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US spends most on health care but has worst health outcomes

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Re: US spends most on health care but has worst health outcomes

#41

Post by FartyMcFarter »

scaredginger wrote: post #27
FartyMcFarter wrote: post #21

There needs to be a big movement towards physical fitness in the US. Get people doing calisthenics at home (almost everyone can do incline pushups as a start), going to the gym, using indoor bikes, eating less, whatever it takes. Improving the health system won't fix everything.

...or we could find a real solution

Living a healthier lifestyle in order to rely less on the healthcare system should absolutely be part of a "real solution". Both for cost reasons as well as the fact that some problems caused by obesity simply can't be fixed. It also has other benefits like improving general quality of life.

Re: US spends most on health care but has worst health outcomes

#42

Post by KyleJune »

2devnull wrote: post #26

This implies we should spend less?

Implies the US is doing domething different that is causing it to cost us more and get worse health outcomes. It's probably our whole health insurance system. It would probably be better and cheaper if we just had a universal healthcare system like many other countries.

Re: US spends most on health care but has worst health outcomes

#43

Post by luminadiffusion »

This whole entire industry is a racketeering scheme.

The medical industry justifies their excess profits as necessary for supporting the "free market" in "generating innovation".

In reality:

1. Their "free market" is anything BUT a free market.

2. "Generating innovation" is not a substitute for generating positive health outcomes.

3. Their excess profits are primarily used for propaganda and bribery to justify their own existence and protect their racket.

Just look up the laws restricting Medicare from bargaining on medical care and prescription drugs to understand just how much of a racket this whole industry is. It is criminal in every way - aside from the written law, since the people who make the laws are co-conspirators in the scheme.

It's so much worse than the "most expensive" healthcare in the world. This nauseatingly overinflated healthcare is further subsidized by US taxpayer funds from the shit medical care and extortionate drug prices that Medicare is legally obligated to pay. It actually adds trillions to our Federal Deficit each year... so we get the worst health outcomes WHILE driving the US government into bankruptcy.

This whole system maximizes profits for a limited number of players at the expense of our doctors, our patients, the fiscal health of Medicare, and the future of our republic.

Re: US spends most on health care but has worst health outcomes

#44

Post by mcv »

FartyMcFarter wrote: post #21

There needs to be a big movement towards physical fitness in the US. Get people doing calisthenics at home (almost everyone can do incline pushups as a start), going to the gym, using indoor bikes, eating less, whatever it takes. Improving the health system won't fix everything.

Why indoor bikes? Why not outdoor bikes? That will solve even more problems.

> Improving the health system won't fix everything.

Of course there's no silver bullet that will fix everything, but it's silly to think you can fix the outrageous costs of the healthcare system without fixing the healthcare system.

Re: US spends most on health care but has worst health outcomes

#45

Post by [deleted] »

TechnicolorByte wrote: post #33
silisili wrote: post #8

This isn't at all surprising, for multiple reasons. The entire insurance industry existing is a big one. That we are all overweight is another. I'm generally a very conservative person. But even I am for government funded healthcare. Who in the hell is against it? I've not met a single person completely against it, mostly just people against people abusing emergency rooms. Certain big media and politicians are agains…

> That we are all overweight is another. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_obesity_r... Obesity vs overweight (the former is surely a better predictor of health outcomes anyway) aside, we’re definitely higher than comparable nations, but I wouldn’t say significantly so.

[deleted]

Re: US spends most on health care but has worst health outcomes

#46

Post by FartyMcFarter »

mcv wrote: post #44
FartyMcFarter wrote: post #21

There needs to be a big movement towards physical fitness in the US. Get people doing calisthenics at home (almost everyone can do incline pushups as a start), going to the gym, using indoor bikes, eating less, whatever it takes. Improving the health system won't fix everything.

Why indoor bikes? Why not outdoor bikes? That will solve even more problems. > Improving the health system won't fix everything. Of course there's no silver bullet that will fix everything, but it's silly to think you can fix the outrageous costs of the healthcare system without fixing the healthcare system.

> Why indoor bikes?

Lower barrier to entry. A lot of cities have no good infrastructure for outdoor biking.

I agree that the healthcare system needs fixing as well, in addition to making the country healthier by lifestyle.

Re: US spends most on health care but has worst health outcomes

#47

Post by alkonaut »

panny wrote: post #5

>the system is bad Doctors aren't paid when you are healthy. How would you suggest fixing such a system? Because if you figure it out, there's a whole system of auto mechanics that could probably benefit from the solution.

> Doctors aren't paid when you are healthy.

Doctors are paid to be doctors. And there is always a fraction of the population that aren't healthy. Just like you insinuate with your car mechanic analogy, it's probably a good idea to have a system that doesn't give doctors incentive to give patients more expensive treatment, and instead have incentives to reach good health outcomes.

Re: US spends most on health care but has worst health outcomes

#48

Post by docdeek »

FartyMcFarter wrote: post #21

There needs to be a big movement towards physical fitness in the US. Get people doing calisthenics at home (almost everyone can do incline pushups as a start), going to the gym, using indoor bikes, eating less, whatever it takes. Improving the health system won't fix everything.

"But the harsh fact of the matter is that there is also an increasingly large number of young Americans who are neglecting their bodies—whose physical fitness is not what it should be—who are getting soft. And such softness on the part of individual citizens can help to strip and destroy the vitality of a nation. For the physical vigor of our citizens is one of America’s most precious resources. If we waste and neglect this resource, if we allow it to dwindle and grow soft then we will destroy much of our ability to meet the great and vital challenges which confront our people. We will be unable to realize our full potential as a nation." - President-elect John F. Kennedy, Dec 26. 1960

https://tomnikkola.com/soft-american/

Re: US spends most on health care but has worst health outcomes

#49

Post by lynx23 »

TechnicolorByte wrote: post #33
silisili wrote: post #8

This isn't at all surprising, for multiple reasons. The entire insurance industry existing is a big one. That we are all overweight is another. I'm generally a very conservative person. But even I am for government funded healthcare. Who in the hell is against it? I've not met a single person completely against it, mostly just people against people abusing emergency rooms. Certain big media and politicians are agains…

> That we are all overweight is another. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_obesity_r... Obesity vs overweight (the former is surely a better predictor of health outcomes anyway) aside, we’re definitely higher than comparable nations, but I wouldn’t say significantly so.

The trick is to spread consumerism ads and fastfood chains all other the world, such that this list doesn't show a big difference. If you manage to pollute everyone else fast enough, statistics can be blurred to a point where there is obviously no reason to act.

Re: US spends most on health care but has worst health outcomes

#50

Post by ghayes »

TechnicolorByte wrote: post #33
silisili wrote: post #8

This isn't at all surprising, for multiple reasons. The entire insurance industry existing is a big one. That we are all overweight is another. I'm generally a very conservative person. But even I am for government funded healthcare. Who in the hell is against it? I've not met a single person completely against it, mostly just people against people abusing emergency rooms. Certain big media and politicians are agains…

> That we are all overweight is another. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_obesity_r... Obesity vs overweight (the former is surely a better predictor of health outcomes anyway) aside, we’re definitely higher than comparable nations, but I wouldn’t say significantly so.

Definitely an interesting read, though I'd counter that 30% higher in the US than in the UK feels significant (36.2% versus 27.8%).
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