Dear Friends,
I have received several comments from Liberal Demise about health care. Many of his comments reflect the narrative of American exceptionalism which generally holds that America is the greatest in all respects and can do no wrong. The United States of America is truly a great nation, but it is not perfect. There is much that we can learn from other countries, and we would be foolish not to.
With respect to health care, the United States has many truly excellent physicians, nurses, other health care providers as well as great hospitals and clinic. Unfortunately, these excellent health care professionals and resources are not available to a large number of people. Consequently, our health outcomes are a disgrace for such a wealthy and great country. The latest World Health Organization study "Measuring Overall Health System Performance for 191 Countries" ranks the United States 37th right between Costa Rica and Slovenia. (here).
There are people who criticize the methodology used by the World Health Organization, but even so we should be ashamed that we are not at the top. It is also possible to consider other specific outcomes to demonstrate that our health care system is not the best in the world in terms of outcomes. Here are a few examples.
The United States ranks 116th in terms of maternal mortality with 8 per 100,000. That rank puts us behind #130 Kuwait with 5 out of 100,000; #134 United Arab Emirates with 3 per 100,000 and #135 Greece with 1 per 100,000. (See)
The United States ranks 185th in terms of infant mortality with 6.3 per 1,000. That rank puts us behind #186 Cuba with 5.93 per 1,000 and #208 Solvenia with 4.3 per 1,000. (See)
In terms of life expectancy at birth the United States ranks 47th at 78.14 which puts us just ahead of #52 Albania at 77.78 and behind #43 Bosnia at 78.33, #41 South Korea at 78.64 and #6 Hong Kong at 81.72. (See)
It is impossible to claim that the United States has the best health care system in the world with infant and maternal mortality rates such as these and with a life expectancy rank of 47. We can claim that we have lots of great doctors and hospitals and clinics and drugs, but we can not claim that our system produces good outcomes.
I should note that I have not listed the ranks of some of the health care systems that people opposed to health care reform say are terrible like France and the United Kingdom. So just to set things straight here are their results:
WHO study France is #1, United Kingdom is #18 and the United States is #37.
Infant Mortality - France is 220th with 3.36 per 1,000; United Kingdom is 197th with 4.93 per 1,000 and United States is 185th with 6.3 per 1,000.
Maternal Mortality - United Kingdom is 121st with 7 per 100,000; United States is 116th with 8 per 100,000; and France is 111th with 10 per 100,000.
Life Expectancy at Birth - France is 9th with 80.87; United Kingdom is 37th with 78.85; and United States is 47th with 78.14.
As if these outcomes aren't enough to embarrass the United States, in terms of health care spending per person the United States ranks first at $4,271 compared with France ranking #7 at $2,288 and United Kingdom ranking #18 at $1,675. So not only are the United States outcomes a disaster, we pay 1.9 times as much as France and 2.5 times as much as United Kingdom.
Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Its All about Jobs
Dear Friends,
Bob Herbert has an excellent column in the New York Times this morning entitled "The Magic Potion". (here) He discusses the need to put Americans back to work as the only way that we can have a sustained and reasonable recovery. Of course, this is not a "magic potion", it is basic economics. Mr. Herbert focuses on President Franklin Roosevelt's programs which were successful in bringing us out of the Great Depression. We would have come out better, stronger and sooner, if President Roosevelt had not backed off the jobs programs too early.
In this recession, we did not have a big enough stimulus and too much of it was in the form of tax breaks to try to buy some Republican support. What we need is government spending in two areas. First, the Federal government needs to dramatically increase aid to the state and local government who are laying off people and cutting needed services and maintenance. The lack of spending by state and local governments hurts the recovery and will be a disaster for the future. Second, the Federal government needs to fund infrastructure both to make up for huge amounts of deferred maintenance and to be sure that America is not left behind as the green economy grows.
All the inside politicians will say that it can not be done because we can't get anything through the Congress. Well now is the time for leadership, and we need to force President Obama and the Democrats in Congress to make sure that we have new and robust Federal government spending to get us out of this recession and keep us competitive in the global economy. So write and call the President and your elected officials.
Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal
Bob Herbert has an excellent column in the New York Times this morning entitled "The Magic Potion". (here) He discusses the need to put Americans back to work as the only way that we can have a sustained and reasonable recovery. Of course, this is not a "magic potion", it is basic economics. Mr. Herbert focuses on President Franklin Roosevelt's programs which were successful in bringing us out of the Great Depression. We would have come out better, stronger and sooner, if President Roosevelt had not backed off the jobs programs too early.
In this recession, we did not have a big enough stimulus and too much of it was in the form of tax breaks to try to buy some Republican support. What we need is government spending in two areas. First, the Federal government needs to dramatically increase aid to the state and local government who are laying off people and cutting needed services and maintenance. The lack of spending by state and local governments hurts the recovery and will be a disaster for the future. Second, the Federal government needs to fund infrastructure both to make up for huge amounts of deferred maintenance and to be sure that America is not left behind as the green economy grows.
All the inside politicians will say that it can not be done because we can't get anything through the Congress. Well now is the time for leadership, and we need to force President Obama and the Democrats in Congress to make sure that we have new and robust Federal government spending to get us out of this recession and keep us competitive in the global economy. So write and call the President and your elected officials.
Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal
Health Care Reform
Dear Friends,
Sometimes I forget about the good things that are in the recently passed health care reform bill. Fortunately, I get reminded from time to time. I am reprinting below part of an email I got from Minnesota Citizens for the Arts. It is self explanatory and certainly is a good reminder of the great things that people will find in health care reform as it begins to be implemented.
The Unabashed Liberal
Sometimes I forget about the good things that are in the recently passed health care reform bill. Fortunately, I get reminded from time to time. I am reprinting below part of an email I got from Minnesota Citizens for the Arts. It is self explanatory and certainly is a good reminder of the great things that people will find in health care reform as it begins to be implemented.
MCAThanks for reading and please comment,
Minnesota Citizens for the Arts
2233 University Ave. W. #355
St. Paul, MN 55155
651-251-0868 fax 651-917-3561
staff at mncitizensforthearts.org
www.mncitizensforthearts.org
Arts Action Center
March 26, 2010
1. Health Care Reform Will Help Artists, and Help Small Arts Nonprofits Offer Health Care
We found out in our study Artists Count (done in collaboration with Springboard for the Arts, 2007) that artists are twice as likely as the rest of the population to be without health insurance. So, how will Health Care Reform help artists and arts organizations afford health care? Many great minds are trying to figure that out right now, but we already know a few things about reform that should be very helpful indeed, at least to some:
YOUNG ARTISTS: Can, starting now, be covered on their parent's health insurance policy until age 26.
SMALL ARTS NON-PROFITS: With the signing of the health insurance reform bill this morning, one of the very first provisions to be immediately enacted is a tax credit to small businesses to make employee coverage more affordable. Tax credits of up to 35% of premiums will be immediately available to firms (including nonprofit organizations) that choose to offer coverage. Then, beginning in 2014, these small business tax credits will cover 50 percent of premiums. Our national partner Americans for the Arts staff participated in many lobbying visits along with staff from Independent Sector relating to this provision and we are very pleased that it remained in the final legislation.
"Small employer incentive"The final health care package would provide a tax credit beginning in 2010 through 2013 for businesses and 501(c) organizations with less than 25 employees and average wages below $50,000. During those three years, the bill permits a credit for all eligible small employers that provide insurance for their employees, and beginning in 2014, credits are available to employers purchasing employee coverage through health insurance exchanges. Nonprofits could take a credit in the initial period of 25 percent of the employer contribution and 35 percent in subsequent years, and apply the credit to taxes they withhold from payroll. Employees would still receive full credit for taxes withheld from their pay. For businesses, the credit is 35 percent initially and 50 percent in the proceeding years. The different values of the credit reportedly relate to efforts at cost containment (the nonprofit provision costs $2.1 billion over 10 years) and to reflect the differences in the frequency and likelihood of paying taxes between for-profit and nonprofit employers. [Source: Independent Sector]Most of the larger provisions won't take effect for four years, so most of us won't see immediate changes. More details can be found on Laura Zabel's blog at Springboard for the Arts: http://www.springboardforthearts.org/blog/blog.asp.
The Unabashed Liberal
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)