4 ms·

You’re welcome to visit any other developed country where people don’t live in fear of getting sick and don’t treat massive bills as an inevitability, even afte

You’re welcome to visit any other developed country where people don’t live in fear of getting sick and don’t treat massive bills as an inevitability, even after having insurance. Their health systems are as competent as those in the states, despite the fear mongering by your health industry of years-long wait times, queues, etc. So yeah, if the job we don’t understand results in massive underserving of your nation’s health needs, perhaps your disgust is misdirected.

disabled 6y ago
Correct. In the US, the 3rd leading cause of death is believed to be preventable medical errors [1]. It is an absolutely atrocious statistic, that only mirrors developing countries. Statistically, this sort of thing only happens in developing countries, and never developed/industrialized countries. Americans should see the irony in that. A good resource, that I suggest all Americans consult so that they can stay alive is: http://HealthData.org http://HealthData.org I consulted that website for years for trusted data on global health systems. Ironically, it is the same group that runs the IMHE coronavirus predictive models in the US. It is an amazing group, run by the University of Washington, which has a phenomenal public medical school. Anyways, the wild part is that countries like Croatia compete with the US, for overall quality of care as a whole (not medical errors!). You know, a former Yugoslav war-torn, economically damaged country, that is up and rising thanks to being a new member to the European Union. It also has its geographic challenges in distributing care, due to having about 50 inhabited islands. One island is a 2 hour and 45 minute ferry ride away. If you get extremely sick, it is a 5 hour boat ride back to the mainland. There is no air ambulance service. The US is really going the wrong way, and for shocking reasons. Also, Americans are generally unaware of how low the bar has been actually set, which is actually extremely low. It is also the system's fault, not the doctors. We really do have incredible doctors in the US. [1] https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/05/03/476636183/death-certificates-undercount-toll-of-medical-errors https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/05/03/4766361...
perl4ever 6y ago
What is your criticism of American doctors and hospitals or Medicare? What does a nominal bill have to do with underserving health needs or a massive bill to the patient? American patients may be underserved, but the raw figures for casualties from COVID aren't justifying the idea that our system is radically worse. It appears to me that you're just saying in very general terms, that healthcare in the US is terrible, and making it clear that is inherently true irrespective of whether government provided coverage is available. If American health care is terrible because it is American, then the criticism is pure hate and cannot be constructive in any way. It used to be that the criticism was framed in the context that sensible developed countries cover healthcare for everyone and the US should get on board with this common sense modern approach. Coverage isn't a totally solved problem; that's not something to dispute. But where it is solved, the rhetoric, the pat phrases, should change, they should react. If the US is terrible just as ever, then the reasons were never serious. They were rationalizations for pure antipathy.

disabled 6y ago

Correct. In the US, the 3rd leading cause of death is believed to be preventable medical errors [1]. It is an absolutely atrocious statistic, that only mirrors developing countries. Statistically, this sort of thing only happens in developing countries, and never developed/industrialized countries. Americans should see the irony in that. A good resource, that I suggest all Americans consult so that they can stay alive is: http://HealthData.org http://HealthData.org I consulted that website for years for trusted data on global health systems. Ironically, it is the same group that runs the IMHE coronavirus predictive models in the US. It is an amazing group, run by the University of Washington, which has a phenomenal public medical school. Anyways, the wild part is that countries like Croatia compete with the US, for overall quality of care as a whole (not medical errors!). You know, a former Yugoslav war-torn, economically damaged country, that is up and rising thanks to being a new member to the European Union. It also has its geographic challenges in distributing care, due to having about 50 inhabited islands. One island is a 2 hour and 45 minute ferry ride away. If you get extremely sick, it is a 5 hour boat ride back to the mainland. There is no air ambulance service. The US is really going the wrong way, and for shocking reasons. Also, Americans are generally unaware of how low the bar has been actually set, which is actually extremely low. It is also the system's fault, not the doctors. We really do have incredible doctors in the US. [1] https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/05/03/476636183/death-certificates-undercount-toll-of-medical-errors https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/05/03/4766361...

perl4ever 6y ago

What is your criticism of American doctors and hospitals or Medicare? What does a nominal bill have to do with underserving health needs or a massive bill to the patient? American patients may be underserved, but the raw figures for casualties from COVID aren't justifying the idea that our system is radically worse. It appears to me that you're just saying in very general terms, that healthcare in the US is terrible, and making it clear that is inherently true irrespective of whether government provided coverage is available. If American health care is terrible because it is American, then the criticism is pure hate and cannot be constructive in any way. It used to be that the criticism was framed in the context that sensible developed countries cover healthcare for everyone and the US should get on board with this common sense modern approach. Coverage isn't a totally solved problem; that's not something to dispute. But where it is solved, the rhetoric, the pat phrases, should change, they should react. If the US is terrible just as ever, then the reasons were never serious. They were rationalizations for pure antipathy.