Breaking news: News-Gazette prints letter to editor by actual informed person
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/opinions/letters/2009/08/30/breaking_some__health_care_myths
As a retired physician I feel compelled to write about the health care debate.
1) President Obama is right when he says we cannot afford to continue the status quo. The American system of medicine is disastrously costly, and provides too much or too little care to different people in our country. In 2004 the U.S. spent 15.3 percent (now 16 percent) of GDP on health care vs. 9.9 percent for Canada, 10.7 percent for France, 9.1 percent for Sweden. One-third of all federal, state and local tax revenues pay for health care.
2) Fee for service payment is a recipe for wasting money in health care - similar to cost-plus government contracts.
3) The American health care system is rated 37th in the world in quality.
4) Far too much of the money in the U.S. health care system is wasted on administration - up to 31 percent. Every ad you see on billboards or TV for health care is a waste of health care dollars.
5) The argument "keep government out of health care" is irrelevant. The government already pays 60 percent of health care expenses.
6) The argument that we can't afford to cover health care for the uninsured or immigrants ignores the fact that such people receive emergency care when critically ill. We already pay for their care in our current system.
7) A single payer system is ultimately the most rational system and could save us up to $350 billion a year by reducing administrative expenses - enough to cover the cost of insuring the uninsured.
DR. CURTIS KROCK
Former chief of medicine at Carle Foundation Hospital and University of Illinois College of Medicine
Champaign, IL
As a retired physician I feel compelled to write about the health care debate.
1) President Obama is right when he says we cannot afford to continue the status quo. The American system of medicine is disastrously costly, and provides too much or too little care to different people in our country. In 2004 the U.S. spent 15.3 percent (now 16 percent) of GDP on health care vs. 9.9 percent for Canada, 10.7 percent for France, 9.1 percent for Sweden. One-third of all federal, state and local tax revenues pay for health care.
2) Fee for service payment is a recipe for wasting money in health care - similar to cost-plus government contracts.
3) The American health care system is rated 37th in the world in quality.
4) Far too much of the money in the U.S. health care system is wasted on administration - up to 31 percent. Every ad you see on billboards or TV for health care is a waste of health care dollars.
5) The argument "keep government out of health care" is irrelevant. The government already pays 60 percent of health care expenses.
6) The argument that we can't afford to cover health care for the uninsured or immigrants ignores the fact that such people receive emergency care when critically ill. We already pay for their care in our current system.
7) A single payer system is ultimately the most rational system and could save us up to $350 billion a year by reducing administrative expenses - enough to cover the cost of insuring the uninsured.
DR. CURTIS KROCK
Former chief of medicine at Carle Foundation Hospital and University of Illinois College of Medicine
Champaign, IL