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Date Posted: 11:34:35 05/07/05 Sat
Author: Weird_Enigma
Author Host/IP: 172.142.234.118
Subject: America one nation, uninsured

America one nation, uninsured

Other nations spend less for better care

RICHARD SCHWARTZ
New York Daily News

America doesn't have the world's best health care system, just the most expensive. For those of you who worry about your health and wealth, that's mind-bogglingly bad news.

The numbers are grotesque. The United States spends 15.5 percent of its gross domestic product on health care, about $1.7 trillion a year. No other country comes close. Yet for all that money, 45 million Americans go without health insurance.

In France, which on a per-capita basis spends about half what we do on health care, everyone is insured. Under France's universal health system, patients can visit doctors, even specialists, virtually any time they wish.

This week is Cover the Uninsured Week, a nationwide effort to focus attention on the millions of uninsured Americans.

It's a uniquely American event, since in the rest of the industrialized world, where universal coverage is the norm, health care is considered a basic human right. But in the United States, health care is a frill. We're only No. 22 among industrialized nations in life expectancy (77 years). Japan is No. 1 at 81 years. We're No. 25 in infant mortality rate (6.8 infant deaths per 1,000 births). Sweden leads with only 3.5 deaths per 1,000.

"Somebody's got to step up to the plate and craft a solution for our health care system," said James Tallon, head of the nonprofit United Hospital Fund. "We can't keep letting this problem slip away from us. It affects our ability to compete economically with the rest of the world."

He's got that right. Word from Detroit is that autoworker health care adds $2,500 to the cost of producing every General Motors car. As if it's not tough enough to compete with Japanese automakers, who can count on their government to pay health costs.

America apparently loves its privatized, patchwork health system. Or at least our politicians do, all of them having seen Hillary Clinton's 1994 close encounter with political death when she tried to sell America on national health care.

Think shifting health spending entirely onto the shoulders of Uncle Sam won't make a difference? Wrong. National health would save us nearly $250 billion a year on administration alone. That's the difference between the 20 percent we spend on administration versus the 4 percent to 7 percent nations like France, Britain and Canada spend.

The reason: In America, hundreds of independent private insurers spend ungodly sums to set up risk pools, create payment schedules and reject insurance claims. In nations with just one payer -- the government -- the focus is on service and efficiency. Not only is that cheaper, but it's more equitable, since everyone gets covered.

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Richard Schwartz is a columnist for the New York Daily News.

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