[Marxism] Forbes gets something right - health care in Canada and U.S.

[Brian Shannon <brian_shannon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

A very useful article to read in full because towards the end it
shows where conservatives get their arguing points. For those
actually in the U.S. health care system, some find it better than the
Canadian, which to me is an argument to improve the Canadian system,
not one to stick with the U.S. one.

It is also interesting to see a major U.S. capitalist "tool" (it's
slogan) print an article favoring single-payer insurance.

Brian
___________________

Canadians Healthier Than Americans, Survey Says
05.30.06, 12:00 AM ET

TUESDAY, May 30 (HealthDay News) -- Canadians are healthier than
Americans, have better access to health care and have fewer unmet
health needs, a new study of both countries reveals.

The findings come in spite of the fact that the United States spends
almost twice as much per capita on health care as Canada, the
researchers noted.

"This shows that you can spend much less than we [Americans] do, and
deliver much more and better care then we do," said study co-author
Dr. David U. Himmelstein, an associate professor of medicine at
Harvard Medical School in Cambridge, Mass.

The new study appears to reinforce the findings of a Rand Corporation
report issued earlier this month that showed a similar health care
gap between the U.S. system and that of Great Britain, which, like
Canada, has a universal health care system -- subsidized by tax dollars.

In the current study, Himmelstein and his colleagues reviewed
responses from more than 3,500 Canadians and almost 5,200 Americans
over the age of 18 who participated in the Joint Canada/U.S. Survey
of Health -- a one-time phone survey conducted between 2002 and 2003.

In addition to documenting race, class and immigrant status, the
survey sought to assess each individual's current health status,
access to health care, use of health care, history of illness, and
ongoing behaviors -- such as smoking -- considered to be health risks.

Reporting in the July issue of the American Journal of Public Health,
the researchers found that although Canadians smoke more than
Americans, Americans are more likely to be inactive and obese, and
have higher rates of diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis and
lung disease.

Specifically, Americans are one-third less likely to have a regular
doctor, two times less likely to take needed medications, and one-
fourth more likely to have unmet health care needs than Canadians.

While Americans were more likely to identify cost as the impediment
to care, Canadians were more likely to cite waiting times as their
main obstacle to good care. However, just 3.5 percent of Canadians
were impacted by treatment delays, the survey found.

Despite generally better health and access to care, however,
Canadians do not appear to be any happier with their health care
system than Americans.

http://makeashorterlink.com/?L1452213D

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