Mortality Rates v. Health Care Access (and Health Insurance)

We've discussed before that the U.S. does have higher mortality rates that don't measure up to countries with nationalized health care.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/...re-in-america/

This article talks about waiting times and treatment in various countries with nationalized health care and compares them to the same in the U.S.

What surprises me in this is that if US residents receive care sooner, then why are mortality rates not commensurately in line. Or maybe the difference in life spans is more related to lifestyle than to the health care access?

Once again, it is worth noting that those countries with nationalized health care are finding, in the long run, that those that can afford to turn to privatized care where the govt system falls short ... and the govts of those countries find it worthwhile to allow that to continue.

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And, gradually, Europeans are circumventing their systems. Half a million Swedes now use private insurance, up from 100,000 a decade ago. Almost two-thirds of Brits earning more than $78,700 have done the same. But what might really surprise those who assert the excellence of nationalized insurance systems is that throughout Europe, from Britain to Denmark to Sweden, when faced with their inability to deliver timely access, the government’s solution is increasingly to enable access to private health care.

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I mostley go on experience when it comes to matters like this, but I have'nt had the oppertunity to experience soicialized healthcare but think I soon will. As we get older we need more care. I haven't needed care as of yet but know I will someday. I am indeed older than most I work with. The younger ones cry for socialized health care but do not realy need it right now. I just think they would rather spend thier money on new technical toys. The thought of spending money on a just incase scenario does not interest them at all. Lets all share that responsibility its gonna be great. Of course they have not epierienced it either. Some one told them its was great so why not, cheaper for them to let others pay for it.

I think it has more to do with life style choices than health care. The several countries I have traveled to require a lot of walking and and climbing. Who really wants to drink soda when it is hot outside and your glass has no ice?

I know for a fact the over weight in England do not even get put on the list for hip/knee replacements. Anything that is viewed as cosmetic is not treated. I belong to a yahoo group for people with a rare skin condition, almost like being allergic to the sun. The people on the list from the UK do not receive treatment and they seem to be suffering from depression. I just wonder how many more people in this country will start to suffer from depression when they are denied care. I'm glad there are so many college kids studying psychology. At first I could not understand why all the kids that attend college with my kids where majoring in the subject, but I guess they got the memo.
Terri

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Originally Posted by Larry Thompson1

I mostley go on experience when it comes to matters like this, but I have'nt had the oppertunity to experience soicialized healthcare but think I soon will. As we get older we need more care. I haven't needed care as of yet but know I will someday. I am indeed older than most I work with. The younger ones cry for socialized health care but do not realy need it right now. I just think they would rather spend thier money on new technical toys. The thought of spending money on a just incase scenario does not interest them at all. Lets all share that responsibility its gonna be great. Of course they have not epierienced it either. Some one told them its was great so why not, cheaper for them to let others pay for it.

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Look on the bright side, you could be like "The Wonderful One Hoss Shay":

Have you heard of the wonderful one-hoss shay,
That was built in such a logical way
It ran a hundred years to a day,
And then of a sudden it — ah, but stay,
I’ll tell you what happened without delay,
Scaring the parson into fits,
Frightening people out of their wits, –
Have you ever heard of that, I say?

Seventeen hundred and fifty-five.
Georgius Secundus was then alive, –
Snuffy old drone from the German hive.
That was the year when Lisbon-town
Saw the earth open and gulp her down,
And Braddock’s army was done so brown,
Left without a scalp to its crown.
It was on that terrible Earthquake-day
That the Deacon finished the one-hoss shay.

Now in building of shaises, I tell you what,
There is always a weakest spot, –
In hub, tire, felloe, in spring or thill,
In pannel or crossbar, or floor, or sill,
In screw, bolt, throughbrace, — lurking still,
Find it somewhere you must and will, –
Above or below, or within or without, –
And that’s the reason, beyond a doubt,
That a chaise breaks down, but doesn’t wear out.

But the Deacon swore (as deacons do,
With an "I dew vum," or an "I tell yeou")
He would build one shay to beat the taown
‘n’ the keounty ‘n’ all the kentry raoun’;
It should be so built that it couldn’ break daown:
"Fer," said the Deacon, "’t's mighty plain
Thut the weakes’ place mus’ stan’ the strain;
‘n’ the way t’ fix it, uz I maintain, is only jest
‘T’ make that place uz strong uz the rest."

So the Deacon inquired of the village folk
Where he could find the strongest oak,
That couldn’t be split nor bent nor broke, –
That was for spokes and floor and sills;
He sent for lancewood to make the thills;
The crossbars were ash, from the the straightest trees
The pannels of whitewood, that cuts like cheese,
But lasts like iron for things like these;

The hubs of logs from the "Settler’s ellum," –
Last of its timber, — they couldn’t sell ‘em,
Never no axe had seen their chips,
And the wedges flew from between their lips,
Their blunt ends frizzled like celery-tips;
Step and prop-iron, bolt and screw,
Spring, tire, axle, and linchpin too,
Steel of the finest, bright and blue;
Throughbrace bison-skin, thick and wide;
Boot, top, dasher, from tough old hide
Found in the pit when the tanner died.
That was the way he "put her through,"
"There!" said the Deacon, "naow she’ll dew!"

Do! I tell you, I rather guess
She was a wonder, and nothing less!
Colts grew horses, beards turned gray,
Deacon and deaconess dropped away,
Children and grandchildren — where were they?
But there stood the stout old one-hoss shay
As fresh as on Lisbon-earthquake-day!

EIGHTEEN HUNDRED; — it came and found
The Deacon’s masterpiece strong and sound.
Eighteen hindred increased by ten; –
"Hahnsum kerridge" they called it then.
Eighteen hundred and twenty came; –
Running as usual; much the same.
Thirty and forty at last arive,
And then come fifty and FIFTY-FIVE.

Little of of all we value here
Wakes on the morn of its hundredth year
Without both feeling and looking queer.
In fact, there’s nothing that keeps its youth,
So far as I know, but a tree and truth.
(This is a moral that runs at large;
Take it. — You’re welcome. — No extra charge.)

FIRST OF NOVEMBER, — the Earthquake-day, –
There are traces of age in the one-hoss shay,
A general flavor of mild decay,
But nothing local, as one may say.
There couldn’t be, — for the Deacon’s art
Had made it so like in every part
That there wasn’t a chance for one to start.
For the wheels were just as strong as the thills
And the floor was just as strong as the sills,
And the panels just as strong as the floor,
And the whippletree neither less or more,
And the back-crossbar as strong as the fore,
And the spring and axle and hub encore.
And yet, as a whole, it is past a doubt
In another hour it will be worn out!

First of November, fifty-five!
This morning the parson takes a drive.
Now, small boys get out of the way!
Here comes the wonderful one-hoss shay,
Drawn by a rat-tailed, ewe-necked bay.
"Huddup!" said the parson. — Off went they.

The parson was working his Sunday’s text, –
Had got to fifthly, and stopped perplexed
At what the — Moses — was coming next.
All at once the horse stood still,
Close by the meet’n'-house on the hill.
First a shiver, and then a thrill,
Then something decidedly like a spill, –
And the parson was sitting upon a rock,
At half past nine by the meet’n'-house clock, –
Just the hour of the earthquake shock!

What do you think the parson found,
When he got up and stared around?
The poor old chaise in a heap or mound,
As if it had been to the mill and ground!
You see, of course, if you’re not a dunce,
How it went to pieces all at once, –
All at once, and nothing first, –
Just as bubbles do when they burst.

End of the wonderful one-hoss shay.
Logic is logic. That’s all I say.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Or for that matter, you could get struck by lightening ;-)

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Originally Posted by Terri

.................................................. ................................. I belong to a yahoo group for people with a rare skin condition, almost like being allergic to the sun.....................................
Terri

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My oldest has problems with something along this line. Not to hi-jack the thread but I wonder if there is a gene test for this.

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Originally Posted by charly_t

My oldest has problems with something along this line. Not to hi-jack the thread but I wonder if there is a gene test for this.

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My condition is genetic. I do not know if there is a test for it. The dermatologist looked at my skin and told me I had a genetic skin condition. Too bad it did not show up before I had reproduced. Do you know the name of your oldest condition? I found the yahoo group by doing a goggle search and joined the group.

Terri