Editor, The Transcript:
Despite the myths, distortions and outright falsehoods on the part of opponents, this Congress is still likely to pass some sort of health care reform. Whether you are for it or against it, one myth in particular is pervasive and needs constant refutation.
This is the idea that the U.S. has the best health care system in the world. This myth was repeated, unfortunately, in the Sunday Transcript by a spokesperson for Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Not that BC/BC should be considered a neutral observer in this discussion. Profit-driven insurance companies are considered part of the problem by most advocates of change.
Here are the facts. The American system of providing health care is the most expensive in the world, by far. And it does not produce better results. In short, we pay more and get less.
We spend almost double what other countries spend as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product. Yet this country lags most advanced industrial nations on virtually every health indicator.
According to various attempts to create composite measures of a nation's health, Western European countries along with Japan and Australia always come out ahead of the U.S. We can identify several reasons why the U.S. finds itself behind so many advanced democracies. Our country, the world's richest, is the only industrial democracy without universal health coverage.
Moreover, according to T.R. Reid's new book, the U.S. system lags other modern nations for two basic reasons, other than lack of coverage -- the way we pay for health care, through profit-making insurance companies and the fragmented nature of our system.
Few advanced nations operate socialized health systems although all function under strict government controls. And they all have far lower administrative costs than the U.S.
Any significant change in our health care arrangement will surely be better than what we have, but it is most unfortunate than U.S. lawmakers haven't tried to learn from other rich nations.
David R. Morgan
Norman
