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US health system ranks last compared with peer nations – report

theguardian.com

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Re: US health system ranks last compared with peer nations – report

#61

Post by llm_trw »

fire_lake wrote: post #56
askonomm wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Estonia all of our records (incl. Health) are digitized and online in a central system that both doctors and you can access. It works wonders. Every doctor I go to can see my entire medical history with a press of a button, and I don't have to deal with any of that. Likewise when they prescribe new things, I can see my prescriptions right there, and so forth. We're a 100% online nation now, and clearly when done w…

Does one big digital system make a cyber attack more damaging?

Efficiency and resiliency are usually orthogonal.

Re: US health system ranks last compared with peer nations – report

#62

Post by 28304283409234 »

fire_lake wrote: post #56
askonomm wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Estonia all of our records (incl. Health) are digitized and online in a central system that both doctors and you can access. It works wonders. Every doctor I go to can see my entire medical history with a press of a button, and I don't have to deal with any of that. Likewise when they prescribe new things, I can see my prescriptions right there, and so forth. We're a 100% online nation now, and clearly when done w…

Does one big digital system make a cyber attack more damaging?

Or any other attack. I remember we had such a centralized registration system. It was used to great effect by the German Nazis when they occupied our country. Of course, occupation by foreign aggressors is highly unlikely in Estonia. Unless history repeats itself as it has (in Estonia) dozens of times.

Re: US health system ranks last compared with peer nations – report

#63

Post by willvarfar »

fire_lake wrote: post #56
askonomm wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Estonia all of our records (incl. Health) are digitized and online in a central system that both doctors and you can access. It works wonders. Every doctor I go to can see my entire medical history with a press of a button, and I don't have to deal with any of that. Likewise when they prescribe new things, I can see my prescriptions right there, and so forth. We're a 100% online nation now, and clearly when done w…

Does one big digital system make a cyber attack more damaging?

Estonia is frequently targeted by massive coordinated and sophisticated cyber attacks. So far it has proved very resilient and secure.

Re: US health system ranks last compared with peer nations – report

#64

Post by johnchristopher »

cat_plus_plus wrote: post #20

Because we are paying for the rest of the world. Allow prescription drug imports from abroad. Pharma companies will be forced to charge more in the rest of the world and less in US. Allow insurance plans based on medical tourism for expensive procedures. Some countries will say no, but a lot of countries will say yes for profit. Once you have a choice of a hip replacement in Mexico or India, hospitals in these countr…

> Because we are paying for the rest of the world. Allow prescription drug imports from abroad. Pharma companies will be forced to charge more in the rest of the world and less in US.

Oh, look, a new cartel that will take 6 months to set up and decades to investigate.

Re: US health system ranks last compared with peer nations – report

#65

Post by armada651 »

cat_plus_plus wrote: post #20

Because we are paying for the rest of the world. Allow prescription drug imports from abroad. Pharma companies will be forced to charge more in the rest of the world and less in US. Allow insurance plans based on medical tourism for expensive procedures. Some countries will say no, but a lot of countries will say yes for profit. Once you have a choice of a hip replacement in Mexico or India, hospitals in these countr…

There is certainly an argument to be made that the US pays the R&D costs for the rest of the world. Most new drugs end up in public healthcare systems as if the pharmaceutical company is throwing an old product into the discount bin.

However some of these new drugs are so expensive that some countries are now refusing to allow certain new cancer drugs on the market. Simply because the exorbitant price compared to the questionable gains in quality of life doesn't make sense anymore.

Re: US health system ranks last compared with peer nations – report

#66

Post by renewiltord »

gsa wrote: post #60
arjie wrote: post #36

One thing that's surprised me about the US is the general slowness of most things. In India, you can get MRIs and CT Scans same day. Or you could the last time I was there. And it didn't cost very much in comparison. My doctors have all been good (attested to by my parents who are surgeons themselves) but the healthcare system is wonky. One thing I didn't expect is that the Indian system where you just drag your heal…

Electronic interop, in my experience talking to my GP (not US), is tricky not because of technical challenges but very strict privacy implications.

I wish I could pre-select an "I don't care. I'm informed and choose an open docs policy" box once after writing a 1 h exam and call it quits. My genome is on the Internet. I bet nothing bad will come of it by the time I die.

Re: US health system ranks last compared with peer nations – report

#68

Post by naming_the_user »

zjp wrote: post #10
naming_the_user wrote: post #2

What does the ranking look like if you compare percentiles? Naively I would assume as a non-American that if you're in the top 20% by income in the US you end up much better off than the top 20% income Brit, for example. Or is it just actually worse for everyone? It feels intuitively obvious that the average will be worse because, well, the average person is skint and the US is less socialist.

Also: an unironic 1%-er income in France is like literally the bottom of the barrel Bay Area salary. If you're at or above the median America is great, outside of some very high cost of living cities.

Yeah, I've always found the "meme" of the 1% kind of amusing.

The 95th percentile US taxpayer earns as much as the 99th percentile Brit. Huge, huge difference.

Re: US health system ranks last compared with peer nations – report

#69

Post by inferiorhuman »

ein0p wrote: post #8

Lately I can’t even get a doctor - both the specialist and primary care doctors are booked months in advance. And I have one of the best insurance coverages currently available. Remember how we laughed at Canadians and Brits waiting for months to see their free/cheap doctors? Well we’re at a point where we have to wait _and_ pay through the nose. And then they can’t really do anything or fuck you up even worse.

To be clear that's been true in the United States for the better part of two decades.

Re: US health system ranks last compared with peer nations – report

#70

Post by shiroiushi »

netsharc wrote: post #59
ein0p wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US is so corrupt that I’m afraid any attempt at universal healthcare would make it even more expensive. Obamacare was basically a trillion dollar giveaway to Big Pharma and Big Healthcare. The only positive thing I can see in it for me personally is that it became possible to buy (extremely expensive) healthcare privately rather than through an employer, and you could not be denied due to pre-existing condition.…

Obama himself has said to that Obamacare (well ACA) is like (to use my own analogy) a "patch" on a a system that can't just be reimplemented (most of it due to political reasons). It's not terrific but it's what was able to be done. Whereas e.g. single payer was an unachievable pipe dream from where they were standing in 2008/09. And he'd rather have something a bit better rather than go for the excellent system and…

And why was it "an unachievable pipe dream"? As I remember it, the Democrats had control of both houses of Congress, as well as the White House, for about 2 years. They could have passed anything they wanted.
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