CBS Sunday Morning: Why The French Can Afford To Get Sick

[question everything]

Why The French Can Afford To Get Sick

PARIS, Oct. 26, 2008(CBS) "A votre sante" ... "To your health" … say the French as they raise a glass in toast. The French do take health care seriously, and provide it in a system quite different from our own. Our Man in Paris, David Turecamo, offers his take on the French model:
This summer in Paris my friends Matt and Noemi had twins. Matt's British so they ended up naming their sons George and Alistair. But Noemi's French - and that's what's important here, because the entire family is covered by the French Social Security system.

So, even though the boys were delivered by Cesarean section and Noemi spent nine days in a private room, after leaving the hospital they paid … "19 euros, for the TV," Matt said. That's around twenty-five dollars. Well, they also paid a $165 for the first night, but for twins delivered by Cesarean, and nine days in a private room, and the cost was about $190?

Maybe we could learn anything from it.

"All the people coming to our emergency department are treated equal," a doctor told Turecamo. "We can't say to a patient, 'Oh, you don't have money or the right kind of insurance.'" In fairness, emergency rooms in the United States are obliged to treat and at least stabilize everyone - but because of the cost many Americans never see a doctor until it's an emergency. If anything the French go to doctors too much simply because they can afford it. You see, a typical office visit will cost them 22 euros. That's about $28. "Obviously that would make an American laugh," the doctor said.

But don't laugh - 65% is covered by the national health system. The rest is picked up by private insurance which is available to everyone at a nominal cost. But even with that, one doctor in private practice told me, "If a patient has a big problem - no job, nothing - I say 'Okay - don't pay.'" You should know French doctors make a lot less than their American counterparts - roughly $50,000 to $100,000 a year - because the French government (not doctors or pharmaceutical companies) sets the prices for everything - prices they feel are reasonable.

(snip)

Well, eight years ago the World Health Organization released a study ranking France as having the best health care system in the world... "But it's not just the quality of health care this country offers, it's the fact that it's offered to everyone. Every man, woman and child who is a legal resident in France is covered by national health care."

(snip)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/26/sunday/main4546041.shtml

[Luminous Animal]

1. It's getting so bad...

that even CBS is advocating "socialism".

[grannylib]

2. I just watched "Sicko" tonight, and they touched on many of these

same facts...it's really sad and beyond comprehension that our nation WILL NOT provide care to all its people. It's not that we CAN'T - we just haven't. It's enough to MAKE you sick.

[question everything]

6. Because here we compare access to health insurace to 'driving a cadillac"

At least, this is what an executive of an insurance company once remarked to me.

[4lbs]

3. One other thing from the French visiting their doctors so often.

They tend to catch illnesses like cancer and organ, and immunological problems in the early stages before they become very difficult or impossible to treat. This also helps keep down overall health costs, because the surgeries and treatments for cancer caught in the early stages are often much less costly than those caught after the cancer has had a year or two to catch hold and spread. In addition, the remission rate is often higher because the cancer is detected much, much earlier, due to the patient(s) going to the doctor so much.

[progressoid]

4. I know people with dual citizenships that would travel back to France for their

check-ups and prescription refills (before the cost of gas raised plane ticket prices). That's how bad it is here.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

10. My cousin had to do that

He has dual U.S./French citizenship. For years he worked in a law office that supposedly had health insurance. Over the years, due to the incredible stress of 60 hour work weeks, he developed a bad heart problem. He went to his insurance-provided doctor who recommended an EKG. The insurance adjustor absolutely refused to authorize the EKG and told him to file a worker's comp stress claim. Those types of continuing trauma claims are usually hard fought, automatically denied, and take a lot of time to litigate, having to go to trial which can take a year or more. He tried to find a private facility that would do the EKG and I believe he said that they wanted to charge over $3,000 for the procedure. He went to Mexico and found a European-trained heart specialist who charged him about $600 for the examination and the EKG. The doctor in Mexico said he needed treatment and the employer insurance refused to accept the EKG from a Mexican doctor. His only choice was to quit his job in the law office and go to France for about three months where he got intensive treatment and a barrage of tests for very little money. He now has to take regular heart medication for the rest of his life.

When he came back to the U.S., jobless and without insurance, he was examining a gun from his collection one night when his wife accidentally bumped into him from behind and caused the weapon to discharge into his belly fat. It wasn't life threatening and only required about four hours in the emergency room where they cleaned the wound, did an MRI to detect any bullet shards, and then sewed him up with a few stitches. The result: a $20,000 emergency room bill.

[question everything]

12. This is unbelievable. I have had many occasions where an EKG

was almost a routing test at the doctor's office.

But when private insurance companies are a business that has to show profit by trimming costs - this is what we have.

We often hear visitors asking in disbelief: do you mean to tell me that in this country people will not get treated for lack of money?

[Shanti Mama]

14. Yikes. I thought I might have had a small heart attack last spring

I live in Kathmandu. 12 hours in ICU (not up to western standards), 2 EKGs, multiple blood tests and several Rx's later it cost me about $17. I wouldn't want major surgery performed here everything else was fine. My daughter had a compound fracture once and the entire bill -- surgery, anesthesia, 3 nights in private room -- was a bit over $200 if I remember correctly.

Medical care does not have to be soooooooooooo expensive.

[Selatius]

5. Basically, to understand the French system, take Medicare and expand it to cover everyone.

The taxes people pay, pay for everyone in terms of giving health insurance coverage.

In the US system, private insurance is the mainstay, and usually employers negotiate with them on behalf of their employees. The larger the employer, typically, the better the deal it can get. The problem with this is that small employers have relatively little bargaining power in terms of keeping costs down for employees, so many go without it. For the unemployed, they're stuck on their own.

[aquart]

9. Take healthcare off the back of American business!

Make American small business competitive again.

[w4rma]

16. Agreed. (nt)

[BrklynLiberal]

7. This should be a huge embarrassment to American Citizens!!!

They are so ignorant and misinformed that they simply refuse to believe that the health care in any of the countries that have universal health care could possibly be any good. They have been brain-washed by the Big Pharma, Insurance Companies and all the others who make money from the current health care system.
I have friends in Canada, and they have a wonderful health care system there. I have heard people here say, "Oh NO! you have to wait 6 weeks to see a doctor there!!". First of all that is not true, and secondly, if you want to see specialist here, you would have to wait 6 weeks also, and it would cost you a fortune!!!

[cynatnite]

8. They do house calls in France, too...

The doctors are sent to the homes to determine if a trip to the emergency room is required. If not, they provide medical services.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

11. B-b-b-but my right-wing brother knows someone who went to France

and had to go to the emergency room and there were patients lying on gurneys in the hallways... :eyes:

(Yeah, I know, that never happens here.)

Even Japan, which doesn't have such a great national health system, partially subsidizes medical care (you have to pay a monthly fee based on income) and covers catastrophic conditions 100%. I have some friends who teach at a health sciences university 100 miles north of Tokyo, and they took me on a tour of the rehabilitation hospital on campus. It's for people who need intensive therapy due to accidents or strokes, and it's quite a nice facility. I asked who paid for the patients' treatment, and my guide explained that all the patients qualified for the government's catastrophic coverage.

[knitter4democracy]

13. Doctors may make less, but their costs are less, too.

A ton of my husband's paycheck goes to our family's health costs. The partners in charge of his practice picked a lousy insurance plan with high deductibles and crappy coverage, so we're out thousands every year just in health care costs.

Then, you look at what the average French doctor pays for transportation to and from the clinic and the hospital. Their transit system's better than ours, and their country is smaller and more compact. We pay a fortune in gas for Hubby to drive to the two hospitals he covers and the two clinic offices.

What are their malpractice insurance rates? Ours in Michigan aren't too bad, but that's still a lot of money out of pocket that the doctors never see.

The practice where my husband works only gets 60% of their billing. They bill out Medicare's rates and only get paid for 60% of that. Insurance companies have perfected the runaround and never-paying-a-dime systems, and the office has several people on full-time staff working just to get any money at all.

[Chisox08]

15. We as Americans should be ashamed of ourselves

We are the only "Western Industrialized" nation to not have universal health care. Our current system has failed due to cooperate greed. We can afford to pay for Health care for every American citizen but we choose not to because of some people hear on Fixed Noise and over RW fundie radio. Health Care is not a product it is a basic human right.

[Lifelong Protester]

17. We have to take the profit out of health care

everytime I hear some stock guru touting healthcare stocks as a 'safe haven' for making money in all markets, I get furious. There should be NO PROFIT in health care. Period.

[bluesmail]

18. I am so envious.