Our Newsletters/Blog
Health Care Around The World- A Primer, June, 2010
A few weeks ago we were engaged in a discussion with a group of people explaining why prescription drugs traditionally cost more in the United States than in Canada. When we started to talk about the different approaches other countries use for health care delivery we were met with the “socialized medicine†argument. Anything used outside our borders immediately became socialized medicine. We were surprised by how uninformed this group really was about the different systems that are in place and what may actually be working in other countries. We were equally surprised with how willing the group was to dismiss the discussion of any other approach as socialized medicine and simply un-American. The discussion brought back memories of the Town Hall Meetings we had during the reform debate we experienced last year.
Our country spends more per person on health care than any other country in the world. We absolutely have the best health care, but we do not have the best methods of financing and delivering that care. The health care costs we are experiencing (and will continue to experience) are now impacting our federal deficit and will become a larger factor in the economic picture of our country in the years ahead. Health care is now an economic as well as a social issue.
The health care reform legislation passed earlier in the year may help in some respects, but many question whether it will have the impact that will be required for economic stability in the future. We must simply control the costs some way or we may well be asked to make even tougher decisions than were made with this last go-around in the not so very distant future.
It may be a good idea for all of us to remain aware of some of the basic facts concerning other approaches used for health care delivery across the globe so when/if the time comes to make even tougher decisions, the decisions we make as individuals are based on reality, and not simply emotional and reflecting the most effective talking points of politics or special interests.
Here’s a little Primer
