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At Mimika cooney and Ange,

Did you both grow up under a public health care system, earning what the locals earn?

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Scott Atlas is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute and a professor of radiology and Chief of Neuroradiology at Stanford University Medical School. He wrote an acticle entitled, “Here’s a Second Opinion”, which lists 10 reasons why America’s health care system is in better condition that you might suppose. Here are his facts that he writes about:
1. Americans have better survival rates that Europeans for common cancers. LISTEN UP MOMS!!! Breast cancer mortality is 52% HIGHER in Germany than in the US and 88% HIGHER in the United Kingdom. Prostate cancer mortality is 604% HIGHER in the UK and 457% HIGHER in Norway. The mortality rate for colorectal cancer among British men and women is about 40% HIGHER.
2. Americans have lower cancer mortality rates than Canadians. BREAST CANCER mortality in Canada is 9% HIGHER than the US; prostate cancer is 184% HIGHER, and colorectal cancer among men is about 10% HIGHER.
3. Americans have better access to treatment for chronic disease than patients in other developed countries. 56% of Americans who could benefit from statin drugs for high cholesterol, diabetes, and heart disease are taking them. Statins are the gold standard of care for cholesterol control. By comparison, only 36% of the Dutch, 29% of the Swiss, 26% of the Germans, 23% of Britons, and 17% of Italians receive them.
4. Americans have better access to preventive cancer screening than Canadians.
– 89% of American women have had a mamogram compared to 72% Canadian women.
– 96% American women have had a Pap smear compared to 90% Canadian.
– 54% American men have had a PSA test compared to 16% Canadian.
– 30% Americans have had a colonoscopy compared to 5% Canadian.
5. Lower-income Americans are in better health than comparable Canadians. 11.7% American seniors with below-median incomes self-report “excellent” health compared to 5.8% Canadians. While white, young Canadians with below-median incomes are 20% more likely than lower-income Americans to describe their health as “fair to poor”.
6. Americans spend less time waiting for care than patients in Canada and the UK. Canadian and British patients wait twice as long – sometimes more than a year – to see a specialist, have an elective surgery such as hip replacement, or get radiation treatment for cancer. Right now, 827,429 people are waiting for some type of procedure in Canada. In the UK, nearly 1.8 million people are waiting for a hospital admission or outpatient treatment.
7. People in countries with more government control of health care are highly dissatisfied and believe reform is needed. More than 70% of German, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, and British say their health care system needs either “fundamental change” or “complete rebuilding”.
8. Americans are more satisfied with the care they receive than Canadians. 51.3% of Americans are very satisfied with their health care services compared to 41.5% of Canadians. A lower proportion of Americans are dissatisfied (6.8%) than Canadians (8.5%)
9. Americans have better access to important new technologies such as medical imaging than do patients in Canada or Britain. The US has 34 CT scanners per million Americans compared to 12 in Canada and 8 in Britain. 27 MRI machines per million in the US compared to 6 in Canada and Britain. An overwhelming majority of leading American physicians identify CT and MRIs as the most important medical innovations for improving patient care during the previous decade. The alternatives to these innovations are exploratory surgical procedures.
10. Americans are responsible for the vast majority of all health care innovations. The top 5 US hospitals conduct more clinical trials than all the hospitals in any other developed country. Since the mid 1970s, the Nobel Prize in medicine and physiology has gone to US residents more often than recipients from all other countries combined. In only 5 of the past 34 years did a scientist living in the US not win or share in the prize. Most important recent medical innovations were developed in the US.

The problems that truly exist in the US system can be solve without rebuilding our healthcare system. The problem is that the citizens of this country no longer believe the Congress or the President, especially when the President stages his town halls with 11 year old girls that are there to read him questions that are scripted to them by his staff. This is shameful and only fuels the distrust citizens have towards reform initiatives.

I had thought the President to be straight forward and honest. But the recent actions of this administration and the smear tactics they are using should be concerning to all of us. Let’s stop with the name calling and have an open dialogue to the real plan that is before our representatives. Once something is in its final draft, we can then discuss its merits. It should not be shoved through until all have a chance to review it. This would, and should, take time.

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Cecili Reply:
August 13th, 2009 at 3:46 pm

@chris,
I don’t have time to debunk all of those “facts” but at the very least the breast cancer rates cited by “chris” are false. See: http://www.imaginis.com/breasthealth/statistics.asp.

It is very convenient to post scary “facts” and then not back them up with evidence. For those of you wanting to see the real motivation here, just google any of the “facts” from this posting such as, “Breast cancer mortality is 52% HIGHER in Germany than in the US and 88% HIGHER in the United Kingdom” you will find it posted all over the internet on a variety of extremist right wing sites (one which even features a picture of Osama Bin Laden receiving healthcare with the caption – “Obama Health Care” (http://www.theodoresworld.net/archives/2009/03/10_facts_about_american_health.html)

This is misinformation spam and I suggest it be removed from this comment board.

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Chris Reply:
August 18th, 2009 at 11:53 pm

@Cecili,
Just because some right wing extremist sites quote work from the Hoover Institute you think it is spam? The Hoover Institute is a public policy thinktank of Stanford University. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. There are good statistics out there and I choose to support healthcare reform that helps Americans, not any particular political persuasion.

Your site on breast cancer statistics supports the Hoover Institute findings as well. The Hoover findings addressed mortality rates of which the site you referenced only reports the incidence and deaths of breast cancer per 100,000. Although the US has the highest incidence of breast cancer per 100,000, it has the lowest death rate per case than other nations at 19 per 100,000; Canada is at 21 death for every 84 incidences. Once might interpret the statistics on this site and conclude that maybe the European countries are not diagnosing breast cancer due to a lack of testing, which is leading to their higher death rates per 100,000. Either way, it is bad for women and the children they leave behind.

This blog is open for all of us to discuss the issues and address our concerns. Maybe because I work with the Medicaid program in my state I am familiar with alot of the comparisons of our state and nation to other countries and feel it is important to share my findings with other women. It appears that your bias has narrowed you to the point that any differing position from your perspective should be attacked and censured. Why you feel the need to suggest my comments be removed from this message board makes no sense to me. I truly apologize for having offended you.

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Having had my 2 kids in 2 countries ( South Africa & England) I’ve had interesting experiences. The US healthcare system can learn from the Brits where moms get 6 months paid maternity leave as baby’s first year is sooooooo important.

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Woohoo! I’m right there with ya sistah! I don’t understand why people are all jumping up and down and saying, “THANK GOODNESS the government is finally coming to our aid and making healthcare not only obtainable by all, but hopefully a lot cheaper and better in the long run!” I mean, how short sighted do you have to be to not want this?

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