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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

#71

Post by evnix »

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…

The general slowness extends to simple things like x-rays and blood tests too. This is not just US but whole of the west seems to have the exact same attitude.

Most of Asia has same day or next day medical tests. In India you can order something like UberEats where in a technician comes home collects your blood samples and the results are emailed within the next 24 hours or so.

Medicine seems to be commoditzed in the east, easily accessible and cheap. West treats it like voodoo magic or rocket science that only a chosen few are capable of partaking in. There is always a long queue to get to your local voodoo practitioner.

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

#72

Post by askonomm »

28304283409234 wrote: post #62
fire_lake wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Do you want to advance your society and make life more convenient for the people or do you want to live in constant fear and create unnecessary complexities for the people? We put a lot of effort in creating secure systems, we audit them constantly, and we get a plethora of cyber attacks from Russians on a constant basis, but they haven't gotten through yet.

We believe in living the best life we can, through the means of making life as convenient as we can, and we're very happy our government thinks the same. I've lived abroad many times, in many countries, and every single time was miserable because of the unnecessary complexity every basic thing involved. I very much doubt that complexity was for security reasons, more like the incompetence of the government bureaucrats to create a cohesive system that interoperates with all the different parts.

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

#73

Post by shiroiushi »

croes wrote: post #48
jimbob45 wrote: post #3

It's unfair to judge the EU piecewise but then judge the US as a whole. Either let us compare apples to apples by judging the whole EU against the US or let us judge individual European member states against individual US states.

Why. The US is one country the EU is not.

I tried that argument here recently when I talked about civil asset forfeiture and a bunch of people said I was horribly ignorant about civics and that the US is apparently not one country.

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

#74

Post by jillesvangurp »

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?

In theory yes. But having accurate & complete information in the hands of nurses and doctors saves lives on a daily basis as well.

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

#75

Post by tstrimple »

shiroiushi wrote: post #70
netsharc wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Joe Lieberman sabotaged the public option.

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

#76

Post by CaptainZapp »

evnix wrote: post #71
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…

The general slowness extends to simple things like x-rays and blood tests too. This is not just US but whole of the west seems to have the exact same attitude. Most of Asia has same day or next day medical tests. In India you can order something like UberEats where in a technician comes home collects your blood samples and the results are emailed within the next 24 hours or so. Medicine seems to be commoditzed in the…

> The general slowness extends to simple things like x-rays and blood tests too. This is not just US but whole of the west seems to have the exact same attitude.

In Switzerland I get an MRI within 48 hours if my doctor orders it.

Mind you, healthcare is also very expensive comparatively but the quality is very high and coverage is extensive.

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

#78

Post by ein0p »

shiroiushi wrote: post #70
netsharc wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Because they’re owned by Big Pharma and Big Healthcare. Same as Republicans. Also because we'd much rather fund wars than solve such problems.

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

#79

Post by croes »

shiroiushi wrote: post #73
croes wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why. The US is one country the EU is not.

I tried that argument here recently when I talked about civil asset forfeiture and a bunch of people said I was horribly ignorant about civics and that the US is apparently not one country.

Does each state compete for itself at the Olympic Games?
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