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Rebellion · #1 (**permalink**) 07-15-2007, 10:37 AM

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opi...ck=2&cset=true

Quote:

The Commonwealth Fund, a prominent health policy research foundation, has produced a new study that also portrays government-run health systems as far superior to ours.

Unfortunately, the Commonwealth Fund study and Mr. Moore's film are based almost entirely on anecdotal evidence.

Rather than use hard data for its study, the Commonwealth Fund report relies on public opinion surveys to conclude that Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand and the United Kingdom all provide better care than the United States - and for less money. Patients and doctors were called and asked if they were happy with the quality, access, efficiency, equity and outcomes offered by their government-managed health care systems. But phone calls do nothing to offer scientific data about whether these nations' systems outperform the U.S. system.

Consider access to timely care. Britain has more than 1 million citizens on its waiting lists for medical care, according to London-based Nurses for Reform. In Canada, a study found that more than 800,000 citizens are in the queue for medical procedures - and some will die, waiting for months and sometimes more than a year to get surgeries or treatments they need.

In America, we're used to speedy service. So it's hardly surprising that in a public opinion survey, we would complain about any wait at all. But waiting lists like those in Britain and Canada would be a national scandal here. We simply wouldn't tolerate it.

And what about access to the latest treatments? In government-managed systems, bureaucrats and politicians decide which surgeries and new medicines will be available. In Britain, for example, two new drugs for kidney cancer are being denied to cancer sufferers because they're too expensive, according to news reports. The Canadian government also refuses to purchase newer drugs until they've been on the market for years. From 1997 to 1999, for instance, 100 drugs were introduced in America, while only 43 of those drugs became available in Canada.

Consider cancer. In the United States, the survival rate is 90 percent for patients diagnosed with Stage I colon cancer. In Britain, it's just 70 percent.

For American women diagnosed with Stage I breast cancer, 97 percent are still alive after five years. In Britain, it's only 78 percent. Indeed, when adjusted for age, U.S. cancer deaths have fallen 1 percent per year since 1991.

The data show that if you are sick, the United States is where you want to be. We spend more in this country on health care, and we get more medical care as a result.

Like the author stated, Moore won't be going to Cuba for care if he gets sick. The US offers far and away the best health care in the world.