That’s because we’re awesome at life-threatening emergencies that need sophisticated surgery and procedures - have a micropreemie? Have it in the US. Have a regular, uncomplicated birth? Go to any, and I mean any, other first world country. In fact, go to some second world countries.
In any uncomplicated full-term birth, can’t you go to a midwife?
hh
Most women in the US give birth in hospitals attended by doctors. I’ve heard 10% have midwife-attended births and only 3% at home.
Truth be known, you are still probably better off having such a baby in almost any place in Western Europe rather than in most U.S. hospitals. Maybe a few U.S. hospitals that are associated with a medical University might be better than many places in Europe, but it is doubtful that the hospitals around where most people live could pull it off. And, whether they would do anything until they make sure your insurance will first pay for it.
We have this idea, of Sure, our medical care is generally crappy, but at least we have the most advanced hospital care in the world. But, that’s not true. Many countries have the same advanced medical care you can find in the best U.S. hospitals. Sure, not every foreign hospital has that level of care, but neither do all U.S. hospitals.
I had a friend who broke a leg bike riding in France. He told me the difference between U.S. and French Hospitals:
In a French Hospital:
Look at the poor injured person. Let’s treat him!
In an American Hospital:
Look at the poor injured person. Let’s find out how he intends to pay before we treat him.
What people usually mean by “best” for the U.S. is for acute care and treatment for rare diseases which I don’t disagree with. If you have great insurance, the U.S. medical system will run up hundreds of thousands of dollars on your behalf and I have, unfortunately, had it happen to me and my family twice. No expense is spared. Both of those things were not something that I would have trusted to any other medical system in another country. I live in the Boston area though which is world-wide healthcare central so you can get absolutely whatever it is you need provided you have the right insurance and you will be taken care of in an almost boutique healthcare style.
That’s not true. In fact, it is completely illegal. That is a bullshit story. Illegal immigrants get treated in emergency rooms all day, every day because that is that is all they have. It isn’t efficient at all from an economic standpoint but no one gets refused treatment for something like a broken leg based on the ability to pay. Other people and insurers subsidize their costs and it is already built into the system. Again, it may not be the best way to do it but the comment is absolute crap.
Tell your friend to go to a U.S. hospital before he starts telling about what one is like. I’ve been to a US hospital 3-5 times when I haven’t been covered by insurance, and I was always treated before being tabbed. They’ve asked me if I have insurance, but when I told them none, they went on in exactly the same way that they did when I had had insurance.
Just some interesting numbers regarding life expectancyUS #1)and cancer survival(US #1).
I think qazwart was speaking to attitude, rather than actual treatment. At least that’s how I took it.
It should be noted that we do indeed have a better cancer 5-year survival rate. But it’s primarily because we do far more screening, which catches cancers earlier in general than in Europe, which allows us to treat them more effectively. Mass screenings to catch an extremely small percentage of “positive hits” is expensive, and we all pay for that.
There’s also something important missing from the study you cited. Americans are 27% more likely to GET cancer than Europeans in the first place. That certainly skews the statistics.
I don’t think that is what your cite shows, even though “get cancer” is the term used in the article. I think it shows that Americans are 27% more likely to be diagnosed with cancer. Some of these are cancers that would never have been detected in other countries because they would never have reached the stage where treatment was needed. Prostate cancer is the classic example where people can have it many years before dying of something else.
The story is not about being refused treatment. It’s about being asked “how will you pay” before being treated.
And that, I’ve seen happen with my own eyes. Go to a doctor’s office, the first thing is “what’s your insurance;” go into the ER and they were asking about insurance before even getting the patient on a stretcher. I have no idea whether the woman asking in this second case was a nurse, nurse’s aid or the maintenance boy, mind you, as I’m not familiar with that specific hospital’s uniforms.
Me too, sort of. I took a friend to the emergency room for his broken arm, he had no insurance, and he was seemingly in quite a bit of pain. They quizzed him about payment and made him fill out a bunch of forms before they’d give him any pain meds. And I’m not talking about allergy questions and the like. After he went to the bone doc, they started in on me, hoping I could somehow be responsible for the bills. Actually, the medical people were nice as pie and the nurse gave him his meds. The doc growled at the admittance person for holding things up.
Oh come on, does anyone here actually believe that people like Glen Beck actually care about metrics? There is hardly any human activity that they would not claim the US is the best in the world. Maybe soccer. And cricket.
“USA: Best medical system in the world?”
No.
When put as a statement rather than a question, it is what we call, in English, a lie.
“Our Communist-Nazi-Muslim President is the best in the world!”