Let us help you connect the dots between two news items this week on how the U.S. compares with other countries in health care.
One was Rudy Giuliani's ridiculous assertion: "My chance of surviving prostate cancer, and thank God I was cured of it, in the United States - 82 percent. My chances of surviving prostate cancer in England - only 44 percent, under socialized medicine."
You know, Rudy, the "socialized medicine" rant is becoming as tired as your capitalizing on the 9/11 tragedy for political purposes. (Joe Biden gets the "quote of the campaign" award so far for saying, "There’s only three things (Giuliani) mentions in a sentence: a noun and a verb and 9/11.”) But in this case Rudy tried to deal with facts - not just emotion - and his facts are fatally flawed.
The second came from the journal Health Affairs:
"At a time when the U.S. spends more than double what other countries spend for medical care -- $6,697 per capita in 2005 -- a new Commonwealth Fund seven-nation survey
published today as a Health Affairs Web Exclusive finds that U.S. patients are more likely than any others to report experiencing medical errors, to go without care because of costs, and to say that the health care system needs to be rebuilt completely."
So you can wrap yourself in the flag all you want while blindly proclaiming the unparalleled pre-eminence of the U.S. health care system - but the facts don't back you up. And raging rhetoric about the horrors of "socialized medicine" don't move us any closer to identifying or addressing problems and solutions.
Posted by schwitz at November 3, 2007 10:36 AM | TrackBack11-3-07
I saw the tv show with Rudy G. and gasped when he went on his "health rant." He is so dim witted or mentally isolated the thought of him as president is more frightening that what we got--and that's pretty scary.
Posted by: Molly Mason at November 3, 2007 04:05 PM