Why do Europeans care what kind of health care we have in the United States?

Question

Seriously? Whats the difference to you?

95% of Americans are happy with the level of care they get in the country. - and the millions of your citizens who fly to America every year to have surgery or get treatment of some sort appear to happy with it as well.

60% are happy with their "health plan". Which is to say that only 40% of Americans dont like what they have to pay but are still fully satisfied with the level of care.

While our system needs some tweeking, it is still the best in the world. No country comes close. But again, who cares. What we do over here has no impact on you people. Except when you consider all of the state-of-the-art medical equipment the American system has provided to the world.

You know: X Rays, MRI's, CAT Scans, telescopic surgery, etc.

Our "greedy" system was able to invent these things because our system works. Without us you wouldnt have any of this stuff. So instead of bashing our system - which to most Americans looks like nothing more

Answer 1

45 million Americans can`t afford health insurance....like the mother of the kid that died after getting a tooth abases,what exactly is so bloody great about that?.

At least in Britain EVERYONE can get health care.

Answer 2

It must be jealousy. With national health care your primary doctor takes a year before admitting that he doesn't know what is wrong and sends you to a specialist 6 months later, who schedules tests 2 months after that, a month later the diagnosis is in and you are scheduled for surgery in 3 months. Unfortunately you die the day before surgery. Socialised medicine is rationed medicine.

American medical treatment is expensive because the insurance companies just pay whatever is asked and raise their premiums to cover the cost. That makes medical insurance too expensive. A hospital can actually charge $5 for an aspirin or Band-Aid and no one questions it. They can pad the bill with services not given and no one says "No, you didn't do this."

Since people never think they will be sick and their new car, X-box, Wii or plasma TV, any new toy, is more important than health insurance the government should make health insurance mandatory and the premiums for the policy of their choice should be taken tax free from their income. It should be a mandatory medical savings account which could be used only for medical expenses and a high deductible major medical policy. Stay healthy and the money is part of your estate when you die. Knowing that they are spending their own money would make people watch the prices they are charged.

The truly poor, unemployed or under employed would be the only ones getting their treatment covered by insurance paid for by the government and even those working part-time would put a little into a medical savings account.

Also there would have to be some limits put on malpractise settlements to reduce the cost of malpractise insurance to doctors and hospitals. Then they could reduce their prices and make medical care more affordable. To punish malpractise take away their ability to practise medicine and/or send them back to medical school for more training.

We have plenty of charities for feeding, clothing and housing people, but not nearly enough for medical care. Protect doctors, hospitals and charities from lawsuits when they are providing care to the indigent and there will be more.

Won't happen because then the Leftist politicians won't have control of all that health care money. They have borrowed the Social Security system dry, replacing the money paid in with government bonds. The money is spent and the bonds have to be paid from new tax collections. They would do the same with health care funds and cannot resist all that money.

Answer 3

I think you have made a valid argument in your question. I think however that the 4 million children that live in poverty in America may disagree. Having to pay for health care in the worlds richest, and only, superpower is deplorable. There are levels of unemployment and sickness in the USA that are comparable to to some third world countries.

You rightly point out the fact that some EU nationals use the American health services for treatment. But these few are the upper-middleclass, or those with the financial backing to do so.

A state funded health service would benefit the USA in many ways. The funds are there, but it is the willingness of the administration to look after its citizens in a domestic-healthcare sense, instead of purely militarily-security sphere, that is needed.

Answer 4

That's not what I hear, friends who have left the freeway at the wrong turning in American cities say it's like the third world. My brother visited Chicago and confirmed the same.

Reading articles in the Economist or Scientific American also point up the terrible expense and inequality in the American system. We hear that Congress is debating change. We also are aware of the bloodsuckers in corporate America that are just waiting to get their hands into foreign contracts.

America didn't develop or invent everything medical, even in IT the first computer was built in Manchester UK. It was Alan Turing who broke the German Enigma Codes using computing techniques far in advance of US technology. Marie Cure discovered radioactivity Roentgen XRays, Einstein wasn't American (Neither was Picasso for that matter) need I go on?

We worry because we don't want the free enterprise model pushed on to us. We had enough of that from Mrs Thatcher. The widening gap between rich and poor is becoming really scary, even the middle classes find things difficult. It's not tax. Tax has actually gone down in my lifetime. I had government funding to get through university, my kids have to pay. I personally have seen nothing good coming from America recently, junk food, junk tv, violent movies, guns, none of these things are British, and now heartless lawyer dominated medicine - no thank you

Answer 5

Where you getting these figures?

The figures I'm seeing is more than 15% of Americans in 2003 had no insurance coverage at all. Now, do you really, seriously think that they're happy with their coverage? And, do you believe that this number dropped from 15% to nearly 0% between 2003 and today? Hardly.

The American health care system needs to be taken out, shot, drawn and quartered, burned and then start over from scratch.

As far as the "American inventions" you've listed, you've made some big mistakes.

X-rays: Wilhelm Röntgen, German.

Cat Scans and MRI: British. EMI Recording studios had the concept and was financed by the Beatles.

The system is greedy but didn't invent many of these things you've mentioned.

So, climb off your soap box and take a bath.

Answer 6

Wrong question. It should be "Why do Americans care what the rest of the world thing about its health care?"

BTW

1. America is the only industrialised country in the world without universal health care.

2. 45 million Americans have no health provisions (that's about 15/20% isn't it?)

3. More than 19 million children in America don't have health insurance.

4. I rather liked this headline (although not the reality), "No universal health care: 50,000 dead babies since Republicans and insurance corps killed the first Clinton health care plan."

Actually, I hadn't thought about it until you asked the question...

Answer 7

We don't "care" although we find it sad that people can't afford to access health care when they need it because you have to "buy" it like a luxury

And the exorbitant charges for health care in America suggest that its less of a life saving service and more of a money making scheme for the hospitals and insurance companies. How does that help someone who is chronically sick and can't afford to buy their treatment?

Health care should be a human right not a luxury to be bought at a "consumer" price.

Your system only "works" for those who can afford to pay for their treatment or insurance. For the poor who cannot see a doctor when they are sick or the cancer sufferers who go bankrupt trying to get the treatment they as a human being and citizen of an allegedly "civillised" country deserve, it does not "work".

Lets face it, Americans like you are so sick with greed that they hate the idea of "socialism" because it means thinking about other less fortunate people and sharing.

As for "the millions who fly to America for treatment" - yes presumably they have enough money to pay for it. Its no use to those who can't. Millions come to the UK for treatment too so that would suggest our system is just as good if not better.

I just thank God I live in a country where if I am sick or injured my treatment is seen as a fundamental right and not some luxury I have to "buy".

Oh and as for the above answer I am sick of repeating to American posters that in the UK we have private AND public healthcare system so if your NHS doctor is taking too long and you have the money, you just go to a private hospital and "buy" your healthcare privately just like any American would do! No waiting!

But at least those who can't afford to "buy" healthcare can still get their treatment when they need it.

And as for "jealous" - of what?! Of a country where a little kid dies because he got a tooth abcess and his parents could not afford to "pay" for him to be made better by the oh so caring "doctors" who only care if you can pay them to care?

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Answer 8

I thought I couldn't care less... each his own. Then I saw from the previous posters there are US citizens going to Britain to enjoy free health care. Should the Europeans be happy their (usually pretty high) taxes funding someone else not-existing healthcare? and not even a poor country who can't afford buying an aspirin!

Answer 9

European here and don't give two f**** about your health care system. So stop generalizing about Europeans
JohnDoe Europeans who have contributed to Medicine.
We Europeans are not arrogant about these thing like you are. P.S my fellow country man have invented the Francis Rynd, the hypodermic syringe. Arthur Leared, stethoscope. Other inventions. John Phillips Holland, Submarine. Earnest Walton, Artificially split the first atom. James Martin, first ejector seat. Denis Burkitt (1911-1993) was born in Eniskillen, graduated as a physician, and became world renowned pioneer in public medicine. Worked in public service for many years in Uganda. First described a cancer called Burkitt’s Lymphoma and showed that it is spread by mosquitoes who transmit the disease by spreading the Epstein-barr virus. Returned to Dublin 1966 and led campaign advocating the importance of fibre in the diet

Next time be abit more humble and less arrogant.

Answer 10

You make it sound like the us has the best health system in the world! U don't. that honour goes to either Norway Sweden or France Germany!.. all of which are superior to the us system and are free at the point of use.

However! i lived in the states and even though i wasn't sick, my friend who had cancer got very good treatment , and luckily is alive to day to tell the tale.

I think its a case of when its good! its very good! and when its bad its none existent!.

Answer 11

Please get your facts right regarding these inventions. In Western Europe, we have better health care. This is seen by infant mortality rates being lower than in the USA, as well as a longer life expectancy.

How is that right for the richest and most powerful country in the world?