More on French Healthcare

07/21/2007

More on French Healthcare

Paul Munnis

Those of you who have been able to see Roger Moore’s film “Sicko” have learned that the best healthcare system in the world is found in France.

You also know some more: You know that the USA is number 37 in healthcare and that the French System is free (nothing is really free, the French pay for it from taxes). You also learned that the French system is built around their Social Security system and that it covers every legal resident of France. Beyond that we don’t know a lot more from the film.

With this in mind I went searching for an informative website or two that would allow readers who want a better understanding of the French system to begin an exploration.

The first site I found is for people who are newly relocated to France. Sometime a company will transfer an employee to France and the relocated family needs to understand the healthcare system. A website the seeks to educate the new transplant is found by clicking HERE.

Another site of interest is written by a medical web site and covers the French health insurance system. This shows a lot of things you can discover like how private supplements can be purchased to even further broaden your coverage. Such things as caps and co-pays are discussed there too. This site can be read by clicking HERE.

Now we know that the GOP is full of neo-cons who believe that America will be in big trouble if we go to socialized medicine. Roger Moore has retorted that Medicare and Medicaid are doing just fine thank you and that these are socialized medicine systems and every Republican grandmother is thankful for them. But I wanted to find an article of a conservative encounter with the French healthcare system to see their reaction and I found one for your enjoyment at a website that can be read at a Democratic Website called Common Dreams.

Well after all that rose water I had to look under a rock for acid. I soon found it in the form of a negative Republican article in response to a glowing report on French Healthcare from Business Week. Since we can learn from listening to critics I have provided a link to it but suggest you get a glass of cold water before you read it. The link can be read by Clicking HERE.

Now that I have you to a point of understanding the French system I suggest to you that we should adopt it. We are worth it, and we should not be afraid to pay for a system to replace the hash that we now have and that threatens us daily with bankruptcy. We are worth it and we owe it to ourselves.