PHA-Exchange> Half of all US bankruptcies caused by medical bills (2)

[claudio at hcmc.netnam.vn]

 from Ted Greiner <tedgreiner at yahoo.com> -----

Health insurance in this country is certainly a joke.
It's one of the most shocking things you confront in
moving here from Sweden, as you may know that I did a
few months ago. 

There is an enormous amount of paper work and
person-hours of time going into red tape to be sure no
one gets anything they are not entitled to--and of
course ensuring that the insurance companies make
money. Dental insurance is the biggest joke and
actually is not even insurance, because the cap is so
low it does not protect you from anything you cannot
afford anyway if you can afford the insurance in the
first place.

In fact, the stinginess and resultant red tape that
inherent in the "American way of life" is so extreme
that I wonder if it would cost much extra to set up a
simple system like Sweden has: Get a social security
type number for eveyone and just giving that number
and an ID to a doctor or pharmacy entitles you to the
same service everyone else gets. The first $120 or so
of health care you pay for annually and the rest is
free. The first $300 of drugs you pay for and the rest
is free for the rest of the year. 

The first few days of work you miss each time you're
sick is uncompensated, but after that you get 80% of
your salary for time off sick, two weeks paid by the
employer and the rest by national health insurance
that every employee contributes to. All this does mean
that sickly people suffer a bit financially, but
that's a very low-cost way to reduce abuse. The
important thing, that the US system clearly does not
appreciate, is that one needs a social system that
protects people from suffering catastrophic costs due
to health problems.

Also, in Sweden there is only one pharmacy, controlled
by the government, that orders and dispenses drugs for
everyone. The creates efficiency, NOT high costs,
including a huge economy of scale in purchasing. I was
paying 1/3 the price for the identical brand name
American and British prescription drugs compared to
their price here.

It's already a huge challenge to find an equitable way
to compensate health professionals without bandrupting
patients. Having private health insurance ripping off
both to make the kinds of huge profits that seem to be
admired here is hardly a smart solution. 

I almost choked during the so-called presidential
debates when Bush called the US health system the envy
of all. Unlike the US, other wealthy countries do pay
attention to how to solve problems. Does Bush think
Europe could not have the system the US has if they
wanted it? It is amazing that Americans don't seem to
be aware of the easily uncovered fact that they get
less health per dollar spent on it than almost anyone
in the world. 


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