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Karmadillo

(9,253 posts) Thu Jun 28, 2012, 01:07 PM Jun 2012

U.S. Health Care Costs More Than ‘Socialized’ European Medicine

But we can't afford single payer. We just can't. Impossible. Give it up.

http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/28/u-s-health-care-costs-more-than-socialized-european-medicine/

View From Europe June 28, 2012, 7:08 am11 Comments
U.S. Health Care Costs More Than ‘Socialized’ European Medicine
By HARVEY MORRIS

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It confirmed that the U.S. spends more per capita on publicly funded health care than almost every other country in the developed world. And that includes countries that provide free health care to all their citizens.

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Combined public and private spending on health care in the U.S. came to $8,233 per person in 2010, more than twice as much as relatively rich European countries such as France, Sweden and Britain that provide universal health care.

Are Americans healthier as a result? The U.S. has fewer doctors per capita than comparable countries, and fewer hospital beds. But more is spent on advanced diagnostic equipment and health tests.

Life expectancy has risen in line with that in other developed countries, but the average American life span of 78.7 years in 2010 was below the O.E.C.D. average. Obesity in the U.S. was the highest in the 34-nation survey.

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3 replies

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U.S. Health Care Costs More Than ‘Socialized’ European Medicine (Original Post) Karmadillo Jun 2012 OP

By design. woo me with science Jun 2012 #1

The other scam is that socialized medicine is substandard. SoutherDem Jun 2012 #2

NYT writes to carefully hide that we pay 250% per capita above single-payer. Festivito Jun 2012 #3

woo me with science

(32,139 posts)

1. By design.

Reply to Karmadillo (Original post)

Thu Jun 28, 2012, 01:24 PM

Jun 2012

What a corporate scam.

Every damned day we are in deeper. Every damned day.

SoutherDem

(2,307 posts)

2. The other scam is that socialized medicine is substandard.

Reply to woo me with science (Reply #1)

Thu Jun 28, 2012, 01:49 PM

Jun 2012

Festivito

(13,452 posts)

3. NYT writes to carefully hide that we pay 250% per capita above single-payer.

Reply to Karmadillo (Original post)

Fri Jun 29, 2012, 01:04 PM

Jun 2012

Notice how carefully they avoid giving any real comparison figures in the article.

They give US figures, then use only words to relate if higher or lower.

Then they pull a fast one separating our total health care cost into what we pay in premiums versus what is supplemented by our taxes.

“However, the overall level of health spending in the United States is so high that public (i.e. government) spending on health per capita is still greater than in all other O.E.C.D. countries, except Norway and the Netherlands,”

The attempt is to make our spending look like some middle of the road government muddle. It's not. We spend way too much and get way too little.

They also use acronyms without spelling them out: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to make you think that you might not be good enough to understand so you won't tweet this article. And, why quote that group anyway -- because if they said Europe, you'd understand it and retain the information in a usable speakable way.

And, the M$M knows that if we knew we spent TWICE what other countries spend, ALL OF THEM, and we don't rate at the top of every chart... they'd remember the number TWO, as in twice the cost.

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