’)The Reality of U.S. Healthcare
By: Dr. Kyle M. Montgomery
When asked about the health reform bill that was recently signed into law, Republican senator, Mitch McConnell-the Senate House Minority Leader- fired back with, “To the extent they are trying to turn us into a Western European country, we are not going to be helpful.” I was unaware that Western European countries are so horrible as to warrant such an invigorated response from one of America’s most influential politicians. The senator was referring to the democratic caucus as “they” and expressed a clear opposition to the way in which nations like, France, Italy, and Spain run their healthcare systems.That’s an interesting position for senator McConnell to take considering that every healthcare system in Western Europe is vastly superior to the one here in America in every respect. A few facts to prove my point: The World Health Organization (WHO) published a list ranking countries on the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of their healthcare systems; France, Italy, and Spain were first, second, and seventh respectively, while the United States settled in at a comfortable 37, just edging out Slovenia but still playing catch-up with Costa Rica. According to a Harvard Medical study, roughly 45,000 Americans die annually due to a lack of affordable health insurance, and 700,000 more are forced to file for bankruptcy every year because they couldn’t afford their health care costs. You want to know what those numbers are like in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, and Britain; zero. Problems like this don’t exist in Western European nations because the government guarantees coverage for every person. As a result of these facts, it should come as no surprise that the U.S. spends more money on healthcare ($2.6 Trillion a year, roughly the size of France’ entire GDP) than any other country on earth, and yet, fails to provide basic health services to millions of its citizens.
Some might wonder why such an influential political figure like McConnell would make such an outrageous claim when all the facts serve to disprove it. Well, I'll let you in on a little secret; it has nothing to do with the facts or the thousands of Americans who die every year that could otherwise be saved. Rather, McConnell’s statement is one of pure political propaganda. It goes something like this: If health reform is even remotely successful (which it mostly surely will be, providing insurance to an additional 32 million currently uninsured), Americans will look to the party responsible for its passage in improving other aspects of our nation. Who is responsible for healthcare reform? The Democrats. So, its not a stretch to see that the “party of NO”, I mean the republicans, would be at a huge disadvantage come mid-term elections, in both the house and the senate. Well, it shouldn’t come as much surprise then, that people like Mitch McConnell realize the threat this poses to their political career. This is clearly unacceptable, and so, him and the rest of the republican caucus have decided to throw every political maneuver at denouncing reform as “socialism” or “a government takeover” in hopes of giving them a fighting chance at the poles in November.
These fears are manifested in groups like the tea bagger movement, with people carrying signs that read, “Get your government hands off my Medicare” or, “Socialism is not Freedom.” Last time I checked there would be no Medicare if it weren’t for the government. In addition, you have tea baggers claiming that Socialism, Fascism, and Communism are all the same thing and carry pictures of Obama defaced as Hitler. Now, I may not be a historian or political expert, but it doesn’t take a genius to do ten minutes of research to improve one’s historical knowledge about these three political and economic philosophies. But then again, that’s the point. Tea Baggers don’t care about history or facts or even what’s in the health bill. Rather, they choose to submit to the evils of despotism and prance around with their panties in a bunch regurgitating wild claims made by people like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. If a doctor were to diagnose a tea bagger for a serious medical condition, his/her disease would be ignorance. And the cure? Pick up a history book. Surely this isn’t what people like Mitch McConnell would consider being “American” is it?
But enough of this complaining about tea baggers and republican’s, this article is about healthcare in America. The health reform bill that was signed into law last month was by no means a perfect or even strong bill. But, it was a step in the right direction. Predictions show it bending the cost curve and bringing down deficits albeit by a small margin (roughly $138 Billion over ten years). The point is not to take this victory as the end-all-be-all of healthcare, but rather, to closely watch how the provisions in this bill unfold over the next decade and make changes and improvements where necessary.
Ten’s of millions of new people will enter the health insurance market by 2014 and this will no doubt have a drastic effect on the nation as a whole. To add insult to injury, the next decade will also see the retirement of the baby-boomer generation, which will push programs like Medicare to the breaking point. However, the answer to bringing down healthcare costs and increasing the number of insured, while ensuring quality is not sacrificed is a challenge that is qualitative rather than quantitative. It isn’t a problem the government, private insurance companies, or families can simply throw money at. It’s an issue that deals with the way healthcare is delivered in this country (fee-for-service) and how to change that system to better cater to the needs of the patients and reduce our expenditures of healthcare as a percentage of GDP (which is currently 18% or $2.6 Trillion). This is the real problem that undermines the future of this nations healthcare and ultimately our competitiveness abroad. This crisis has been successfully addressed in other parts of the world….like Western Europe, and America must look to the methods that have already proven to be successful and mold them to fit our system rather than pursue the classic approach of go-it-alone. It is a globalized planet with ideas, capital, and methods being exchanged among nations in the blink of an eye. America has been the dominant force in pressuring other nations to open up their borders and minds to the ideas of others in pursuance of a more prosperous and safe world. It’s time we did the same.