Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Common Interests Health Insurance, Health care

As I postpone my studies for the day I thought I'd throw this out to you folks.

The US spent some 1.8 trillion dollars for health care (this number is all inclusive) last year. We are by far the world's biggest spenders in health care. With all that $$ spent, how do we fare?
18th in the world for infant mortality
16th in the world for life expectancy
37th in the world for overall health according to the WHO.
(Number 1: France. Canada was ~13th)

That's not good.

On top of that, there are ~45 million who are uninsured, 20 million on Medicaid (which doctors are now rejecting because the reimbursment is so low the docs can't stay afloat if they accept Medicaid ) Let's not forget the underinsured - those who do have health insurance with poor coverage and huge deductables (Like me... Although it works well for me cause I don't go to the doc too often and I really just want some catestrophic coverage).

So let me ask this: Have your health care costs increased? Has your health insurance cost raised? If so, has your coverage improved?

So what I'm getting at here is this: Why do we spend so much yet it's so damn ineffective? Sure we have awesome MRIs and amazing technology, but is it reaching enough people?

As far as health insurance companies - they take the health right out of health insurance. F(#k them and all they stand for. It's aimed at people with jobs, education, etc. Who's healthier - people with jobs or the unemployed? People with an education or people without? And who can afford insurance - people with or without jobs? It's an awesome business strategy, but it does nothing to increase health. Want proof? Look at reimbursment for education (i.e. patient education from a doctor, diabetes educator, dietician, etc). People stay with their insurance company for an average of 3 years, so why should an insurance company pay for something that another company will probably have to pay for 3 years down the road?

I'd like to hear some thoughts, comments, and suggestions about our health care system. Canucks, please join in. I'm learning more about your health care system's pros and cons.

Who did the study that came to the conclusion that France is #1? What facts did they base that on?

I lived in Italy for 2 years and I can see why they live longer. Instead of being worried about making a dollar it was all about having fun making the dollar. Their life style was a lot different.

I wonder how this study worked, can you please provide links if this stuff that you read was on the net?

I have lots of family in Spain and some who moved to France to work there. They're healthcare systems are very different from ours. Their systems have benefits in the short term, but I don't see how they can beat our system overall. The rankings seem to disagree with other things I have read. I would hope that we are low on the list with infant mortality rate!! Being #1 would probably be a bad thing!!

My aunt who suffers from a problem with her vertebrae can't get any medicine to treat it because the government plan doesn't provide for that. She has to pay it all out of her pocket. They don't really have any private insurance at a reasonable cost, definitely nothing that the employers work with, but she wishes that she had. Everytime I come to visit we bring her some vitamins and stuff from here, because it just can't be found over there.

They pay abount 60% of their income in taxes and have no choice at all on the coverage they get!!

If you just have a minor problem, then yeah they're stuff works just fine, but if you have long term issues, you're pretty much on your own. She's not poor either, as they own 2 homes and raise 2 children. When I look at this I find it so hard to understand why they have to put up with it. She's at the point where she will soon be unable to work, sure she'll keep getting "coverage", but it hasn't been helping her any.

For the record my insurance coverage costs went down with my Aetna PPO this year. I have exactly the same coverage as well.

I'd like to read through that study and see how they made their conclusions, etc.

Oh, I forgot to mention that she only gets pain killers under the governments medical coverage. She can't get back surgery to fix the problem with her spine.

My health insurance premiums are going down slightly and I'm gaining a vision plan. I'd say I'm doing pretty good working for that evil corporation called Wal-Mart that doesn't give it's employees benefits.

I'm neither a Canadian nor an expert on health care delivery and management. But I'm under the impression that Canadians can shop privately for additional/supplemental private health insurance on top of the governmental program.

Well your assumption is slightly flawed.

You're assuming that Life Expectancy and Overall Health are directly determined by the health care system. While it is of course true that health care affects those two greatly, a larger determination is our lifestyle.

Let's face it, Americans as a whole lead much more unhealthy lifestyles than the rest of the industrialized world. So, while other countries might not fund their health care systems to the extent that we do in the US, our health care system is starting behind the curve because our citizens tend to live so much more unhealthy lives.