Americans Are Seriously Sick

jd writes "A study by US and British researchers on frequency of illnesses shows that even when you compare like groups in the US and the UK, people in the US are considerably sicker than their counterparts in the UK. This is after factors such as age, race, income, education and gender were taken into consideration. The most startling conclusion was that although the richest Americans were better off than the poorest Americans, they did no better (health-wise) than the poorest of the English. Previous studies of the entire population had shown similar results, with America placing around 25th amongst industrialized countries on chronic disease prevention, but it had been assumed that minorities and economics were skewing the results. This study suggests that maybe that isn't the case."

Comments

More shrill rhetoric that typifies Moore's fanboys

[ScentCone]

The health insurance industry is a parasite the purpose of which is to interfere with your patient-doctor relationship and to deny your treatment.

Oh yes, no doubt that millions of people invest their money in companies that are formed specifically to deny people health care treatments. There is this enormous camp of people out there that find it essential to make sure that patients receive no care. Good for you, finally exposing that fact! I'll be curious, though, if you'll let us know when you post anything like actual evidence that the countless people that fund and work for health coverage providers are doing so expressly to make sure that people don't get health care. It's amazing that so many people have been able to keep that conspiracy so quiet until you came along.

Hmmm. Or maybe you're lying, mischaracterizing the entire situation, know it, and are hoping that making emotionally charged, irrational Moore-like rants will rhetorically resonate with at least a couple of other reason-challenged readers.

The debate isn't about insurance companies actively trying to prevent people from getting health care. It's about striking a balance in how the money they pay out (which they collect from their own customers, under circumstances dictated by both the millions of people that invest in the ownership of the companies and an incredibly vast body of government regulation) does or does not land on the spectrum of people that pay the money in.

I pay a fair amount for coverage. I can see my doctor any time I want, have never felt that relationship to be in any way limited, and can get referals to specialists if needed. The amount my wife and I consume (in terms of health care dollars) is a pale shadow of the amount we spend (in payroll deduction premiums). That money is being redistributed among the larger group of my co-workers, and if I don't like that miniature little bit of socialized medicine, I can opt out of it, or get a different paycheck. It's risk management, and I'm willing to forgo an additional $150 a month for a plan that removes the risk that I'll have limited choices in my healthcare. If I want to save that $150, I'll still get the care, but it will be under a more generic plan... but in no way will I be without health care if I actually get sick... I'll just be $1800 ahead at the end of the year, and could consider investing that money towards future, age-related medical expenses (instead of telling YOU that you have to pay for me).