I need some links to stats on healthcare in the US

OnionPatch

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Wed Mar-29-06 03:33 PM
Original message

I need some links to stats on healthcare in the US

please, if anyone can help me.

I have heard these stats repeated all over: Medicare spends only about 3% on administrative, while private healthcare spends up to 30% on admin......US is only _____insert number____in infant mortality, etc. etc.

I'm having email debate with my mixed up, sort of libertarian, sort of liberal, sort of conservative brother-in-law. (He hates everyone so he can't pick a side. ;) )

Anyway, he told me this: "If you think healthcare is expensive now, wait until the government is in charge of it......" Basically, he thinks universal health care is just a sham and a BS talking point the Dems have. He really doesn't have any statistics to back this up. I think he just listens to O'Reilly or someone. But I need stats and links to send to him. I can find tiny bits and pieces of stats here or there or stats with no links, etc. but I was hoping there might be one place where I could get statistics like these that is basically non-partisan. Is there such a place? I looked at WHO, but can't seem to find any comparison charts, which would be great. I'm thinking I just don't know where to look.

Well, I'd appreciate any help I can get. My brother in law is a nice guy and not totally lacking in brain power, so I do think there's possiblity that we may get him to see the light.

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trotsky

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Wed Mar-29-06 03:40 PM
Response to Original message

1. This is a pretty good site.

http://www.nchc.org/facts/cost.shtml

* In 2003, the United States spent 15.3 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on health care. It is projected that the percentage will reach 18.7 percent in 10 years. (3)
* Although nearly 45 million Americans are uninsured, the United States spends more on health care than other industrialized nations, and those countries provide health insurance to all their citizens. (4)
* Health care spending accounted for 10.9 percent of the GDP in Switzerland, 10.7 percent in Germany, 9.7 percent in Canada and 9.5 percent in France, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (5)

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OnionPatch

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Wed Mar-29-06 06:31 PM
Response to Reply #1

7. Thanks, that's a good one

It has resources listed at the bottom of the page. Cool.

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Lars39

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Wed Mar-29-06 03:40 PM
Response to Original message

2. Some links I had rounded up:

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OnionPatch

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Wed Mar-29-06 06:35 PM
Response to Reply #2

8. Well there's definitely

some stuff to chew on!

Thanks.

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elehhhhna

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Wed Mar-29-06 03:40 PM
Response to Original message

3. No stats but here's another thought to chew on:

Edited on Wed Mar-29-06 03:41 PM by elehhhhna

Universal HC would also roll up Workers Comp (the medical part -- not disability payouts) which for some jobs is 10% of pay. The cost savings to employers would make the US competitive.

We are faced with one choice: do we want to compete w/ the civilized world (in that case we need UHC to flatten the field) or compete with third world countries? What we do about med insurance will determine the answer.

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OnionPatch

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Wed Mar-29-06 06:17 PM
Response to Reply #3

5. I hadn't mentioned Workers Comp, thanks

but I did mention that I thought universal healthcare would help all businesses in the US. There was a case not long ago where Toyota was going to build a plant somewhere in the eastern US, (I forget the exact state) then they decided at the last minute to go to Canada instead because they wouldn't have to pay healthcare for their employees.

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BOSSHOG

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Wed Mar-29-06 03:41 PM
Response to Original message

4. Vidalia, why do you always want to make me cry !!!

If he can't back up his assertions why do you need to waste the energy to refute him???

Sophomore debate - If you assert, you must prove.

Based on your short and way to generous description of him, I do not believe he wants to see the light. "Not totally lacking in brainpower." You are so sweet.

Narrow your discussion with him to sports.

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OnionPatch

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Wed Mar-29-06 06:28 PM
Response to Reply #4

6. Well, I guess I don't have to, really

Edited on Wed Mar-29-06 06:28 PM by OnionPatch

It's not like I don't have better things to do but he emails sometimes and claims to really enjoy these political exchanges, so I may as well tell him like it is. He's asking for it. Plus, he doesn't vote, and he lives in Michigan. Isn't that a swing state? My sister and I are trying to get him to vote. For our side, that is, of course. He's starting to get pretty disgusted with things, so we're thinking there's hope.

Oh, by the way, I'm not the vidalia, I only live in the Onion Patch. I'm the petunia---but someone already had that user name. :)

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philb

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Thu Mar-30-06 11:17 PM
Response to Original message

9. here's a site on pharmaceutical caused health effects

http://www.flcv.com/iatrogen.html

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trotsky

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Fri Mar-31-06 08:12 AM
Response to Reply #9

10. And here's a site that exposes the lies on that site.

http://www.geocities.com/healthbase/null_hypothesis_laidler.html

3. In deriving his numbers on "bad outcomes", Mr. Null adds all types of adverse outcomes together without considering (either through ignorance or intent) that many of these are not due to medical error or other failure but are merely the natural consequences of the disease or injury. Infection, for instance, is usually not due to medical error but is a natural risk of surgery, injury and disease. The question NOT asked is this: "How many of these adverse outcomes would have occurred WITHOUT medical intervention." Let me give some examples.

Example 1: A patient develops a skin infection following surgery for an inflamed appendix. This infection is treated with antibiotics and resolves over 7 - 10 days. This would be reported as a post-operative infection on the hospital statistics. However, without surgical intervention, the patient would likely have died in 7 - 14 days of a ruptured appendix and overwhelming peritonitis - another sort of infection.

Example 2: A patient comes to the hospital with chest pain - the diagnosis is myocardial infarction ("heart attack") and he is admitted to the ICU. Two hours later, he dies of heart failure. This is reported as an in-hospital death. He almost certainly would have died at home without medical intervention, but his death is "credited" to the hospital because that is where he died.

Example 3: A patient goes to her doctor's office complaining of a severe sore throat and gets a prescription for an antibiotic. Shortly after taking the first capsule, she develops a rash. In the emergency room, she is diagnosed with a mild allergic reaction to the antibiotic and sent home with a different antibiotic. This is reported as an adverse drug reaction(ADR).

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