image: ericmortensen

image: questionall

Maybe someday we’ll have a healthcare system that costs less and works as well as the other industrialized nations of the world — and maybe Obamacare is the first step towards that day. From NY Daily News:

“A study of 13 industrialized countries released Thursday showed Japan spends the least on health care, while the United States spends the most without providing superior care for the money. The United States spent nearly $8,000 per person in 2009 on health care services, more than Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden or Switzerland.

“[...] ”Rather than containing costs by restricting access, Japan instead sets health care prices to keep total health spending within a budget allotted by the government.” In contrast, the US system is beleaguered by higher prices, more readily accessible technology and widespread obesity. The United States had among the highest rates of potentially preventable deaths due to asthma and diabetes-linked amputations, and showed average rates of in-hospital deaths from heart attack and stroke, it said. Common prescription drugs cost one third more in the United States compared to Canada and Germany, and were more than double that paid for the same drugs in Australia, Britain, France, the Netherlands and New Zealand. “It is a common assumption that Americans get more health care services than people in other countries, but in fact we do not go to the doctor or the hospital as often,” said study author David Squires, senior research associate at The Commonwealth Fund.”

Obviously the U.S. health care system was broken by all the CEOs who want huge bonus checks each year. They treat health care, medicine, hospital stays, and medical treatments like any other commodity such as oil, pork bellies, or flat-screen TVs. Their only concern is profit.