Thank God we don't live in socialist Europe

[risky biz]

. . where you aren't free to force everyone else to live a short,
brutish, expensive life:

France
Total expenditure on health per capita: $3,978
Expenditure as % of GDP: 11.8% (3rd most)
Annual growth of total health expenditure: +2.7% (18th most)
Life expectancy: 81.5 years (8th highest)

Germany
Total expenditure on health per capita: $4,218
Expenditure as % of GDP: 11.6% (4th most)
Annual growth of total health expenditure: +4% (15th most)
Life expectancy: 80.3 years (18th highest)

Austria
Total expenditure on health per capita: $4,298
Expenditure as % of GDP: 11% (8th most)
Annual growth of total health expenditure: +2.2%
Life expectancy: 80.4 years (16th highest)

Denmark
Total expenditure on health per capita: $4,348
Expenditure as % of GDP: 11.5% (6th most)
Annual growth of total health expenditure: +6% (11th most)
Life expectancy: 79.0 years (25th highest)

Canada
Total expenditure on health per capita: $4,478
Expenditure as % of GDP: 11.3% (7th most)
Annual growth of total health expenditure: +7.4% (7th most)
Life expectancy: 80.7 years (tied for 12th highest)

Luxembourg
Total expenditure on health per capita: $4,808
Expenditure as % of GDP: 7.8% (7th least)
Annual growth of total health expenditure: +8% (6th most)
Life expectancy: 80.7 years (tied for 12th highest)

Netherlands
Total expenditure on health per capita: $4,914
Expenditure as % of GDP: 12% (2nd most)
Annual growth of total health expenditure: +16.4% (the most)
Life expectancy: 80.6 years (14th highest)

Switzerland
Total expenditure on health per capita: $5,344
Expenditure as % of GDP: 11.6% (5th most)
Annual growth of total health expenditure: +2.8% (17th most)
Life expectancy: 82.3 years (2nd highest)

Norway
Total expenditure on health per capita: $5,352
Expenditure as % of GDP: 9.6% (16th most)
Annual growth of total health expenditure: +8.4% (4th most)
Life expectancy: 81.0 years (10th highest)

United States
Total expenditure on health per capita: $7,960
Expenditure as % of GDP: 17.4% (the most)
Annual growth of total health expenditure: +2.2% (14th least)
Life expectancy: 78.2 years (27th highest)

[Alim Nassor]

LOL at life in the United States defined as "short brutish and
expensive."

[O-PGManager]

easy to LOL when it doesn't apply to you personally. These numbers are an
absolute embarrassment, 17% of GDP and we STILL leave 40 million uncovered.

Opie G. Manager
Rec.Gambling.Poker
Assistant Newsgroup Coordinator Emeritus (2009-2011)

[Alim Nassor]

I was laughing at his characterization of the numbers. And it still
rates an LOL.

[risky biz]

You're partially right. I should have said shorter and more brutish.
Someone can deny that it's more expensive but the facts slap them in the
face.

It's also a fact that more government involvement in healthcare makes a
healthcare system less expensive, more efficient, and higher quality.
Medicare and the VA healthcare system are proof of that.

[John Putnam]

Depends on what you mean by more expensive. Of the top 10 most
expensive countries to live in, the USA doesn't even appear on the
list but many of the countries you mention do. Please elaborate on
what you mean by "brutish". Shorter by a few years, maybe, but those
statistics get skewed by the violence of the inner cities and the
death of young men at the hands of each other.

[mo_ntresor]

those countries are missing a few demographics. can you think of them?

mo_ntresor

[pltrgyst]

On 11/14/12 2:15 AM, risky biz wrote:
>
> It's also a fact that more government involvement in healthcare makes a
> healthcare system less expensive, more efficient, and higher quality.
> Medicare and the VA healthcare system are proof of that.

The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEBHP), with 8,000,000
subscribers, is a much, much better example of that than is VA health care.

-- Larry

[mo_ntresor]

is that the plan you barely contribute to that regular taxpayers like me
pay for?

mo_ntresor

[Dave the Clueless]

Not any more, they aren't. And now their economies are crashing.
Coincidence? Definitely.

-------
To a liberal, 'Need' means wanting someone else's money. 'Greed' means
wanting to keep your own money. 'Compassion' is when a politician arranges
the transfer from a person who earned money to a person who didn't.

[risky biz]

On Nov 14 2012 7:24 AM, pltrgyst wrote:

I don't know anything about FEBHP but VA healthcare is considered to be
among the highest quality, most COST EFFICIENT healthcare in the US.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2005/0501.longman.html

"when it comes to health care, it's a government bureaucracy that's
setting the standard for maintaining best practices while reducing costs,
and it's the private sector that's lagging in quality."

"VHA's success shows that Americans clearly could have higher-quality
health care at lower cost."

[risky biz]

The subject under discussion is healthcare.

> Please elaborate on
> what you mean by "brutish".

One example of brutish would be someone dying because they don't have
affordable healthcare. You probably could have figured that out yourself.

> Shorter by a few years, maybe, but those
> statistics get skewed by the violence of the inner cities and the
> death of young men at the hands of each other.

Yeah, it probably isn't because only 40 million Americans have zero
healthcare because it's unaffordable.

What do you think the total of deaths from inner city violence in the US
is each year in percentage terms of the overall population? The highest
fatality cities in the US are probably no more than 200 - 300 per year.
Grasp at straws much?

[O-PGManager]

There is nothing wrong with his relative characterization 'short, brutish,
expensive' for a large swath of Americans.

[Hollis2]

Who says that life expectancy is a good measure of the quality of health
care?

[Pepe Papon]

On Wed, 14 Nov 2012 01:41:50 -0800 (PST), John Putnam
<shemph...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Shorter by a few years, maybe, but those
>statistics get skewed by the violence of the inner cities and the
>death of young men at the hands of each other.

That sounds pretty brutish.

--

Pepe "The Crapflooder" Papon

[~M~]

"Pepe Papon" wrote in message
news:rv79a89j2chn2nurt...@4ax.com...

>That sounds pretty brutish.

But it doesn't sound like a problem caused by lack of socialized healthcare.



--
"A government which robs Peter to pay Paul, can always count on the support
of Paul."
- George Bernard Shaw

[Pepe Papon]

On Thu, 15 Nov 2012 06:35:58 -0500, "~M~" <~M~@gmail.com> wrote:

>"Pepe Papon" wrote in message
>news:rv79a89j2chn2nurt...@4ax.com...
>
>>That sounds pretty brutish.
>
>But it doesn't sound like a problem caused by lack of socialized healthcare.

Not in and of itself, no.