Health care, again

Steve Benen:

IN A WAY, IT IS STILL FRESH TODAY.... Over at "The Corner," Jonah Goldberg highlights this 1961 clip from Ronald Reagan, criticizing Medicare. Goldberg said Reagan's criticism of the landmark health care program is, nearly a half-century later, "still fresh today."
...
Reagan's misguided diatribe from 48 years ago also serves as a reminder that we hear the same arguments from conservatives, over and over again, every time real reform is on the table. Republicans, Fox News, and Limbaugh, for example, reflexively shout "socialized medicine" whenever the issue comes up -- just as the right has done for 75 years.

Lee-Anne Goodman (Canadian Press):

A Manitoba-born physician, David Gratzer of the Manhattan Institute thinktank, has been a Republican favourite, frequently appearing to assail the Canadian system.
...
Another observer from afar took aim at Republican fear-mongering about Canadian health care.

"I'm 82, and in excellent health," Art Finley, a West Virginia native now living in Vancouver, recently told the Huffington Post.

"It costs me all of $57 a month for health care, and it's excellent. I'm so tired of all the lies and bullshit I hear about the system up here in the U.S. media."


Thank you, Lee-Ann and Art. Needless to say, David Gratzer is full of crap.

Debunking Canadian Health Care Myths by Rhonda Hackett - The Denver Post:

Myth: Canada's health care system is a cumbersome bureaucracy.

The U.S. has the most bureaucratic health care system in the world. More than 31 percent of every dollar spent on health care in the U.S. goes to paperwork, overhead, CEO salaries, profits, etc. The provincial single-payer system in Canada operates with just a 1 percent overhead. Think about it. It is not necessary to spend a huge amount of money to decide who gets care and who doesn't when everybody is covered.

If we're going to get the public option we should have gotten long ago, we're going to have to let everyone know that Bill Kristol, Jonah Goldberg, and the rest of the wingnuts are full of it...as usual. And we're getting ripped off, and even dying, as a direct result.

Total health expenditures per capita, 2003

United States $5711
Australia $2886
Austria $2958
Belgium $3044
Canada $2998
Denmark $2743
Finland $2104
France $3048
Germany $2983
Ireland $2466
Italy $2314
Japan $2249
Netherlands $2909
Norway $3769
Sweden $2745
United Kingdom $2317

UPDATE: Let's tell the folks what we win for spending double on health care!

37 United States of America

WE'RE NUMBER 37! Wahoooo!
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