Ambrose Loc: North America

This image below shows clearly why the ACA was created in the first place.
No matter what you think of it, going forward, don't let any politician get away with saying they're going to "repeal Obamacare" without explaining what their option is or how they plan on fixing it.

The ACA isn't perfect because it doesn't address the real issue - why the worlds most spoiled country can't learn how 25 other major countries have better life expectancy with far cheaper health costs.

So in turn I challenge the UHH Chit chatters: Seriously - How would you fix it?

Robert Graybeal Loc: Myrtle Beach

Nice chart, now our life expectancy is still 78 and our health spending per capita is $15,000.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

Life expectancy stats are not solely based upon health care results. They take into account death by all causes. In the US the stats are skewed by death by natural distaster,accident,murder etc. Unless all these causes are removed and results are based solely upon health care delivery results the life expectancy charts are bogus. Think about it. There are no hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, floods, tidal surges etc in France.

GrayPlayer Loc: Granby, Ct.

I would like to see a comprehensive report on health care, taxation, spending and entitlement programs around the world. Occasionally, Canada's health system is mentioned.
Media "poo-paws" foreign nations for antiquated systems yet we are far from perfect.

Curtis_Lowe Loc: Georgia

Health care is not about Life Expectancy even with bad statistics, it is about quality of life (health).
Yes we are spoiled and the folks that work in the HC industry are generally higher paid than average in a country where poor people have cell phones, cars etc etc.

ole sarg Loc: south florida

A rather disengenuous argument. The number of deaths due to nature are very small in the US and would not affect or effect the outcome of a statistical calculation. Nor would murders and car accidents. All that is under 1% of a population of some 320 million.

So try something else. How about poor health care such as obesity, lack of exercise, poor eating habits, lack of early diagnosis, etc. Then you might have an argument, but if you used those numbers you would have to come up with the lack of a national insurance plan.

All that aside, what is your plan to replace ACA?

picabak

What's going to fix the ACA? Little tweeks here and there but the ACA is not the problem, its the attitude and gullibility of the people who live here. Perhaps by somehow getting our citizens to realize they have a long term responsibility might help, or going back to a barter system might be a logical start! Yea, good luck with either.

Jackel Loc: California

I'd get rid of OBUMMASCARE by simply dumping it!

Before this putative healthcare program, laughingly called "Affordable" waded ashore from the depths of the health cesspool, America's healthcare was looked upon as the best in the world. Millions of ill folks from around the world came here to get well
again, many from countries with long-standing poorly-functioning socialized medicine schemes.
Germany, a long-standing socialized medicine provider, which I'm familiar with, charges its citizens an astronomical 50% of their income for health care.
Canada's socialized medicine program is a diaster! Busloads of mildly-affluent Canadian citizens travel to America to take advantage of it's vaunted healthcare module.

Some years ago, Dr. Walter E. Williams wrote:

Problems with our health care system are leading some to fall prey to proposals calling for a nationalized single-payer health care system like Canada's or Britain's. There are a few things that we might take into consideration before falling for these proposals.

London's Observer (3/3/02) carried a story saying that an "unpublished report shows some patients are now having to wait more than eight months for treatment, during which time many of their cancers become incurable." Another story said, "According to a World Health Organisation report to be published later this year, around 10,000 British people die unnecessarily from cancer each year -- three times as many as are killed on our roads."

The Observer (12/16/01) also reported, "A recent academic study showed National Health Service delays in bowel cancer treatment were so great that, in one in five cases, cancer which was curable at the time of diagnosis had become incurable by the time of treatment."

The story is no better in Canada's national health care system. The Vancouver, British Columbia-based Fraser Institute has a yearly publication titled, "Waiting Your Turn." Its 2006 edition gives waiting times, by treatments, from a person's referral by a general practitioner to treatment by a specialist. The shortest waiting time was for oncology (4.9 weeks). The longest waiting time was for orthopedic surgery (40.3 weeks), followed by plastic surgery (35.4 weeks) and neurosurgery (31.7 weeks).

Canadians face significant waiting times for various diagnostics such as computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound scans. The median wait for a CT scan across Canada was 4.3 weeks, but in Prince Edward Island, it's 9 weeks. A Canadian's median wait for an MRI was 10.3 weeks, but in Newfoundland, patients waited 28 weeks. Finally, the median wait for an ultrasound was 3.8 weeks across Canada, but in Manitoba and Prince Edward Island it was 8 weeks.

Despite the long waiting times Canadians suffer, sometimes resulting in death, under federal law, private clinics are not legally allowed to provide services covered by the Canada Health Act. Regardless of this prohibition, a few black-market clinics service patients who are willing to break the law to get treatment. In British Columbia, for example, Bill 82 provides that a physician can be fined up to $20,000 for accepting fees for surgery. According to a Canada News article, "Shortage of Doctors and Nurses Could Hurt Medicare Reforms" (3/5/03), about 10,000 doctors left Canada during the 1990s.

There's help for some Canadian patients. According to a Canadian Medical Association Journal article, "U.S. Hospitals Use Waiting-List Woes to Woo Canadians" (2/22/2000), "British Columbia patients fed up with sojourns on waiting lists as they await tests or treatment are being wooed by a hospital in Washington state that has begun offering package deals. A second U.S. hospital is also considering marketing its services." One of the attractions is that an MRI, which can take anywhere from 10 to 28 weeks in Canada, can be had in two days at Olympic Memorial Hospital in Port Angeles, Wash. Already, Cleveland is Canada's hip-replacement center.

Some of our politicians hold up the Canadian and British nationalized health care systems as models for us. You can bet that should we ever have such a system, they would exempt themselves from what the rest of us would have to endure.

Enough said about the epic disaster that is OBUMMASCARE!

wilpharm Loc: Oklahoma

Jackel…the truth is NOT what the Obamites here want to here..You will probably be hammered for that...