The Shame of American Health Care

[n2doc]

By THE NYT EDITORIAL BOARD

Even as Americans struggle with the changes required by health care reform, an international survey released last week by the Commonwealth Fund, a research organization, shows why change is so necessary.

The report found that by virtually all measures of cost, access to care and ease of dealing with insurance problems, Americans fared poorly compared with people in other advanced countries. The survey covered 20,000 adults in the United States and 10 other industrial nations — Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Britain, all of which put in place universal or near-universal health coverage decades ago. The United States spends far more than any of these countries on a per capita basis and as a percent of the national economy.

For that, it gets meager results. Some 37 percent of American adults went without recommended care, did not see a doctor when sick or failed to fill prescriptions in the past year because of costs, compared with 4 percent in Britain and 6 percent in Sweden. Nearly a quarter of American adults could not pay medical bills or had serious problems paying them compared with less than 13 percent in France and 7 percent or less in five other countries. Even Americans who were insured for the entire year were more likely than adults abroad to forgo care because of costs, an indication of how skimpy some insurance policies are.

When Americans got sick, they had to wait longer than people in most of the other countries to get help. Fewer than half were able to get same-day or next-day appointments with a doctor or nurse; one in four had to wait six days or longer. (Only Canada fared worse on both counts.) But Americans got quicker access to specialists than adults in all but two other countries.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/18/opinion/the-shame-of-american-health-care.html?_r=0

[ConcernedCanuk]

1. I disagree with the "Only Canada fared worse on both counts" phrase.

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To be fair to the OP - our Health services are managed by each Province, but there are National guidelines.

Unfortunately, in recent years I have needed a doctor's services numerous times.

I have NEVER had to wait more than an hour or two to see a doctor,

and received either immediate treatment, or transported to another hospital that could handle more complicated issues.

Maybe our services are better in Ontario than the rest of Canada.

I would have no idea how to find that out.

But - everything is paid for,

I pay nothing.

USA will not have Universal Health Care in my lifetime. MONEY runs the USA, no way Big Pharma and all those insurance companies are going to give up their cash cows.

The political system is controlled by those with big $$ - If you don't have big money, or are not well connected to big money - chances of getting elected are almost zero.

Obama has done well to get as far as he did,

but it would not surprise me if Big Money tears it all apart.

I suspect this is not news . . .

(sigh)

CC

[polly7]

2. I live in Saskatchewan and my experience is much like yours.

I've worked in health-care in hospitals, nursing homes and EMS in both Alberta and Saskatchewan and find that Alberta's system is much like ours, if not better. Definitely, there are wait-times for elective and non-urgent surgery and some diagnostics, and that varies from province to province, but it's something both federal and provincial government agencies have stated repeatedly - one of their prime goals is to improve on it.

Like you, I've never had to wait to see a doctor for an unreasonable length of time and I come from a VERY large family scattered all over Canada from who, when we swap stories, I haven't heard of any one of us being harmed by long waits or delays in treatment.