Is the
American health care system "the best in the world"? If so, perhaps Oregon is
spinning its wheels trying to fix a health care system some U.S. congressmen say
isn't broken. Let's hear what these national leaders say and then check
reality.
Senate Minority
Leader Mitch McConnell says, "We do start with the notion, however, that we have
the best health care in the world." If McConnell had diabetes, he might pause.
American diabetics suffer twice as many foot amputations as diabetics in Europe
because they cannot afford care to prevent foot infections from turning
deadly.
House Speaker
John Boehner says we have "the best health care delivery system in the world."
But there are 35 other countries in which a pregnant woman and her baby have a
better chance of surviving the pregnancy. The United States leads the
industrialized world in deaths preventable with timely care. There are 15 other
nations providing every citizen with lifesaving treatments denied to many
unfortunate Americans.
During one of
his presidential debates, Sen. John McCain said the U.S. offers "the highest
quality of health care in the world." Did he overlook statistics on lung
disease? Americans with emphysema are 25 percent more likely to need
hospitalization than people in France (the country with the best record).
Asthmatics suffer worse: American asthmatics are eight times more likely to need
urgent care than those in France.
Virginia Gov.
Bob McDonnell insisted, in a GOP response to President Obama's 2010 State of the
Union address, that the U.S. enjoys "the best medical care system in the world."
But 25 other countries have more doctors per capita, hospital beds per capita
and doctor visits. And these countries spend less than we do. In fact, we have
the most expensive health care in the world.
If simply
spending more money qualified as "the best," then New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie
and U.S. Sens. Jim DeMint, R-S.C.; Ron Johnson, R-Wis.; John Barrasso, R-Wyo.;
and Richard Shelby, R-Ala., could be forgiven for imagining we have "the best
health care system in the world." Yet that money comes from somewhere, and it's
coming from suffering families. A patient diagnosed with lung cancer in this
country carries a 7 percent chance of bankruptcy within five years. Most family
bankruptcies are precipitated by medical crises, and most of those families had
insurance when the crisis began.
Is this what
"the best" looks like?
Whatever world
these leaders live in, it is not the one that Oregonians (or most other
Americans) inhabit. Every other industrialized country provides better care to
more people for less money. We cannot do better if our leaders insist the world
should learn from us, not us from them.
Oregon draws
national praise for its creative responses to health care challenges -- not just
our coordinated care organizations and Health Care Transformation Act, but also
longer-term efforts to create statewide universal care. Should we give up our
efforts at reform and simply enjoy what we have?
Listen to the words of these leaders and then look at the faces of your family. Whom do you believe?
AGB/AGB
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