Report 2008 - primary Health Care (Now More Than Ever) .
I found this article/editorial piece about WHO and their objective. I found it very eye-opening and educational.
I'm not criticizing anyone's viewpoints. I'm just staying open and giving everyone an opportunty to broaden their views and obtain education.

http://reason.com/archives/2002/01/01/who-cares/

Also, here is the WHO report and from their cover page: "Why a renewal of primary health care (PHC), and why now, more than ever? Globalization is putting the social cohesion of many countries under stress, and health systems are clearly not performing as well as they could and should. People are increasingly impatient with the inability of health services to deliver. Few would disagree that health systems need to respond better – and faster – to the challenges of a changing world. PHC can do that."


http://www.who.int/whr/2008/en/index.html

The people of America have heard all that before. They still choose to reject Obamacare. How do you propose to change the minds of the voters, firing squad?

Yoda

Those who know
 

We have the best doctors , best hospitals and best overall health care system on earth. This is why anyone in the world with a serious health problem wants to get help in America.

Saying that we are 37th in the World is so naive. Get the criteria used by whoever put out that lie and you will see their agenda.

If some other country had better healthcare than ours why woudn't we go there for our care. I have no friends who have done so. In my career I lived in 20 other countries and always opted for care in good old God bless America.

Amen

Yoda

I won't argue that we don't have the best hospitals, doctors, etc.

We also have the most expensive - and it's rare when we, as a population, need "the best". In the overwhelming majority of cases "pretty damn good" will do quite nicely. But, like a gun, I'd rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.

Still, nobody has defended the points I raised.

Yes, other people come here - WHEN THEY HAVE THE MONEY.

But why does the same ORDINARY set of procedures cost me $600 in Montreal yet cost THOUSANDS here at home? ..and I'm a 4 hour drive from the Canadian border.

Why do drugs cost ORDER OF MAGNITUDE more here than in other countries?

Why, in other countries, is there no such thing as "medical bankruptcy"? Why is that strictly an American phenomenon?

I've said it before and I'll say it again - YOU ARE NOT THE INSURANCE COMPANIES' FIRST ALLEGIANCE - their STATED CHARTER IS TO MAKE MONEY FOR THEIR STOCKHOLDERS. What was unheard of 20 years ago is increasingly commonplace - denying coverage when someone 'becomes unprofitable'.

Now I'll ask you, Yoda and Cashman, if you suddenly found yourself kicked off your insurance plan, what would YOU do for health care? ...and mind you, if that happens, it happens at a time when you NEED care and trying to go elsewhere is fruitless because of "pre-existing conditions".

Me? I'm covered pretty well. Working for a defense contractor means I have a decent plan. But there's no telling what *could* happen. My fiancee isn't covered and she's on medication that keeps getting increasingly expensive.

Over the years, I've been pretty lucky. I've had a broken bone here and there, was born with bilateral club feet that were corrected, had a vasectomy and gall bladder surgery and that pretty much covers most every extended health-care situation I've had to deal with in my life. My kids are another story. One "normal' birth that cost several thousand dollars in 1987 and one that cost who-knows-how much in 1992 (all I know is that it most likely went into 6 figures) because of defensive medicine (we never found out what was wrong, it cleared up on it's own and our daughter has been healthy for the ensuing 17 years).

Not one person has defended the outrageous costs. Not one has defended the federal control of the supply of doctors.

This stuff has needed fixing since the 1980s. the problem have only compounded themselves. People talk about a 'government takeover of 1/6 of the economy' and are justifiably scared of it.

WHY THE HECK IS IT ONE-SIXTH OF THE ECONOMY??? IS THAT RIGHT????

We get all up in arms over a billion-dollar political boondoggle (pick any out there) but let a MULTI-TRILLION DOLLAR one have a free pass!

At the very least, where's the outrage over not getting what we're paying for?

Think clearly please.
 

You have just proven your naive far left thinking.

It is a waste of time to refute each of your points, but it would be so easy to do so.

One of your points was a ludicrous statement that Canadian health care is less expensive than ours when in fact it is far more expensive and of a far lower quality.

My mother, my sister and my father all Canadians died in Canadian Hospitals after waiting months for their surgeries. They like all Canadians are facing a heathcare system going bankrupt even tho they are paying very high Taxes to fund their heath care.

If you respond to this please do some research and not talk off the top of your head with left wing bias.

Cashman, I'm as "left wing" as a bag of nickels. Is it "left wing" to demand to get our money's worth? Is it "left wing" to be outraged at why we pay so much more for drugs than others? When one is getting raked over the coals, is it "left wing" to say "ENOUGH!".

I want to address two of the statements you made - and this is sincere, I'm not being sarcastic.

My experience in Montreal was something I was reminded of because, while recently cleaning out a desk, I found the bills for that visit. $600, of which I ended up only paying $50. I *also* remember seeing SOME of the statements that came to me when my insurance company paid for the SAME services when I had attacks right here in New Hampshire. Several thousand.

And as far as "far lower quality"? The Canadians were the first to suspect that my Gastro-esophogeal Reflux Disease was, in fact, something else. I'd been suffering for 3 years at that point - attacks that feel like heart attacks. I didn't have time to wait for the CAT scan they wanted to give me as my kids were alone in a nearby hotel room and I wanted to be back before my youngest woke up - my oldest knew what was happening and the hotel staff had been alerted in case any problems arose.

Not until the NEXT attack some months later, when I discussed what happened at the Canadian hospital with the staff who saw me, did they come back with a different diagnosis. Within days, my gall-bladder was no longer in me.

Yes, I well know of the problems some Canadians have with the wait for (at least the way it's described in the papers) non-emergency services. I know of the court cases that went to the equivalent of the Quebec Provincial Supreme Court.

That's point #1. People come to this country, in general, to 'jump the line', as near as I can gather. People go to Canada to get the same drugs cheaper - heck, they organize BUS TOURS in this area for that purpose!

Now for point #2. You can tell me to go pound sand as I can imagine how personal it might be.. But what kind of surgeries were they waiting for and how old were they? It would help to put some perspective here.

And you have no reason to know about some of my anti-Medicare rants on other boards because of the torture they inflicted on my grandmother. Long story short is a woman in her 70s having a heart attack signs DNR papers with witnesses (myself included) IN THE HOSPITAL. We all have a chance to say our goodbyes. We were told she had hours to live. Literally, while we were sleeping, they schedule her for heroic surgery (quadruple bypass - after telling us she was too weak for it) against her wishes (because of "DRG days"). If I believed in Hell, I would wish a few days occupancy in it for the so-called doctor who inflicted five years of strokes, dementia and other complications on her and the entire family. My aunt had her life turned upside down having to help care for her. My anger towards "the system" knows no bounds in this case.

Please consider that the next time you think I'm "left wing".