Just a reminder that, despite what Sarah Palin says, our health-care system is not the envy of the world.
The conservative prime minister of Great Britain is promising citizens that the British socialized medical system will not be converted to an "American style" insurance based system.
Seems that talking changes to the British Medical system to make it more like ours is akin to talking about converting our Social Security system to 401(k)-like savings accounts--sure to get you voted out of office.
I'm bringing this up as just a reminder about how our perceptions of ourselves don't always accord with reality.
In my "real life" I actually spend a lot of time writing and researching about health care systems both here and abroad, and I'm always shocked out the blatant misperceptions that Americans have about our health care system. I'm also always shocked at how they perceive health care systems in other countries.
The reality is that we have the most expensive health care system in the world that delivers some of the worst outcomes for a broad range of ailments. Our waiting times for most procedures are no better then in other countries. You'll wait just as long to get an MRI here as you would n Canada.
Furthermore, it's a myth that Canadians travel to the US for medical care, and the fact is that one of the biggest sources of fraud in Canada is Americans pretending to be Canadians to Canada to get health care services there.
If you don't believe me, check out stats from the OECD and Canada.
We tend to think that our system is "the best" because there are a lot of financial interest who want to keep our system as it is, and they spend a great deal of money on propaganda.
Propaganda tends to rule the day over reality, and realizing that propaganda is propaganda is the first step in losing weight.
Health care claims on food is nothing but propaganda. If something claims its good for you or will make you thin, it's more likely than not that it won't. There's money to be made by selling you junk food, and businesses will do whatever it takes to sell you that junk food.
There are flaws in every health care system but I wouldn't trade my social medicine coverage in Canada for a free enterprise system as is in the US. I know I pay a lot of taxes to fund it but I like that everyone is entitled to care here regardless of their financial state. As they say, There but for the grace of God go I...
ReplyDeleteI think our health system is a greed machine. This is a perfect example: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/WomensHealth/price-preventing-premature-births-skyrockets-drug/story?id=13104588
ReplyDeleteThank You. I eschew politics on my weight loss blog because it seems so many people I know in the WL community vote the other side of the aisle, and I don't want to muddy the waters on either issue (which is why I have ANOTHER blog for politics and other stuff) But I agree with you 100%
ReplyDeleteTreading Lightly, I'm assuming you're Canadian. It's funny, but Americans have the perception that Canadians want our system, but the reality is that whenever I meet a Canadian they seem to think we're crazy for tolerating our system. Not only that, but every Canadian Transplant I meet here, says they hate our system and wish that had their Canadian coverage.
ReplyDeleteThank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Sometimes I think I'm living in a strange dreamland when I see the lies and distortions that people hear, believe and repeat about our country. I wonder sometimes if Americans are afraid to deal with the fact that America is not #1 in the world in every single category! You can't get better if you're not honest about the problems!
ReplyDeleteI'll just stop there, and re-button my lips :)
I wouldn't trade the Cdn health care system either... but I think you may find that more Cdn's than you think are travelling over the U.S. border (and others) to avoid long waits for surgery and for treatments that are not covered by Cdn health care...
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