The Myth of US Health Care
The Lies that Are Killing Us
By Cheryl Seal
27 January 2003
"Of all forms of inequality, injustice in healthcare is the most shocking
and most inhumane" -Martin Luther King, Jr. Need a good laugh? Here's a
joke for you: America's standard of health care is the best in the world
and therefore we should be willing to pay for it (as in high insurance
premiums, high drug costs, high everything medical) so that we can continue
to enjoy the best health in the world. Now, when you have stopped rolling
on the floor with helpless mirth, your tears of laughter will turn to tears
of frustration and grief as you read the following sad litany of facts:
The US has the newest medicines in world, spends more of GDP on medicine
than any other nation, and yet has the highest rates for at least 10 cancer
types and the highest infant mortality rate of all developed nations. The
conservative politicians say socialized medicine is bad because you might
have to wait your turn for some non-emergency services, up to a few months.
Why is that such a bad deal when 42.6 million Americans face an even longer
wait than that for all services because they have no insurance? That's the
highest percentage of people without access to medical care in the world.
We also have the highest number of uninsured of any developed nation,
currently 42.6 million.
So, check out where we really stand compared to the rest of the world,
according to statistics compiled from World Health Organization data and a
Harvard University study:
The US ranks NUMBER ONE in COST of health care, but NUMBER 24 in
disability-adjusted life expectancy, and NUMBER 37 in the overall
performance of its medical system and NUMBER 40 in the level of
satisfaction recipients express for their care.
Nearly half of all people in the US with below-average incomes report that
it is "extremely, very, or somewhat difficult" to get medical care when
they need it.
They say the gauge of the quality of a society is how they treat their
infants and elderly. Looks like we're a second rate banana republic:
MORE ON...
http://www.newsinsider.org/seal/myths_US_healthcare.html
