Posted 3/30/2009

WILL OBAMA WRECK OUR HEALTHCARE SYSTEM?

Plenty of people are saying it's already wrecked.

Movie man Michael Moore says, "We have the worst health system in the Western world."

Ex-Senate leader Tom Daschle puffs up and bleats, "The flaws in our healthcare system are pervasive and corrosive." (The imagery of a battery leaking sulfuric acid – him and the battery, I guess.)

Former presidential candidate dwarf Dennis Kucinich calls America's health care system "predatory capitalism." But most Dems simply claim our healthcare is "broken."

Even the World Health Organization ranks us only 37th among all nations. (But the WHO is populated with people who envy and hate the U.S.) All the critics seem to think that the socialized health care systems of Canada and the United Kingdom are better.

With all this hyper-healthcare-hating going on, Obama, Pelosi and Reid are bound to want to "fix the system."

But is our healthcare system really broken? Do Americans think it is bad? Do they think less of American healthcare than the folks of Canada and Britain think of their systems? How about the snooty French and Germans? And Swiss?

Let's look at a few facts (especially if you believe that it's the results that count. My grandmother always said, "The proof is in the pudding"):

Breast cancer mortality (death) is 52% higher in German and 88% higher in Britain.

Prostate cancer mortality is 684% higher in Britain and 457% higher in Norway.

Colorectal cancer mortality is 40% higher in Britain.

Of the people who could benefit from taking statins, how many do? It's 56% for the Americans, 36% for the Dutch, 29% for the Swiss, 26% for the Germans and 23% for the British, who claim universal health care.

Over 90% of American women have had a mammogram, compared with only 72% of Canadian women.

Pap smears? It's 96% for American women vs. less than 90% for Canadian women.

Prostate cancer tests? It's 54% of America men vs. only 17% for Canadian men. (Is this the much ballyhooed Canadian version of universal healthcare?)

Colonoscopy to prevent colon cancer? It's 30% of the Americans and only 5% of the Canadians.

Nobody likes to wait for medical treatment, especially Americans. But Canadians and Brits wait about twice as long – often longer – for elective surgery, radiation or to simply see a specialist. (How would you like your doctor to tell you to see a heart specialist, only to be informed of a 14-month wait?)

While more than half of all Americans say they are "very satisfied" with their healthcare services, more than 70% of Brits, Canadians and Germans complain that their healthcare systems require either "fundamental change" or "complete rebuilding."

While the proponents of universal health care claim they can spread the care without running up costs, they sound a little like that old sales joke:

Boss: "Jones, we're losing money on every sale you make."

Jones: "That's OK, boss, I'll make it up in volume."

Universal healthcare has run up costs so much in Britain, Canada and Germany that services have had to be rationed by extending waiting time, restricting coverage and reducing medical equipment availability.

Look at medical equipment comparisons on a per million patient basis:

It's 34 CT scanners per million Americans, but only 12 per million Canadians and but 8 per million Britons.

In America, there are 27 MRI machines per million, but only 6 per million in Britain and Canada.

We tried universal medical coverage three years ago in Massachusetts. But the results gave us a taste of Britain and Canada. Costs were so drastically underestimated that services and coverages had to be cut back. Now, like the British and Canadians, the people of Massachusetts wait a long time for medical care.

Unfortunately, Congress and the Senate are made up of lots of millionaires who'd never have to wait for medical care. They'd simply use the private practices which always spring up to service the wealthy while the middle-class and poor suffer.

President Obama was wealthy enough to allow his two daughters to dodge the dreadful public school system of Washington DC by putting them in private school.

If he pushes universal health care through, you can be sure that Michelle and the kiddies will be seeking healthcare in private medical facilities.

(click here for a printable version of this article)