Who in the world has the best affordable health care and why ?

Question

Why in the U.S.A does the health care cost more than other counties ?

Answer 1

Three questions in one, eh.

France has a good system that seems to work OK, but Hillary Clinton says the French pay more taxes for it than she thinks she could persuade Americans to pay.

But I suspect Singapore does it better.

And if you look at measures of healthiness such as longevity, or days off work due to sickness, the best value for money by a country mile seems to be in Cuba.

Healthcare costs more in the USA because Americans are culturally (on average) overly scared of health risks and buy "care" they don't need, and because they believe in drugs (expensive) as the solution while banning alternatives such as homeopathy. The providers get away with charging for illness correctives (drugs, surgery, time in hospital) regardless of whether you get well or not and have little incentive, if any, to keep costs low. (If you buy a lightbulb that doesn't light up you can take it back and exchange it for a good one. If you buy a drug or a surgical procedure that doesn't make you well, you can't.) The people who are interested in value for money (the patients) are in a poor bargaining position to shop around (they're ill), they may be so desperate they're willing to pay any money for a low-probability hope (they're in pain, and money doesn't help you when you're dead) and they don't know the worth of alternatives (they're not medically qualified or otheewise really aware). Sometimes they want something that cannot be had (a cure for what's incurable with today's knowledge). In countries with taxpayer-funded health services, the people who care most about value for money are the Ministry of Finance, because they have other good uses for every euro or pound of tax revenue, and they do have the clout and the knowhow, so there is effective pressure to deliver value for money.... some say too much so, with inadequate priority for absolute healthiness gain.

I wonder what would happen if someone did a "Southwest Airlines" (or "Ryanair") approach to US health insurance -- cheap insurance, attention to nutrition an exercise, early intervention against stress, marital breakup and other psychological causes of illness, lower-cost generic drugs only when drugs were used, etc.

Answer 2

I'm from Canada and I think it is worth looking to Norway and Germany systems. Norway sort of has an unfair advantage as it has a low population and is oil rich.

The first problem with the USA is they are too busy arguing with each other while they have blinders on and don't want to look into what other models are working.

Two 2 big cost problems in the US: 1) You spend more on health insurance administration than many countries' total health budget. Much of that administration is looking into how to reject someones health cost claims and selling more policies. 2) You treat health care as sales - I have this great new hip replacement surgery I can sell you. (But I still don't expect you will be able to walk.) This is for all the wrong reasons, people get health care because they can afford it, not because they need it. If you need it but have no money, you go without. If you can pay for it, they try sell it to you even if it does you no good.

Answer 3

I guess the term "Health Care" is taken too much lightly in American society.

I think we are better off with the Health Care System. Well, i have health care plan, but "Health Care" dont work as they should, they just take the money that's all

Answer 4

main reason for recent increase is cost of liability insurance, which is caused by high damages paid out in malpractice lawsuits.

you can also mention these are costs of inventing newer and newer drugs, and lack of subsidies (which would come out of taxes, of course)

Most western countries have a national health plan, which basically means "free" healthcare that is crappy and has long waiting lines. It's "free" because those healthy working people pay (with their taxes) for unemployed alcoholics.