This one’s a few days old, but I thought it was a good read.

[…] He dismissed the “idea that the American model of private insurance is uniquely evil and engaged in acts of social violence because it denies people too much treatment,” maintaining that all insurance systems, public or private, ration care.

But as I noted in the earlier FAIR article, the Commonwealth Fund (NBC, 9/19/24) found that the US system does, in fact, stand out among other peer nations, ranking “as the worst performer among 10 developed nations in critical areas of healthcare.” Those areas the US falls short in include “preventing deaths, access (mainly because of high cost) and guaranteeing quality treatment for everyone.” The rest of the world is doing better than us on these scores, contrary to Douthat.

Americans see the systems working in the rest of the world and know that the United States could have a better healthcare regime, but that corporate and government leaders simply choose not to.

Visit us @ !fediverse_vs_disinfo@lemmy.dbzer0.com for all the latest news on the topics of astroturfing, propaganda and disinformation.

  • Bone@lemmy.world
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    13 hours ago

    People close to me still talk about people coming to the United States for specialized care they can’t get elsewhere, or in a timely manner. This “fact” seems to displace ANY criticism of the system. Every. Single. Time.

    • ArcticPrincess@lemmy.ml
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      5 hours ago

      In Canada, the only people I’ve heard say that sort of thing are very wealthy and can pay out of pocket for preferential treatment in America, which their wealth can’t buy them in Canada.

      That “fact” is one of the problems with US health care system, not an endorsement of it. The US gives better, faster health care to the rich (even foreigners) by neglecting others.

      Maybe you want to live in that kind of society. Not me.

    • BakerBagel@midwest.social
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      12 hours ago

      Pretty weird that none of my English family has come to America to seek medical treatment. I wonder why they would chose an NHS hospital in Manchester instead of flying to Houston for Top Quality™️ care at the Medical Center there. Very interesting how the powers that be always want to compare our healthcare system to countries with GDP half of West Virginia instead of peer states like Germany, Japan, and the UK.

      • Bone@lemmy.world
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        11 hours ago

        I hear ya. I don’t know a lot of the figures. Just that that’s what you hear people say (generally from people who have good insurance themselves mind you).