The Grass Is Not Always Greener: A Look at National Health Care Systems Around the World

Cato Institute ^ | March 18, 2008 | Michael D. Tanner

[Conservative Coulter Fan]

Note: these The excerpts were cherry-picked ... I thought they either highlighted interesting facts or made excellent points. I highly recommend you download the entire Policy Analysis.

Additionally, if you are seeking further research on socialized medicine, view my thread - High-Priced Pain: What to Expect from a Single-Payer Health Care System (SICKO?) or the try the original Heritage link.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

Other good resources:

“Lives at Risk” by Goodman et al.

“Top 10 Myths of US Health Care” by Pipes.

“Your Doctor is Not In,” by Orient

[NoobRep]

Without the successful US system that subsidizes the rest of the world, things will only get worse in these countries.

[darkside321]

Interessting. But if someone is interessted in a oppinion
from someone living in europe. It really looks like that both “sides” in the US tend to only pick out the negative (depends if people are pro or contra) or only the positive affects of so called “socialzied” health
care and ignore everything else. From a neutral observation i have yet to read a somehow “ballanced” observation. One side says “it´s the heaven on earth” (it´s not) the other side says it´s the worst thing that ever could happen (wich is not true too).

[freespirited]

They point out that many countries spend far less on health care than the United States yet seem to enjoy better health outcomes.

The key word here is "seem."

Compare the life expectancy of blacks in the U.S. to that of blacks in Africa and then tell us how awful our healthcare is.

The data being cited by those who make this argument are not valid. But what do they care ... anything to make the U.S. sound like a horrible place.

[Conservative Coulter Fan]

Well, I’d have to strongly disagree. Socialized health care is the worst thing that happen to health care if you believe in free markets, the Constitution, limited government, and liberty.

[darkside321]

Without the successful US system that subsidizes the rest of the world, things will only get worse in these countries-————————————
Sorry but this is not true the US does not subsidize
the rest of the world in health care.
If you are not a 3rd world country (they get some subsidize but not only from the US)
every country is on its own when we talk about health care.

[Conservative Coulter Fan]

"Now back in 1927 an American socialist, Norman Thomas, six times candidate for president on the Socialist Party ticket, said the American people would never vote for socialism. But he said under the name of liberalism the American people will adopt every fragment of the socialist program. One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It's very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project. Most people are a little reluctant to oppose anything that suggests medical care for people who possibly can't afford it."--Ronald Reagan

Heed Ronald Reagan's Warning

[Skooz]

boomarked

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

To me, if the government is controlling it and does so at the expense of my personal liberty, independence, and ability to decide what is best for my family, it is a nightmare.

Based upon all the evidence we have of everything the US government has taken over, whatever they touch turns to shit very soon.

I don’t want to risk that my family cannot find adequate medical care because of some effed up egomaniacal bureaucrat who deems me to be of the incorrect race or religion or income group or whatever other reason they have for making a decision that harms me or my family, and that should be a decision that I and my doctor make.

[darkside321]

Well, I’d have to strongly disagree. Socialized health care is the worst thing that happen to health care if you believe in free markets, the Constitution, limited government, and liberty.

---

The problem in my personal oppinion is that there is no
generall definition that would fit for the so called socialized health care in europe for example.
Because the systems differ a lot from country to country.
And having acess to so called socialized health care does not necessarily mean that the state runs the show or that
you are forced to pay into this system.

[AmishDude]

We have something they don’t that will make nationalized health care in this country much worse:

Lawyers.

[napscoordinator]

You could find many people in the United States that find the American medical horrible. That poor lady who has leukemia now and how about the many people whose wrong leg was cut off....those are horrible no matter what country.

[Conservative Coulter Fan]

"Moreover, the United States drives much of the innovation and research on health care worldwide. Eighteen of the last 25 winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine are either U.S. citizens or individuals working here.32 U.S. companies have developed half of all new major medicines introduced worldwide over the past 20 years.33 In fact, Americans played a key role in 80 percent of the most important medical advances of the past 30 years.34"

If you want to post on my thread, perhaps you could do me a favor and at least read the read before making idiotic statements like, "this is not true the US does not subsidize the rest of the world in health care."

[pnh102]

One other funny note. In just about every country that has socialist medicine, it is next to impossible to sue a medical professional for malpractice. That is one way they keep costs down.

Of course, we're not doing anything to stop that here.

[Conservative Coulter Fan]

No, this is just a problem with affluence. People fail to appreciate the staggering advances we’ve had in the past 200 years ... America has the most advanced medical technology in the world or for that matter, in human history. Granted, there are incidents of medical mishaps, but that’s the the tendency of people to focus on bad forgetting the enormously positive stories that literally saved countless people. I am very aware that America’s system has problems, no doubt about it, but we could do worse to mimic other countries.

[darkside321]

We have something they don’t that will make nationalized health care in this country much worse:

Lawyers

---

i do agree on the lawers. This really looks like it totally
got out of controll in the US. (Don´t get me wrong i´m not here to criticize the US system or to say there exists something better.) But as an foreigner it sometimes reallly looks bizzare how much money you can “earn” if you just sue
the “right company” with the “right” lawer.
But i guess this is more a legal “problem” (of course only if it is considered as a problem in the US because i really don´t know). So it definitely affects insurance companys and the “whole” system in a way. But to change this you would have to change some general laws too which have nothing to do with the current health care system.
greetings

[Salvation]

Why do people from ALL over the world come to the U. S. for their operations?

[darkside321]

No, this is just a problem with affluence. People fail to appreciate the staggering advances we’ve had in the past 200 years ... America has the most advanced medical technology in the world or for that matter, in human history. Granted, there are incidents of medical mishaps, but that’s the the tendency of people to focus on bad forgetting the enormously positive stories that literally saved countless people. I am very aware that America’s system has problems, no doubt about it, but we could do worse to mimic other countries.

---

Again i have to disagree. It´s not true that “America has the most advanced medical technology in the world “ The truth is america has acess to the “most advanced medical technology in the world” like every other industrialized western country if you are able to pay for it.
The only problem is that while “we all” have this technology it´s still limited because right now no one
has found a perfekt working system for every one.
The different systems have both winners and losers.

[Conservative Coulter Fan]

"Moreover, the United States drives much of the innovation and research on health care worldwide. Eighteen of the last 25 winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine are either U.S. citizens or individuals working here.32 U.S. companies have developed half of all new major medicines introduced worldwide over the past 20 years.33 In fact, Americans played a key role in 80 percent of the most important medical advances of the past 30 years.34"

I posted this again from above...America has a very disproportionate share in the development of medical advances and maedications. We produce and invent more. Even the research in other countries...in order to be implemented...has to be done in the U.S. Further, every country can have access, but the American people have the greatest access in the entire world. As a "non-U.S. citizen," which is how you described yourself in a post above, you clearly miss the best system available (there isn't a perfect system) and that is to pursue a purely market-based solution for health care as opposed to the proposition that some how, some way there is a government with a group of politicans that plan health care for the rest of us. In fact, Government involvement usually centers around a false notion of a right to health care or that we must provide health care for people through the government when they prove themselves unable.