Proponents of health care reform in the United States often cite the fact that we spend a lot more than other countries and get the same or worse results. One of the metrics used to support the notion that we get the same or worse results is life expectancy in the U.S. compared to other countries. Opponents of health care reform complain that life expectancy isn’t a good metric to use when analyzing our health care system because we have more murders, more accidents, and report miscarriages differently.
Aaron Carroll addresses those critiques of the metrics. Turns out, even if you pull that stuff out of the mix, we still aren’t doing that great. Also, an AEI sponsored study made the argument that, if you look at our population 65 and older, our health care system compares favorably to other countries. But, of course, our 65 year olds get Medicare. Not exactly an argument against socialized medicine.
Until the Affordable Care Act, all companies wanted to talk about during contract negotiations was health care. Those days appear to be over.
As a start, one should control for those things, but there are many other factors as well. Thanks for adding a small piece to an oft-overlooked puzzle.
Not sure if any of you ever read the YAHOO health articles written by registered dieticians. They tell you to eat fruits, veggies, drink juices, nuts and exercise. They tell you to do this daily! OK lets all raise our hands who in the heck eats like this daily? I go out to lunch and all the fast food restaurants are packed. We are a nations that is told (advertisements) daily that Pizza Huts’ meat lovers pizza is great tasting ( for bypass surgery) food! The people of New York are fighting back, no more pop machines in the high schools, no more super size drinks in fast food restaurants. Nice band aids but it’s a losing battle. Until the government starts taxing fast food, meat producers, all large industries that produce bad food and puts it into a education campaign in the schools to eat better and to exercise we are doomed. Oppps wait a second they already talk to the kids in the schools! But human nature dictates that we love our vices! Should we ban Pizza ads like cigarette ads? The corporations will hire lawyers and bribe (ok give money to ) politicians to exclude them. We are slowly changing you can buy a healthier potato chip, but god forbid I love my Lays and my Pringles!
As for me I will take a shot of apple cider vinegar and two table spoons of honey, use coconut,olive oil instead of butter, take my herbs (free plug for Swanson.com) and vitamins daily and watch that I don’t overeat. Do some moderate exercise and god willing will live to be 100.
Then of course do I want to live to be 100? Global warming, problems with a clean water supply, rising taxes and crime. The list is endless but those are blog entries for another day ;)
Not sure if that would be a contract I would want to sign. Lots of small print and conditions I may not want to pay for.
I suggest the core idea behind Masson’s post is that money spent on healthcare should be spent “wisely”, a hard metric to discern, but one that all sane people can agree on.
Democrats deem anyone opposed to ACA (“Obamacare”) as racist Nazis. I hate Obamacare, not because I oppose healthcare for the poor, but because the whole plan stinks. It wastes money by leaving all the existing problems untouched, and enriches evil bastards like Wellpoint. Obamacare IMO doesn’t go far enough, and anyone in love with the scheme is either (a) a corporate fascist tool or (b) a fan of totalitarian government.
Healthcare should be as easy as getting a library card. It should be free for those in need. The rampant waste and fraud must be wrung out of the system. Obamacare fails on all counts, and it brings the IRS into the mix, to boot. Obamacare doesn’t go far enough.
The other problem for Democrats is their selective adoration for privacy. The Roe v Wade decision was founded on a “penumbra of privacy”. Where does the government (any level) get the power to infiltrate peoples’ lives to the extent that insurance is mandatory ? A government with that much power is a scary proposition. Scarier, I guess.
The simplest plan — and most effective, given how insurance works — would be to enact Medicare for all, and spread the risk over the whole population. Of course, that was never going to get through Congress. Heck, the insurance companies and their paid-for Congresspeople weren’t even going to allow for a public option — too much actual competition.
I wonder whether a more effective private-public mix, given that’s what we’re going to have as long as WellPoint and United and the like bring in hundreds of billions a year, is to keep the sliding scale, and put everyone in the federal health plan. You might get larger insurance pools, plus you’d still have private companies.
But that’s socialism! Give me my Medicare instead.
That’s quite a choice and a real struggle. Once I choose corporate fascist tool, I see the benefits of totalitarian government, and then when I choose totalitarian government, I see how much better it is to be a corporate fascist tool. A tough decision. I’ll need some time for that one.