As Nigel said, that remark was directly related to Medical and related things. As I think there may be a slight language barrier, let me clarify. And take a slight step back as well.

There are many good if not great things about the health care system in the US. Our physicians are some of the very best in the world. We also have many of the best hospitals anywhere. Our medical education and training, stacks up favorably compared to other countries. Our technology is high end and excellent.

We have a lack of general practitioners because of an over-focus on sub-specialty care. AS a result, we're probably the best at high end procedures and caring for rare and difficult illnesses. We spend a ton of money on research, which benefits everyone down the road.

I think on the whole, the US is probably the leader when it comes to the various components of a modern day health care system. Its just not put together in a rational way and the inefficiencies have led to fiscal hemorrhaging. Too many people are without access to quality and affordable healthcare and suffer questionable results in terms of quality of care. We reward Doctors for how many tests/procedures they perform, too often without enough regard to the quality of the care they provide. The system has a built-in disincentive to streamline things. Some Hospitals in the US, like the Mayo and the Cleveland Clinics have placed their Docs on Salary. Which is very interesting. They've totally removed any incentive they might have to order extra procedures/tests/etc. Other Hospitals are also looking at going this way.

Again, if you have insurance in the United States, you're probably going to be well treated. However, we shouldn't only view the US and its health care performance on the numbers of the insured. We should, IMO, view the totality of our population and be measured by that standard.

Nigel's story is spot on. Absolutely, sometimes uninsured patients receive terrific care and enjoy great outcomes. But too often they don't.

A terrific, smooth read is "The Healing of America" by TR Reid. An award winning journalist, he travels the wealthiest, industrialized Countries and sees how each would care for his bum shoulder. PBS / Frontline also produced a program based on it, which can be watched here for free:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/...utm_source=grid

Its not too long, but very interesting.

Taike-I'd suggest maybe re-reading some of these posts that appear to you to say this that haven't been said. Again, I chalk this up to a language thing.


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Bill in Dayton




[This message has been edited by Bill in Dayton (edited 05-23-2010).]