The Government In Charge of Our Entire Health-Care System?

maporsche, my apologies, I changed my post simultaneous to your response to my previous content. I decided to drop the more saracasm, but yes I think the U.S. has been a leader in medical progress.

what we are talking about are pretty standard procedures , i believe .

India has top-notch centers for open-heart surgery, pediatric heart surgery, hip and knee replacement, cosmetic surgery, dentistry, bone marrow transplants and cancer therapy, and virtually all of India's clinics are equipped with the latest electronic and medical diagnostic equipment.

Unlike many of its competitors in medical tourism, India also has the technological sophistication and infrastructure to maintain its market niche, and Indian pharmaceuticals meet the stringent requirements of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Additionally, India's quality of care is up to American standards, and some Indian medical centers even provide services that are uncommon elsewhere. For example, hip surgery patients in India can opt for a hip-resurfacing procedure, in which damaged bone is scraped away and replaced with chrome alloy--an operation that costs less and causes less post-operative trauma than the traditional replacement procedure performed in the U.S.

So, the OECD statistics pegged the per capita health care costs for Americans at $6,401. Let's subtract the complete 14.2 percent of all those people without health insurance - and you're left with per capita costs of $5,492.

Still the highest in the world. Still $2,733 above the OECD average.

Correct, but it did bring the amount down considerably, and we still need to consider legal visitors. As I saw in one of hamburger's posts, some Middle Eastern royalties used to rent whole floors of hospitals, and while they may be going to some other countries now, I still suspect there are a large number of wealthy visitors that come here for treatment. If money is no object to them, and they want the absolutely best treatment in the world, some centers in the U. S. may offer that, and I would still be curious as to how much that type of medical spending might amount to?

I still suspect there are a large number of wealthy visitors that come here for treatment

'Free trade' is al well but no other developed country besides the USA lacks universal health coverage, and others that spend considerably less on health care, such as Britain, Canada, France, Germany ... ... ... achieve better results, including greater average longevity.

(Looking through some sources I found as a by-product that the United States "is the only advanced economy in the world that does not guarantee its workers paid vacation". [source: Center for Economic and Policy Research.])

We Americans must be a funny lot, as most of us absolutely hate the Government telling us what to do over and over again and that includes how American medicine should function adn be practiced.

Canada is backwards in some regards, that's for sure.

For example, a naturopath is not covered under the provincial medical plan, nor are midwives (to my knowledge), accupuncturists, certain chiropractitioners, massage therapists, etc... But what's really mind-boggling is neither are mental health practitioners - can you believe that mental disorders are not covered under the medical system?

I would rather go to someone practising alternative and/or preventative medicine than a conventionally-trained doctor; unfortunately, if I have no money, I have no choice.

Canada is backwards in some regards, that's for sure.

For example, a naturopath is not covered under the provincial medical plan, nor are midwives (to my knowledge), accupuncturists, certain chiropractitioners, massage therapists, etc... But what's really mind-boggling is neither are mental health practitioners - can you believe that mental disorders are not covered under the medical system?

I would rather go to someone practising alternative and/or preventative medicine than a conventionally-trained doctor; unfortunately, if I have no money, I have no choice.

Mame wrote:

Canada is backwards in some regards, that's for sure.

For example, a naturopath is not covered under the provincial medical plan, nor are midwives (to my knowledge), accupuncturists, certain chiropractitioners, massage therapists, etc... But what's really mind-boggling is neither are mental health practitioners - can you believe that mental disorders are not covered under the medical system?

I would rather go to someone practising alternative and/or preventative medicine than a conventionally-trained doctor; unfortunately, if I have no money, I have no choice.

Yes, I think we should all have the taxpayers pay for our visits to the witch doctor too. It should all be equal opportunity waste of taxpayers money. Some of what you list in the above might be credible, but some are certainly doubtful.

okie wrote:

maporsche, my apologies, I changed my post simultaneous to your response to my previous content. I decided to drop the more saracasm, but yes I think the U.S. has been a leader in medical progress.

Yeah I saw it changed, no problem though.

But you're question is a valid one, so I attempted to find the answer. What I found were the most of the medical progress has been international and not specific to the USA.

Were there any examples you were thinking of the help prove that "the U.S. has been a leader in medical progress."