[lbo-talk] health care reform = revolution?

[Mycos]

Jordan, you leave out clear indicators of what is actually going on 
when you don't bring up things like the high cost of pharmaceuticals 
in the States relative to Canada. We all know that because Canada is 
represented by it's government, a single buyer with enormous 
financial clout, they are able to negotiate a much fairer price. 
Otoh, you have the myriad HMO's that can negotiate only what the 
contractor managed. In Canada, the government is the only game in 
town, whereas down there you have all these little self-serving 
profit-making entities who may or may not be sleeping with the 
pharmaceutical companies.... at best. At worst, they simply don't 
give a damn about the patients. And I'm sure the latter speaks to 
90% of them.

It's crooked, indefensible way of doing things and that is why it 
exists few other places in the world short of those where the 
corporations *are* the government, or the government emulates a 
corporation (i.e. a dictatorship). Take your pick.

Jordan Hayes wrote:
> Doug admits:
> 
> 
>>The point is that we spend a shitload of money on health care,
>>far more than anyone else in the world, and end up with fairly
>>mediocre outcomes. It may be because so many of us are fat and
>>sedentary. It may be that we have so many poor people. It may
>>be that our diet sucks. It may be alienation and stress. It may
>>be all those things.
> 
> 
> Add to your list of reasons why this could be so: "because we can" -- 
> how much of the "shitload" of money that gets spent on "health care" in
> the US would you say is, well, optional?  Is it easier or harder to get
> discretionary health care (if you [and your insurance company] can
> afford it) in the US than in, say, Canada?  At the other end of the
> spectrum, how much of these costs are for extreme care?  Here's an
> interesting statistic, I doubt it's anomolous: In Tennessee's "TennCare"
> Medicare program, about 150,000 of the 1.3M covered people account for
> the majority of the spending -- and they have 5 or more simultaneous
> chronic illnesses.
> 
> Statistics hobbyists out there: let's wake up.  There's no good reason
> to point out that the US "spends more money on health care" than, say,
> Canada.  Because there's not much in the way of "average care" being
> consumed in the health care market, there's not much point in talking
> about what an "average consumer spends" (or has spent for her).
> 
> Being sick is not an equal opportunity employer; talking about averages
> is dumb.
> 
> /jordan
> 
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> 
> 

-- 

Gary Williams

Prohibition Funds Terrorism
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  http://mycos.blogspot.com

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