Clara you posted:  "I have friends from Canada and Australia who say that government run health care is far ,far below what we have here in the U.S.  I don't think the expensive meds needed for RA would even be an option.  They said that patients that need surgery have to wait many months to get it.  Why....... Doctors are placed on a salary and it gives them no incentive to work hard and prosper. If their salaries are mandated, they will do the bare minimum.  We could forget about our Dr.'s calling us back in a timely manner or even getting the labs we need. They said that people over a cetain age would not be able to get dialysis, ventilators or other life saving options.  This is scary to me." 

I understand your concerns.  But I have also heard from people in Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the Uk, and they are satisfied with their system and think we have an inferior health care system.  I have asked some of them to post here, and hope they have the time to do so.

I believe biologics are available in these countries, they are not available here to people w/out insurance or people whose insurance do not have these drugs on their formulary, or those that simply cannot afford them.

In regards to doctors, here in the US we are facing a shortage of primary care physicians.  Many primary care physicians will not accept Medicare or Medicaid patients because of the low physician reimbursement rates.  Specialists are reimbursed at higher rates, so medical students go into these specialties.  Our government needs to revisit this issue, and set reasonable rates.

Insurance premiums are increasing.  In the case of a poster over on the RA forum, she pays $800 for insurance through COBRA, her husband pays $300 for Medigap insurance.  That's $1100 for insurance, to be paid out of a retirement income.

There are many complex issues when its come to health care.  I hope people will take the time to comment here, about their concerns and thoughts about health care reform.

 

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I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition. MARTHA WASHINGTON

If we tax business, they have several choices: 1. go out of business.  2.  Raise prices enough to maintain profits in spite of decreased sales at the higher prices. 3.  Move overseas.  We already have a lot of each option so that high-paying jobs are scarce and becoming scarcer.  I don't like any of the options.

If we tax people with high incomes some of them will change residence to countries with lower tax rates.  We have a lot of this even with our current tax structure and increased taxes is likely to make it worse.

I'm not an economist but I don't really see how the US can keep up the standard of liming that our credit-based economy has caused people to expect.  Our standard of living needs to be reduced to what we can pay for, and that includes health care. 

People say we are the richest country in the world.  I look at the other side and say that we are the most heavily indebted country in the world.  Our borrow and spend economy would be called an illegal pyramid scheme if a private entity were to adopt it.  We need to tighten our belts and expect less.

I think America became prosperous as the land of opportunity.  We still have the opportunity but that now takes back seat to the growing feeling that we are a land of entitlements.  Because of that we are now going down the tube.  Additional entitlements will just accelerate the trend.  God bless.

Age 82, diagnosed RA 12/2001, married since 1952, 4 sons no daughters, 4 grandsons 1 granddaughter.  Doing well on Methotrexate and Remicade.

I hope the other people in countries with socialized medicine will pipe in.

I'm in the US and post on many boards and I'm always seeing the same thing - I can't afford my meds.  We have a health care system that is seriously broken and we need to fix it so we can take care of our ill citizens.

Grandpavan - you've only mentioned part of the picture.  Our Fortune 500 companies pay less taxes than in most countries in the world.  Those companies didn't go out of business in those countries, and they charge LESS than they do in America.  NAFTA allowed US companies to move production out of America - and that outsourcing is an economic advantage to them.  Why pay an engineer 70K a year if you can pay some third world engineer 14K a year?  So the companies grow fat with profits and CEO's take home Millions in options and the poor guy who used to work for them is out of a job.

We can afford health care.  If socialized medicine countries can spend 6 to 11 % of the GNP on health care - why is America paying 17% for less?  Could it possibly be the lobbyists that increase the cost on the government to protect their own pocket books?

Hugs,

Pip

http://articles.latimes.com/2008/feb/11/nation/na-medicare11