Viper1 said:
Ail said:
Viper1 said:
thx1139 said:
Rich americans, because Insurance companies dont work that way. I am picking a 100% common health care need. Friends of ours lived in Brussels for a number of years. There third child was born in Brussels. The experience was vastly different than what a US patient goes through. I have had 3 children and all 3 were cessarian births. We did not stay in the hospital more than 4 days from the time we checked in until the time we checked out. It is very common in the US for a mother and child to be out of the hospital within 2 days of giving birth. Our friends experience in Brussels was vastly different. With a normal birth the mother and child stayed in the hospital for a week. Then for another couple weeks they had a nurse come by everyday to assist. In the US that is healthcare that the rich get. Insurance companies dont work that way. They want you out as soon as possible no matter what.
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That's a fascinating anecdote and I'd love to see that kind of birthing care here but unfortunately we could swap anecdotes all day and get nowhere.
What I'm referencing is a commonly accepted and verfied understanding that the average quaity of care in the US is of a higher standard than anywhere else in the world. Might there be cases were one nation takes a segment of healthcare very seriously and outdoes the US? Certainly, but on the whole average is where these considerations come from.
But it's the costs above all that are the main issue. The quality differnces are minor enough that it's hardly worth debating about. It's the costs and the measures in place that keep them artificially high that are of concern.
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Ever been to a US hospital ?
Because his exemple is not annecdotal.
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See the bold part? That's an anecdote.
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Well this isnt anecdotal this is me. My middle son is ADHD. It took awhile to diagnose because of his level of intelligence, but although he has an IQ close to 140 he had issues completing assignments. School never thought he had ADHD because he has performed well despite his ADHD. So someone finally referred us to a local specialist. Well she does not accept Insurance because they try to tell her what to charge. This is typical of the higher end specialists. They have no need to take patients that use Insurance. Of course Blue Cross Blue Shield would pay for part of the treatments and testing. So we ended up being reimbursed about 1/3rd of the cost. The remainder wasnt even counted as part of the deductible. Now the thing is I can afford it. I can also afford the fact that between deductible, premiums and employer premiums my family of 5 pays nearly $20,000 for Blue Cross Blue Sheild and we are a healthy family (my son doesnt even need meds for his ADHD). Still with 3 athletic active boys we have our share of trips to immediate care, physicals, flu, etc. Now dont tell me that on average our citizens get above average healthcare.
With some 50 million of our 307 million citizens without health insurance that brings the average down real fast. Then take into account that even the deductible are very hard on the average family. Think about it someone that has a salary and benefit package of $80,000 is paying 25% of that for health insurance. As leadership in our company the only thing that stopped us from dropping health insurance and bumping employees salaries was the fact we would be perceived and not competitive even though our salaries would be higher. Also think about the extra work and effort we had to manage every year with enrollments and negotiating with the insurance companies. Work that did not add anything at all to our business. Our offshore competitors simply dont need to do this.
