World Health Organization healthcare ranking

I recently watched a news show that reported this information. I searched the WHO site and ended up finding this report from an AMA site. Obviously it is an old report, 2000, so things may have changed. But it gives an idea of how healthcare is rated and where we fall. I am fortunate to have a pretty good health plan offered by my employer so I can't complain.

If the link doesn't work, I'll accept one of those you suck at the internet things.

http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2000/08/28/gvsa0828.htm

twg

 

health care

Health care reports are odd.

The hypothesis is that all people are entitled to immediate top-notch health care, regardless of their ability to pay. Some sort of God-given right.

There is no argument that the US has the best health care in the world. The issue that surfaces is one's access to that care vs. one's ability to pay.

Yes I'm an American, so I find it difficult to understand the issue. Everything in America is this way. Houses, school, etc.

Why we have chosen to argue about health care as a "right" is beyond me. It it the same as any other consumer purchase. Those who can afford the best (and want the best) get it. Those who can't afford it, don't get it.

When a rich Canadian wants heart surgery, where does he go?
That's right! To America, for the best care in the world.

Simple.

 

SSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

don't tell papa this. or roger doyle.

 

Re: health care

I am not going to speak for others, and I don't believe in God-given rights. I would argue, however, that if the difference is whether you live or die, live longer or die younger, live in pain or pain free, then health care is a little different than the purchase of a Yugo vs. an Aston Martin. Not a typical consumer product. Having a "good" health care plan myself, it doesn't make a difference to my personal life. However, if I pay one dollar in taxes and get to choose whether the Pentagon gets an additional F117, or a homeless person is treated like a human being in a hospital, I tend to lean towards the latter. Not because they have the right to health care, but because I think it's a better decision. Just a personal choice.

Brad, it says 37th.

 

Hey, go easy on me - I'm an easy target these days on account of sleep deprivation caused by the new baby..


mtrinske, folks go both directions for care. 'Mericans go to Canada for Lasik Surgery and Rx - both are much cheaper accross the border. Does that mean our system sucks?

Rodger

 

Oh boy, the health care issue, I've been so waiting for this one to pop up.

Wanna hear my diatribe on this issue? Then gimme $29.95 and I'll tell you.




Suckas!

 

Re: health care

For those who can't afford it, what's "good enough?"

 

Re: Re: health care

not canadas. who cares? doctors don't go through years and years of debt/training to feel good about helping. that is a side benefit. no one does. just how good would you expect a guv-ment doctor to be?

nevermind, i'm asking the wrong person.

 

Re: Re: Re: health care

Thats exactly why my wife chose to specialize in radiology and not internal medicine. Those homeless people that get the free treatment don't give a rats ass about the doctors or hospitals that help them. Go to Grady Memorial in downtown Atlanta. It won't take you long to find that out. I remember one patient my wife treated at Grady on her medicine rotation and the SOB kept taking a shit on the floor right in front of his bathroom. Why? To be an asshole. They don't care. Do they deserve to be treated? I think so. But do they deserve the best treatment available? Its hard to justify sometimes.

 

Kris, I can't put myself in your wife's shoes, but there are two things I would like to say. You can't allow a few bad people ruin things for all the others. And it's not just the homeless people who don't have access to good medical care. Again, I am not advocating that anyone has a God given right to a doctor's services.

 

There's just no good way to look at it. This is, and seems to always will be, a never ending debate. Its just like Brad said, my wife went into medicine because she wanted to help people, and she is coming out with different motivations and intentions all together. Helping people really is just a side benefit. When you really look at it, what doctors do is no different than what any other working person does. Its just a job.

 

papa, it's not a few. that's the rub. i've been around healthcare a good while, and given away a few devices. (my favorites are given to rapist/murderers) you know, because it's their right. sorry, but the (FEW) that you suppose is just NOT the case.

 

OK, I won't to argue with you. I don't have anything to back it up. It's just based on the belief that bad things can happen to good people.

 

Okay, I'll eat the $29.95.

Health care: I'm extremely anti welfare, but do not feel that a goverment provided safety net for health needs is welfare. There needs to be safety net for the middle class that just can not afford health care. The poor have virtually free health care and the rich don't have to worry about paying for it.
The Candian model is not a good one to emulate but there are successful models out there. I'm not saying the goverment needs to provide "luxury" care and "birth control" sure as hell wouldn't, but today's system is to the point where it's going to break.

Sorry Brad, you and I agree on quite a few things, but this subject isn't one of them.

 

And why is it that the drug dealing SOB that gets shot 5 times in the stomach and chest walks in off the street to the ER makes it, but the cop that took one in the leg dies? Always the case.

 

so?

 

just curious dave, why do you think the current system is going to "break"?

 

We arguebly have the best health care in the world. Leaps and bounds advances almost monthly. But it's just too expensive for the average person. Sh@t man, look at what you sell and where we'd be without that advance, but they ain't free with a fill up at Exxon.
HMOs are a joke; "I'm having a heart attack, but I'd better call my HMO to make sure I'm covered". The constant fighting to get a procedure that will save your life, but Conglomo Health care doesn't want to pay so you're F'ed.

Meds that can save the elderly, but the cost leaves the person divided whether to buy food or their meds. Not just the old, what about the family just getting by and suddenly their child needs a med that will prolong his life, but to pay for it they'll lose their home.

I think what my brother pays to maintain his coverage and can't help but think this is ridiculous. I wonder how much it will cost when they find something that will give him his sight and how long he'll have to wait in limbo until his PPO will say it's not "a experimental procedure".


Call me a liberal when it comes to health care.

 

I'll agree with your overall premise, but this part is yes & no.
1) Ain't too many free welfare rides anymore (good idea but current solution is failing miserably)
2) the hardest hit, and what I consider most needing are the working poor--and the kids suffer most. When the children get poor nutrition, poor medical, poor education, they grow up to be poorer adults and parents.

It's not a problem with a pull-yourself-up solution. No quick fix, no one has a viable solution: the Dems thru money at the problem with no long range solutions, the Reps turned off the funding faucet. Neither's worked and it's getting worse.

 

My beliefs on some subjects;

Welfare: Never worked, so scrap it. Replace it with a form of Workfare. Sweep the streets, clean up the neighborhood, paint over graffiti... something, anything. There are generations who know nothing but welfare.

Healthcare: lead off by tort reform, limit awards in cases, destroy the lobby groups that prevent real changes from taking place. After these changes, federalize healthcare for a period until it gets off the ground with the intention of privatizing it. Take the greed out of the privatization with it set up as not for profit corporation. How to pay for it? Eliminate tax loop holes for corporations and indivuals, create a truly fair tax structure with everyone paying what they truly should.... Gates, the Olson twins and the rest of the Gazillionares will hate this structure, but Joe Lunchbox will appreciate it.

Over simplification? probably so.