Containing Health Care Costs
I just got finished reading the article in The New Yorker magazine dated 1 June 2009 called: Annals Of Medicine, The Cost Conundrum. The article is subtitled, What a Texas town can teach us about health care.
This is an excellent article which should be required reading for all legislators, doctors, insurance company executives, and patients in America. And even though The New Yorker is a national magazine, throughout the article it shows how McAllen, Texas is doing it wrong and how El Paso, Texas is doing things right.
On another issue Barack Obama turns out to be right. The big issue is not a private versus a public system, or universal access. The real issue is cost containment. Taking greed out of the health care system and making it be patient oriented.
Honest, you really need to read this article!
LINK: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/06/01/090601fa_fact_gawande?currentPage=all
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In the states medicine is just big business. In the UK where the system is national health care the cost to the state is 9% as opposed to almost 20% in the states.
Part of their moderate success is prioritising who gets treated.
If you are over 65 and do not contribute to society in any way the treatment is slower.
If you smoke or are fat you don't get an operation.
Unnecessary testing is kept to a minimum
In most of Europe and Japan Doctors get respect and a salary that averages $4,000 per month. It is profession to treat the ill, not get rich. Naturally, specialists get more but not that much more.
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-LINK:Lhttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/05/opinion/05krugman.html?_r=1&em
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