The US Sucks - We’ll Prove It!
John Stossel tears apart a recent “study” that showed the US system is inferior to everyone else.
But while the U.S. lost points for not having national health insurance, the authors added, “[I]f insured, patients in the U.S. have rapid access to specialized health care services.” That’s an understatement. Insured Americans have almost immediate access to cutting-edge procedures performed by some of the best-trained doctors. It’s why our outcomes for such diseases as prostate and breast cancer are markedly better than in Canada’s and Britain’s socialized systems. The Commonwealth Fund doesn’t mention that.
I’ll add that uninsured Americans often have access to cutting-edge medicine as well. My dad treats gunshot and car crash victims who are often insured but get astonishing care, surviving injuries that would have killed them just ten years ago. Recently, a disabled friend of mine, who is uninsurable, came down with a serious illness. Not only did he get outstanding healthcare but hospital social workers are helping him acquire retroactive Medicaid.
The Commonwealth Fund’s study has other problems. It was based on telephone interviews with patients and doctors. So it grades nations on people’s perceptions without controlling for their expectations. Yet patients who live in a country with long waits for medical care and bureaucratic inefficiency may have low expectations.
More ridiculous is the arbitrary way the Commonwealth Fund assigns weight to each of its measures. The proportion of patients who say they got infected at a hospital counts about the same in the “quality” measure as the proportion of doctors who use automated computer systems to remind them to tell patients their test results. Those things aren’t equal in my book.
Read the whole thing. It’s ridiculous for anyone to cite this “study” to prove the US healthcare system stinks.
Which, of course, makes it perfect fodder for the Moore-ons who love anything that sounds factual but isn’t.
Comments
and the weight given to universal converage… others rank higher just for having it… health outcomes aside… lame…
Youv’e just got to read the last line of this article. I thought it was joke at first but I think it was meant to be serious.
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The problem here is the source, of course.
The Commonwealth Fund’s primary agenda, all indicators considered, seems overwhelmingly to be the promotion of 100% health care coverage.
This is a noble goal, to be sure. As they say, though… the devil is in the details.
For decades the CF has worked to promote everything from revolutionary new procedures to improved distribution logistic systems, all in an attempt to gain the best possible care for the greatest possible number of people.
It seems, though, that their zeal to help the world has incubated in them a strong sense of impatience, which has lead to tremendously poor judgment.
Their board of directors is populated with medical professors and other academic scientists, as well as former policy writers and even a reporter.
What it copiously lacks, however, are any fiscal experts or practicing physicians.
They have their heart in the right place, I’m certain. They just don’t have the foggiest clue what it’s like to be in the trenches, or what havoc their promoted course of action will reap, economically.
I’m not going to say they’re evil, or brainwashed socialists.
I simply think that they have decided, without considering all the facts, that they need to do whatever it takes to insure everyone… even if it means ignoring tons of data, or even fudging the truth a bit, in pure Moore-esque fashion, to reach their goal.
I mean, it’s not like they’re being slick, here.
The front page of their site leads with the article, “Census Data on Growing Number of Uninsured Make Clear: National Health Care Strategy Is Needed”
Other articles include two dedicated to praising Medicare.
In the end, they’re good hearted people. They just don’t, or won’t, understand the harm they’re promoting, is all.
As for Stossel’s article… I just loved the last bit. It really just got right to the point;