Myths of World Health Care

My friend Art says I should stop obsessing about our nonsensicle health care system, and the likely botched or non-existent reform of the mess, because, quoting Rodney Dangerfield, if we all take really good care of ourselves, we will get old and die. He is right, of course, and his choice of philosophers is excellent.

Despite Art's sound advice, I can't stop myself from being driven crazy by our rotten system, and the lies and stupidity being bandied about regarding health care abroad. The Washington Post has an article today written by T.R. Reid called "Five Myths about Health Care Around the World", that debunks much of the nonsense that the morons and thieves who want to prevent our system from changing keep spreading. Here is the one paragraph that makes me craziest:

U.S. health insurance companies have the highest administrative costs in the world; they spend roughly 20 cents of every dollar for nonmedical costs, such as paperwork, reviewing claims and marketing. France's health insurance industry, in contrast, covers everybody and spends about 4 percent on administration. Canada's universal insurance system, run by government bureaucrats, spends 6 percent on administration. In Taiwan, a leaner version of the Canadian model has administrative costs of 1.5 percent; one year, this figure ballooned to 2 percent, and the opposition parties savaged the government for wasting money.

By the way, that is 20% of insurance money, which means it is probably not counting the fact that the bill to the insurance company also includes the administrative costs incurred by the provider to get paid.

It's not a long article, but makes some outstanding points. Take the time to read it by going HERE.