On Health Care

Several weeks ago, in a comment to a ranty post about SUVs, a reader (Salut, Jean!) challenged me to write about the health care issue from the point of view of someone who's experienced a different system. 

Here, then, is How I See It:

• Health care should not be a privilege that only some can afford.
• Barack Obama is not a Marxist, or even a Socialist.
• I'm willing to pay taxes for roads, schools, police and fire protection, and libraries. I'm also willing to pay taxes for health insurance.
• My French example for Americans: I gave birth to two children over there. They were normal births, yet I stayed in the maternity ward for five days each time. The only charge was for the telephone line (I didn't have a cell phone at the time). Why such a long stay? To make sure both the babies and I were healthy. Preventive care, it's sometimes called.
• I had 200 € ($295) withheld from my last French paycheck for health care costs. 150 went into the national pool, 50 went to my mutuelle, or complementary insurance. That's a lot of money, but I never worried about what would happen to me financially if I had an accident or got really ill. Oh, and that was a monthly paycheck.
• We're all in this together.
• Healthy citizens make for a healthy country.
• If there is no public option in this health care reform, then it's not reform.
• Medicare and the VA system are socialist ideas that (mostly) work for different sections of the population. We need a system for everybody.

There's more, of course, but that's just a short list of top-of-my-head thoughts. I read a great blog entry by comic strip author Dan Piraro yesterday, and I encourage you to read it too. Here's a select quote: 

People opposing health care are afraid the government will control their lives. Right now, huge corporations control our lives by controlling our health care and virtually every other aspect of our lives. At least I can vote against a government. I have no recourse against CEOs.

I encourage you to share your thoughts and experiences in the comments. I'd love for some of my American bloggers in France to pipe up. If you disagree with me, pipe up. Oh, and I will answer comments with comments, rather than a personal email.

Comments

[Jean]

Thanks for your inside and independant view. I think this is way more realistic than what Michael Moore presented in Sicko about French healthcare system.
Yes, our healthcare system - like many other western countries' system - has a cost which is a percentage of our gross wages. The more you earn, the more you pay. However, nobody ever gets bankrupt for a medical bill, and a very few die in the curb because they are lacking cash or credit history, more likely because social workers network tend to weaken by lack of funding.
On the retirement plans front, there are three systems that can add up. Governement pension granted after 42 years of work, mutual funds (guaranteed by the government) redistribued, and now individual saving plans ala Enron... If you add up the 2 first you get a monthly approximately 70% of the average of your best 25 years for the rest of your life. Not so bad. You don't have to slice the ham on Sundays at local Walmart when you exhaust your 401k at 80... This is paying respect to our elders through a fair system. More to come.

[Sarah]

I couldn't agree more! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[coldbear]

From a French living in France.

La "sécurité sociale" was founded in 1945, as being a huge step forward to "Liberté, égalité, fraternité" (which is the French Republic moto). And it is.
Yes, it cost us about 10% of our wages, but I could not live without. Even if I get unemployed, bankrupt, or whatever, there is allways a way to be covered paying proportionaly to incomes.
Saying Obama is a socialist make any French laughing loud. In France it would sit somewhere between right and extreme right. (Death penalty, guns, etc...)
France is no paradise, money is sometime wasted in stupid administration issues.
And if you want the most famous doctor to look at you, you will pay for a "dépassement", a disguised way to filter the poor.
But it works and we have very good indicators for health. And if you need medical care, you can go to any hospital and no one will ask you for a credit card until you are allright. And even if you are a US citizen, we would find a way...
N'est-ce pas, Alison ?

[Margaret]

I have health insurance(a teacher group plan) that I pay $1200 per month for, and I have to pay $600 out of pocket. And I'm thankful to have it, but still--sheesh.

[San]

As a German, living in the US, I can only say: the health care system makes me want to move back to Europe ASAP.

[Jean]

Any other European to compare their experience of their national healthcare system with the US system? Any Brit, Dutch, Swedish, or Italian on line?

Another question is about the tag price of the services vs. actual negotiated price. This is all about artificially inflated costs by health insurance and pharmaceuticals companies to circulate money.

The very same 30-day medication for seasonal allergy symptoms costs 9 Euros fully reimbursed in France or $90 partially reimbursed with a copay in the US depending on which side of the ocean your doctor and pharmacist are located. And both medications are manufactured at the same place. How happens?

How happens that the AZT that could not be used in the late 70's because of its side effects, has become a miracle cure for AIDS and is priced that high while people in poor countries cannot afford tri- or quadri-therapies ?

How happens that US pharmaceuticals companies - with the support of former undesirable precedent GWB - sued the countries like India and Brazil for producing generic therapies for AIDS ?

Just asking...

[Jean]

Another thought while I am at it:

Who is stupid enough to dream that your private insurance who unshamely pumps up your money while you are young and healthy will not drop you when you are aging and become an aggravated risk? This happens to thousands of Americans every day. Open your eyes!

[Scott Beveridge]

We can and should do better than France with this crisis. Really.

[Jean]

Scott, yes you can - I heard that before - as France is not the absolute reference, USA has a lot of countries to pass before reaching the top 10 in the world. If you want more information about health care systems relative effficiency, go to the WHO website: www.who.int

[Alison]

My pleasure, Sarah!

[Alison]

Yep. It's all true, E.

[Alison]

That's a lot of money. Does it cover your entire family or just you?

[Alison]

San, it's the thing I probably miss the most about France. I know the system in Germany is different still from France, but everyone is covered, correct?

[Alison]

Scott, I really doubt we will, but one can hope. We need a public option for sure.

[Alison]

Jean, thank you for all of your comments! I appreciate your insight. You are right about insurance companies dropping customers. I'm pretty sure my pregnancies are "pre-existing conditions."

[Jean]

I guess that you all noticed the omnipresence in all the media of private insurances backed up by pharmaceutical companies these days trying to kill President Obama's healthcare reform.

These guys keeps cutting in our benefits while raising the cost for us, but they still have A LOT OF MONEY to pay the adds in the newspapers and commercials on TV. This is indecency at its worst.

Enough is enough!

[Alison]

Yes, I noticed. But this is what a lot of people who are opposed to reform just don't understand. I truly believe that those who are against reform are those who've never been denied a claim, never seen a loved one with a grave or terminal illness struggle to receive benefits they paid the insurance company for, etc.