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- aaronhoffmeyer, on 11/12/2009, -0/+1To objectively understand how the world works, you first need to understand that every social institution, every plan, every government agency, every policy, every law ... they are all social experiments.
There are no absolutes. We don't know what is wrong and what is right. We have to figure it out for ourselves, often through trial and error. We try things ... hope that they work, but we have to pay attention to these seeds that we plant and see what the yield is. If it is not optimal, then we need to figure out how to change it for the better.
People who cling to ideologies with a sense of self-righteousness, saying, "Our way is the best way, because we thought of it" ... or "our way is the best way because it is our way" ... or "our way may not be perfect, but it is our way, and we don't like changing things when those changes might make things worse, so there is no way I am going to support change" don't understand that everything we do is just an experiment. We hope we are doing it right, but you have to look at the results. What are the strengths; what are the weaknesses? Is it working? Are there parts that aren't working? Could we do those things better? Are other people in the world doing something different? If so, what are their results?
That is what this show does ... it goes around the world and objectively compares health care in the developed world. It looks at the strengths; it looks at the weaknesses ... in all the countries analyzed.
The US strengths are this: If you have money and a good job, our health care is as good as anywhere, unless you get some malady that your insurance company decides not to cover. In those cases, you could end up broke, or dead. But that is just one part of our system. If you are a veteran, you have good health care, and you will not be denied that care, and will probably never go broke ... but through a completely different system. If you are past retirement age, you also have decent health care, and again, you will probably not be denied that care, and will probably not go broke, and that care is through yet another completely different system. If you are poor, or sick, or are self-employed or an independent contractor and you roll the dice and don't get insurance, yet get some malady (injury or illness), you are pretty much screwed.
Most countries analyzed in the show have decided to have ONE health care system, and require that everyone participate. All countries analyzed have costs dramatically lower than in the US ... mostly through the elimination of huge profits for insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and doctors. All had much lower administrative costs.
Every member of Congress, better still, everyone in the US should watch this show. We can learn from what everyone else in the world is doing.
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