Mankato View — Exposing the fraud of ‘world-class’ health care

03/23/2006

The Free Press
Mankato, MN
March 23, 2006

Those in the medical, insurance and drug industries defend the bloated American health care system by repeating the mantra, “But we have the best health care in the world.”

The inference is clear: Don’t push for too much change or the world-renowned American health-care system will deteriorate to a sickly industry where consumers won’t be able to get quality or timely care.

It turns out the quality isn’t there now.

A startling study, the biggest ever of health care quality, shows that Americans get mediocre care. And no, it’s not one of those cases where a big block of poor or disenfranchised people bring the average down. The research shows that everyone — rich, poor, white, black, old, young — has a 50/50 chance of getting high quality health care services.

The study, printed in this month’s New England Journal of Medicine, looked at patients’ medical records and then interviewed them to determine the quality of health care services they received. Only about half the people got high quality care.

It is obvious to most Americans that the current health care system is unsustainable.

Fewer businesses are helping provide health insurance for their employees. Increasingly, small business owners and individuals are unable to afford insurance.

Hospitals, clinics, drug companies and insurance companies aren’t basing decisions on the best care for the most people at the lowest cost, but rather on maximizing profits. There are too many high-priced, high-tech machines in the same area, not because there’s a need, but because they are profit centers.

All of which leads more Americans to believe that some type of nationalized health care system will be needed. They don’t buy the argument of the health industry that the system just needs some tweaking here and there.

Political leaders and citizens need to begin the serious discussion on how to truly overhaul — not fine-tune — the health system, making it accessible and of higher quality.