10 Surprising Facts about American Health Care
Fact No. 1: Americans have better survival rates than Europeans for common cancers. Breast cancer mortality is 52 percent higher in Germany than in the United States, and 88 percent higher in the United Kingdom. Prostate cancer mortality is 604 percent higher in the U.K. and 457 percent higher in Norway. The mortality rate for colorectal cancer among British men and women is about 40 percent higher.
Fact No. 2: Americans have lower cancer mortality rates than Canadians. Breast cancer mortality is 9 percent higher, prostate cancer is 184 percent higher and colon cancer mortality among men is about 10 percent higher than in the United States.
Fact No. 3: Americans have better access to treatment for chronic diseases than patients in other developed countries. Some 56 percent of Americans who could benefit are taking statins, which reduce cholesterol and protect against heart disease. By comparison, of those patients who could benefit from these drugs, only 36 percent of the Dutch, 29 percent of the Swiss, 26 percent of Germans, 23 percent of Britons and 17 percent of Italians receive them.
Fact No. 4: Americans have better access to preventive cancer screening than Canadians. Take the proportion of the appropriate-age population groups who have received recommended tests for breast, cervical, prostate and colon cancer:
• Nine of 10 middle-aged American women (89 percent) have had a mammogram, compared to less than three-fourths of Canadians (72 percent).
• Nearly all American women (96 percent) have had a pap smear, compared to less than 90 percent of Canadians.
• More than half of American men (54 percent) have had a PSA test, compared to less than 1 in 6 Canadians (16 percent).
• Nearly one-third of Americans (30 percent) have had a colonoscopy, compared with less than 1 in 20 Canadians (5 percent).
Fact No. 5: Lower income Americans are in better health than comparable Canadians. Twice as many American seniors with below-median incomes self-report "excellent" health compared to Canadian seniors (11.7 percent versus 5.8 percent). Conversely, white Canadian young adults with below-median incomes are 20 percent more likely than lower income Americans to describe their health as "fair or poor."
Fact No. 6: Americans spend less time waiting for care than patients in Canada and the U.K. Canadian and British patients wait about twice as long - sometimes more than a year - to see a specialist, to have elective surgery like hip replacements or to get radiation treatment for cancer. All told, 827,429 people are waiting for some type of procedure in Canada. In England, nearly 1.8 million people are waiting for a hospital admission or outpatient treatment.
Fact No. 7: People in countries with more government control of health care are highly dissatisfied and believe reform is needed. More than 70 percent of German, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and British adults say their health system needs either "fundamental change" or "complete rebuilding."
Fact No. 8: Americans are more satisfied with the care they receive than Canadians. When asked about their own health care instead of the "health care system," more than half of Americans (51.3 percent) are very satisfied with their health care services, compared to only 41.5 percent of Canadians; a lower proportion of Americans are dissatisfied (6.8 percent) than Canadians (8.5 percent).
Fact No. 9: Americans have much better access to important new technologies like medical imaging than patients in Canada or the U.K. Maligned as a waste by economists and policymaker’s naïve to actual medical practice, an overwhelming majority of leading American physicians identified computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as the most important medical innovations for improving patient care during the previous decade. [See the table.] The United States has 34 CT scanners per million Americans, compared to 12 in Canada and eight in Britain. The United States has nearly 27 MRI machines per million compared to about 6 per million in Canada and Britain.
Fact No. 10: Americans are responsible for the vast majority of all health care innovations. The top five U.S. hospitals conduct more clinical trials than all the hospitals in any other single developed country. Since the mid-1970s, the Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology has gone to American residents more often than recipients from all other countries combined. In only five of the past 34 years did a scientist living in America not win or share in the prize. Most important recent medical innovations were developed in the United States.
Conclusion: Despite serious challenges, such as escalating costs and the uninsured, the U.S. health care system compares favorably to those in other developed countries.
“Good healthcare is not a right... it’s a privilege that should be worked for and cherished, not handed out.”
The Problem:
There is little disagreement that the current health care system needs an overhaul. Today, health care costs continue to rise while people have fewer choices and are less secure that the coverage they have today will be there tomorrow. However, President Obama and leaders in the Congress think the solution is to expand government’s control over health care. Proposals like a new public plan, a federal exchange and health board, and even mandates on employers and individuals to offer or buy government-approved package of benefits, are all intended to give more power to Washington over the financing and delivery of health care. The end result will jeopardize the private coverage Americans have today, limit their health care choices, and cost taxpayers more. "Free" health care isn't really free since we must pay for it with taxes; expenses for health care would have to be paid for with higher taxes or spending cuts in other areas such as defense, education, etc.
The Solution:
Instead of a putting Washington in control over personal health care decisions, individuals and families should be the key decision makers in their health care. Proposals that give fair and equal tax treatment for those who buy health coverage on their own, encourage states to develop solutions that will give individuals direct control of the flow of health care dollars, and finance reform by restructuring existing spending, not more spending, are key steps to solving America’s health care problems. Such a system would promote personal ownership; give Americans more health choices, and force health plans and providers to compete directly for their dollars. The end result would lower costs and guarantee better quality.
Instead of a one-size-fits-all "AS-IS" federal solution, Congress should also let the states take the lead on reform, and reform the tax treatment of health insurance to give all taxpayers tax relief for purchasing private insurance and extend assistance (through spending offsets) to low-income families to purchase private insurance instead of expanding government care.
The Horrifying Truth about What’s in the Bill
SEC. 122 - YOUR HEALTHCARE IS RATIONED
SEC. 142 - The Health Choices Commissioner will choose your HC Benefits for you. You have no choice
SEC. 201 - Government is creating an HC Exchange to bring private HC plans under Government control
SEC. 203 – Government mandates ALL benefit packages for private HC plans in the Exchange and again RATIONS health care
SEC. 223 - No company can sue the GOVERNMENT on price fixing! No “judicial review” against Government Monopoly!!
SEC. 312 - An Employer MUST auto enroll employees into public option plan and employers MUST pay for HC for part time employees AND their families. NO CHOICE. Or they will be fined 100 per day per employee.
SEC. 401 - ANY individual who doesn’t have “acceptable” HC according to Government will be taxed 2.5% of their gross income AND any NONRESIDENT Alien is EXEMPT from individual taxes. (Americans will pay)
SEC. 1141 - Federal Government regulates rental and purchase of power driven wheelchairs
SEC. 1145 - Cancer patients – welcome to rationing! You may not get that 'specialized' cancer treatment center as an option.
SEC. 1151 - The Government will penalize hospitals for what Government deems preventable readmissions. Doctors! Treat a patient during initial admission that results in a readmission? Government will penalize you.
SEC. 1156 - PROHIBITION on ownership and investment! Government tells Doctors what and how much they can own
SEC. 1177 - Gov't will RESTRICT enrollment of special needs people
SEC. 1233 - ADVANCE CARE PLANNING CONSULTATION; The Government has a say in how your life ends! An “advance care planning consultant” will be used frequently as patients health deteriorates. The Government will specify which Doctors can write an end of life order. The Government will decide what level of treatment you will have at end of life. A board of beurocrats in Washington will also decide whether or not you’re too old to receive treatment.
More Facts:
1. President Obama said that “this was the worst economy since the great depression.” FALSE! It was the worst economy since the Jimmy Carter era.
2. President Obama also said that “you can keep your insurance & the gov't will stay out of it.” FALSE! The bill says that the Gov't will determine whether or not your current health insurance is acceptable for you, even if your happy with it they may take it away. Also there will be taxes on certain insurance policies as stated in the bill.
3. It Requires that all Americans purchase health insurance. If you choose NOT to have any Health Insurance you will be forced on to the Gov't plan, or pay a yearly fine of up to $3800 per year for failing to get "government-approved coverage". If that fine is not payed, the IRS will fine you $25,000 & one year in Prison for not acquiring HC.
4. We don't want the Gov't taking control over 1/6 of our economy
5. No Privacy! They will collect detailed health insurance information on Americans, reducing patient privacy and adding significant administrative costs to employers and insurers. This should be between you & your Dr, NOT Washington
6. Middle Class Tax Hike - The Baucus bill would impose a new sales tax on drugs and medical devices and a new federal excise tax on insurance plans that exceed $8,000 for an individual and $21,000 for a family. These taxes will ultimately be passed down to the consumer, putting many middle class families on the receiving end of a tax hike
“This is an "AS-IS" plan. And Americans deserve better!”