The United States does not have the best health care system in the world

[BirminghamExaminer]

Read the full article here. This is an excerpt:

In fact, it's not even close to being the best health care system in the world.

Republicans have fought President Obama on every bill he has worked on and health care reform is no exception.

Senator Richard Shelby (R), Alabama, said that President Obama's health care plan is the "first step in destroying the best health care system the world has ever known."

Senator Chuck Grassley (R), Iowa, told a constituent in a town hall meeting that if he wanted health insurance to get a job with the government. Perhaps Grassley would like the government to provide 47 million jobs to solve the problem of the uninsured in America.

In 2008, a report by the Commonwealth Fund ranked the U.S. last in the quality of health care among the 19 countries compared. The United States has the highest infant mortality rate of all develped countries. And yet, the Commonwealth Fund reports that the U.S. "leads all industrialized countries in the share of national health care expenditures devoted to insurance administration.

The United States is the only wealthy, industrialized, developed country in the world that does not offer health care to all of its citizens.

Senator Shelby himself, is a recipient of a public option, though he would deny it to his constituents in Alabama and in the rest of the nation. All federal employees have access to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program which is a system of managed competition. Though private insurance companies provide health care insurance to federal employees, so do labor unions and other employee associations. This creates competition but more importantly, the government pays the greater bulk of your senator's health insurance. In other words, you and I, as taxpayers are paying the bulk of the health care given to Senators and all federal employees, why can't we have the same option?

[theoldman]

1. I believe Singapore is rated as having one of the best health care systems.

[bemildred]

2. More Americans seeking foreign healthcare

The number of Americans traveling abroad for healthcare grows every year.

Estimates vary widely, though in 2005 the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons reported that as many 500,000 people sought care overseas.

The medical tourism industry is forecast to grow to 40 million trips and $40 billion by 2010, according to Tourism Research and Marketing.

“A significant number of (Rio Grande) Valley patients can’t afford treatment,” said Mauricio Sampayo, who along with his brother helped develop the Centro Medico Internacional in Matamoros. “If they can’t pay it’s a lose-lose across the board. But, bring them here (to CMI) where it’s affordable for the patient and at least we’d be making something. It’s a win-win across the board for the hospital, doctor and patient.”

http://www.cmi-matamoros.com/news2.html

[BirminghamExaminer]

4. Yes I read something in AARP about this....

I suppose if it came right down to it, it might cost less to travel to a foreign destination to get an expensive operation than trying to do it here.

Thanks for reading my article, I know it's long!

[bemildred]

7. It's not that long.

:-)

[wolfgangmo]

13. And it's not just patients doing this.

Insurance companies are offering to pay for surgeries out of country during settlements. It goes like this. "If you drop your case, we will fly you to BumFuckistan and put you up and pay for the procedure, but deny it here."

Christ even the insurance companies know that our system is falling apart. They just want to keep milking it.

[bemildred]

3. Country Comparison :: Infant mortality rate

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2091rank.html

I think it's embarrassing.

[jody]

5. BirminghamExaminer, are you the author of the source article in the OP? n/t

[BirminghamExaminer]

8. I'm the author.

[jody]

9. Are you paid for each visit to your article? n/t

[BirminghamExaminer]

11. No but I wish I was.

[jody]

12. Interesting because Clarity Media Group has filed applications to trademark the Examiner name

in many cities and regions including Birmingham, see What's in a name? Plenty, Publisher seeks trademark status for Examiner, the site of your article.

The Examiner.com Now Wants to Become A Bastion Of Citizen Journalism says “These writers are vetted and paid based on how many pageviews and advertising clicks their articles can produce. The pay is not a lot. It starts at a $2.50 for every thousand pageviews. The median amount each examiner s making right now is $25 a month, although Sherrod has written a check for as high as $1,700. Anschutz is bank-rolling the whole project. He is the only investor (the amount is not being disclosed).”

See also Examiner.com recruits local bloggers

[BirminghamExaminer]

14. It's not about the money obviously, it's about having a voice.

My husband and I own a used book store. We have three children in college. I write on the side for a little extra money. I don't know why that would bother you. I was a print columnist for years for a British journal. A lot of print publications have disappeared and the one I wrote for was one of them. I made actual money writing for them. Now I'm making a few extra dollars a month. We all have to make a living.

[jody]

15. Does your post mean you are "paid based on how many pageviews and advertising clicks their articles

can produce" as the article "The Examiner.com Now Wants to Become A Bastion Of Citizen Journalism" reports?

[jody]

16. Thanks for your private message admitting "Yes we get paid by some obscure formula of page views and

length of time a reader stays on the site, etc."

[bemildred]

17. If I might Sir, now that is resolved, could I ask if that concerns you much, and if so why?

There are quite a few posters here who post their own work, and as long as they don't make themselves too intrusive about it, I don't see that it's a bad thing. And you may be sure that some of them are getting paid by the click, but generally the sums are peanuts, and I don't see a problem with writers getting a bit of money when they generate a bit of interest. If they are highly paid by third parties for writing specific things, then I would want to know.

Those examiner sites you referred to are interesting.

[LeftishBrit]

20. Agreed.

I'm wondering if the poster who expressed concern is really that worried about BE being paid, or just isn't keen on the idea of single payer health care.

[bemildred]

21. Well, I'm not down on Jody, he always seems to behave himself, or at least that I've noticed.

Better than I do, actually. Reasonable people can and do disagree, as we both know. But I'm curious what he thinks.

[BirminghamExaminer]

22. Here's the entire note I sent to Jody

"I am not sure what you want from me or what it is you object to about my writing for the Examiner. But since every time you post some question about it, it kicks my article to the top of the pile, I figured it was time to take this off the list.

I don't know if you ask every person who writes a blog how much they make or not, but I find it disconcerting that you seem obsessed with the fact that I write for the Examiner.

If you disagree with something I wrote in my article, fine, let's discuss it but I wonder if you ask everyone who writes a blog how much they make. I don't really see any reason why you are so concerned about how much I make (very little and I work very hard). The Examiner is in the red. Does that make this better somehow?

Why do you care? Are you interested in writing for Examiner? We need all the liberals we can get. I think the majority of those writing for Examiner are conservatives. No, I don't make much money there (obviously the thing is in the red at this point) but I enjoy doing it and I may be delusional but sometimes I actually think I might make a difference. Yes we get paid by some obscure formula of page views and length of time a reader stays on the site, etc. A lot of blog sites, some that are very well known and much bigger and that you probably read work on the same premise, it's not a new concept.

Sincerely,
Karen Harper"

My reason for sending him a private note was that I didn't like the idea of every response I had to send to him defending myself kicking this topic to the top of the list when there are newer posts here.

[moobu2]

6. We do have the best health care system in the world

if you're rich, happen to own an insurance company, you are a politician spreading lies for insurance industry and so forth. Otherwise it sucks.

[BirminghamExaminer]

10. I actually started to write something like that in my op-ed until

I thought about it and realized that even someone who is fairly well off could go bankrupt pretty quickly with something like cancer. But it really pisses me off that my SEnator (Shelby) believes we have the best health care system in the world.

[LeftishBrit]

18. Obama certainly won't destroy the best health care system in the world

Sarkozy might. Or Berlusconi, depending on the exact ranking system you use.

Once, Britain had the best health care system in the world. Even Thatcher couldn't destroy it; but she did bring it down from being the best.

[LeftishBrit]

19. k&r - fascinating article!