Quote (Thor123422 @ Jul 23 2018 08:23am)
Guess it depends what "great" means. Unless your deductible is super low and coverage is high it's hard to beat other countries for necessary medical procedures and routine care.
My brother in law this weekend, who is entirely without insurance, flew Medivac from one hospital to another to get necessary care. He flew to the very much private enterprise at the world-renowned Mayo Clinic, where they not only stabilized him, but promised not to discharge him until they can figure out why his blood pressure dropped dangerously low (50/30). The staff there has of course been nothing short of wonderful.
Quote (balrog66 @ Jul 23 2018 08:54am)
@EndlessSky/Santara: Do you think that this ranking does not accurately represent quality of healthcare? If so, why? If the quality of US healthcare is lower than many nations, whilst being multiple times more expensive, would it not make the most sense to copy the most successful models? Any sane businessman would.
Those rankings everyone likes to trot about have one thing in common: they include universal coverage as a significant contributor to their scoring. Infant mortality, another major component, isn't even compared fairly across nations. In reality, a child would be lucky to be born in an American hospital. When I'm not busy, I can post links. Other nations enjoy the military version of the peace dividend: they shunt massive spending into research & development onto America. It's not even close when comparing the levels of research performed in America vs the rest of the world. An ordinary schlep being diagnosed with cancer is generally much more likely to survive here than anywhere. Successful and timely treatment reigns here like nowhere else. Do we have our own problems? Absolutely, but I'm not prepared to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Instead, I want all the rest of the "civilized" countries to start bearing their fair share of medical pioneering.