LETTER: The Ignoble Truth about US Health care
To the editor:
I hate to rain on anyone’s flag-waving, chest-beating parade of patriotism, but Bryan Daines’ recent letter (‘Obamacare increasing costs,’ March 18) was riddled with pervasive myths that need to be addressed. I’m fine with people expressing an opinion against the Affordable Care Act – it has its problems – but let’s stick to the truth in doing so.
Daines boldly claims America’s health care system is the best in the world and that anyone who has been in a foreign hospital would agree. False. I know it’s easier to live life in a state of delusion, but the World Health Organization report from 2000, well before Obamacare, ranks the United States’ health care system as 37th worldwide. We’ve also ranked very poorly in many other credible studies, including 46th – that’s 45 countries ahead of us – in a recent Bloomberg report on the efficiency of worldwide health care systems, the focuses being life expectancy, health care costs as a percentage of GDP per capita and absolute costs per capita. Simply, one of the few things we can claim to be almost tops in – at No. 2 – is cost; which, with America’s increasing rates of poverty, is probably not a good thing. Furthermore, despite earnings double or triple doctors in several European countries, job satisfaction is notably lower among doctors here at home.
I have lived in one of these other developed countries, visited a hospital there and talked to their citizens. No, they are not longing to partake of our system. In fact, time after time, I faced questions about why we don’t care enough about our own people to make basic health care accessible to them. In many of these other countries, the “unalienable right to life” and “the general welfare” – see the American Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution preamble – actually includes having access to life-bettering and life-saving health care – not to mention preventative measures, which are often lacking here – without regard to social class.
The ignoble truth for us is that most people in most other developed countries view their own systems very favorably and generally would not trade.
Here in the U.S., I have what is considered very good health insurance. Nonetheless, I often avoid going to the doctor if I can help it, because it’s just not worth the cost. Shortly after I returned to my homeland after my short time abroad, I went to a local clinic. I had to pay $25, with my insurance, for the privilege of seeing the doctor for about four minutes to request a prescription that I already knew was necessary. Then of course, with insurance, I still had to pay nearly $20 to fill it. Not a year later, I had to wait nearly four hours at an “instacare,” nauseated and in a lot of pain, for a 10 minute visit with a doctor – but of course, only after I paid my $35 copay – whose only real service to me was prescribing what I knew I needed. My visit to a foreign hospital was pleasant enough, and free, but too often and especially in non-emergency situations, I’ve been sorely disappointed with my health care experiences here.
I could go on, but even a little research can suggest our system needs a lot of help, with or without Obamacare. Let’s be real about this. Failing large portions of our population hurts us all.
Hypernationalism will get us nowhere. As college students, we need to be looking at all sides of an issue. Even bold, persistent denial could not make the emperor’s new clothes magically cover him during his awkwardly bare promenade.
– Aaron Holladay