My old man, Henry W. Leck, shown here in a 1926
photograph, never had health insurance in his entire
life. In the 50s, when my mother encountered a terrible
health problem, my old man was broken like a dry
stick and left basically destitute for the rest of his life.
Thank goodness he had sons and a daughter who
could help out.
photograph, never had health insurance in his entire
life. In the 50s, when my mother encountered a terrible
health problem, my old man was broken like a dry
stick and left basically destitute for the rest of his life.
Thank goodness he had sons and a daughter who
could help out.
A reader, Neil,
recently commented on my blog of 11 March 2013…
by Charlie Leck
by Charlie Leck
“I take extreme umbrage with that
statement. America is without a doubt the leader in specialized medicine. That
is why executives and government officials in other countries (Britain and
Canada specifically) will fly across oceans and over borders to have their
surgery done here. Look at the flawed studies which rank the US far below our socialist
brothers in Europe, they include all types of death including homicides and car
accidents in calculating the "health care rankings.”
I would like to
point Neil to an editorial comment column in this
morning’s StarTribune (our local newspaper) written by John
Reynolds: “Fixing the Dated U.S. Health
Care System.” The article’s working premise is stated in the sub-title:
“There’s a truth we’ve yet to accept – no matter what system we devise, it will
be unfair.”
The Time Magazine article (nearly 50 pages
long) that I referred to in that earlier blog is one of the most important
statements about America’s health care system that has ever been popularly published.
I continue to agree with that article’s statement about our broken system, with
which Neil so strongly disagrees.
In this
morning’s piece in our local paper, Reynold’s says…
“The United States is arguably the wealthiest country in
the industrialized world. We spend more on health care than any other country.
How can our infant mortality rates be increasing? How can our life expectancy
not be as good as other countries?
“The relevant statistics do not paint
an optimistic story. We spend more than anyone else and our outcomes are not
keeping pace; in fact, they are getting worse. The following helps to
illustrate some of the areas of deep concern….
“…On average, the United States
spends twice as much on health care per capita, and 50 percent more as a share
of GDP, as other industrialized nations do. And yet we fail to reap the
benefits of longer lives, lower infant mortality, universal access and quality
of care realized by many other high-income countries.
“There is broad evidence, as well,
that much of that excess spending is wasteful. Stabilizing health spending and
targeting it in ways that ensure access to care and improve health outcomes
would free up billions of dollars annually for critically needed economic and
social investments — both public and private — as well as higher wages for
workers.”
No, I think it
is safe to stand with the accuracy of Steven Brill’s statements in my earlier
blog. Neil, the commenter, should take a look at the facts once again.
And,
the thesis expressed in today’s column in our local paper is absolutely
right-on: “In order to fix a
broken health care system — or devise one in the first place — the policymaking
conversation must start with consensus among the parties as to the basic
assumptions and parameters that will apply equally to everyone and form the
basis of a system that is as fair and equitable as humanly possible.”
As much as we
don’t like to admit it in this country, we must look to some of the other
progressive nations in the world to see how we might fix our own health care
system – Canada, England, Germany, France, Sweden, and a number of other very
efficient and productive systems.”
_________________________
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If you read my blog regularly, why not become a follower? All you have to do is click in the upper right hand corner and establish a simple means of communication. Then you'll be informed every time a new blog is posted here. If all that's confusing, here's Google's explanation of how to do it! If you don’t want to post comments on the blog, but would like to communicate with me about it, send me an email if you’d like.
