My heart goes out to the persecuted Palestinians. Murder at the hands of the IDF and the criminal state of Israel. Not much better than the Saudis. Sweden had the guts to stand up to Israel and its 'ally' Saudi Arabia. Needless to say the Swedish government is not popular in Israel. As for Saudi Arabia it didn't take long for Sweden to back down given pressure from the Swedish arms manufacturers and other big exporters. As a US citizen I deeply resent that Israel behaves like it was the 51st state of the Union. Citizens of the US are prohbited from joining BDS. This is a clear violation of the first amendment. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." Why do we tolerate being told by Israel that we are not allowed to criticize it? Why is it that US business people are not allowed to refuse doing business with Israelis for political reasons. Not that I'm a big fan of the Iranians but they look like a civilized country compared to Israel. The US Congress, president and others should be ashamed of themselves for their hypocritical actions.
Thanks for reporting on this . . . That said I thought my experience from five different health care systems might provide some food for thought. Please see my ranking below.
#1 France
We bought a vacation home in France. The system here helped us solve some medical issues that the US system failed to resolve. Read on for more.
France has a single payer system that covers everyone. What doctors and hospitals charge is regulated so even if you have insurance it’s not bad. Laboratories are not owned by physicians or hospitals so little corruption here. The patients own their medical and lab records. No fighting with providers to get what you need. Drugs are reasonably priced and pharmacy chains are outlawed so as to preserve competition and service.
We are uninsured in France so the below is our actual costs out of pocket.
Our GP charges $35 for 30 minutes of consultation. He is quite thorough and very professional. He is in medicine not to get rich but to help people and have a rewarding career. He doesn’t have to worry about $400 K in student loans.
Here is an experience from an endoscopy and a colonoscopy. Here is how costs break down:
Consultation with anesthesiologist: $80
Cardiological examination and ECG: $80
Endoscopy/colonoscopy: $120
Hospital bill pending: estimated at $400
Total: $680.00
Administrative procedures are much more efficient than USA.
France spends approximately 40% less on medical care than USA but with better outcomes.
#2 Canada
They have a single payer system that covers all Canadians. Getting appointments with physicians or specialists was easy.
#3 UK
Government owned and managed system. You get health care but difficult to see a GP and hard to see specialists.
#4 Sweden
The system is mostly government owned and highly deficient. Medical care appears to be breaking down. Some single payer experiments with good results. If Republicans needed a poster boy for socialized medicine Sweden fits the bill.
#5 US
Dead last for the poor. A lot of folks in our little town are pursued by hospital debt collectors. Some loose their cars or homes. Meanwhile the hospital constantly begs for money from the ‘community’ all the while 60% of their revenue is derived from the federal government – Medicare, etc.
If you have $$ and connections you can get excellent surgical care. I know from our own experience. We are both on Medicare which costs us $925.40 per month. Supplemental insurance is $478.13 per month. Drugs are still quite expensive and various other non-covered items add to the bill.
We have found most US doctors disinterested in doing anything to help us. All they want to do is to generate revenue and issue prescriptions.
The administrative procedures are cumbersome due to the many insurance plans, but in our experience generally not very competent.
We have always provided medical insurance for our employees. It’s gotten more and more expensive by the year. Things got a little bit better with ACA. We handled payment by simply increasing compensation and all elected to purchase their own policies. When I realized that ACA was going to be destroyed we managed to find a great group plan so our employees are safe for now.
At the end of the day the United States has an inhumane medical system. If R gets its way there will be even more destroyed families. I’m a businessman but R will never again get my vote.
Thanks for an excellent article! I also appreciate the majority of the comments. I run an international business that is based in the boonies. I guess HRC would refer to the town I live in as populated by a bunch of 'deplorables.' Politically I'm an independent and I have always followed world events carefully. Mr Sachs' article is a very accurate piece that seeks to explain the history and the current state of US - Iran relations. I have tried to carefully explain the details to my Republican friends but they don't care about facts. All that counts is ideology. This doesn't bode well for the future of the US. I think we are about to reach a point of no return. Eventually, wars and sanctions will lead the US into a serious fiscal situation after the USD is dethroned as the world's reserve currency. When that happens perhaps the US will wake up as a real crisis is an opportunity to change for a better future of the world.
I am a businessman and my company exports our products all over the world. Politically I'm independent and didn't care much until G. W. Bush started the invasion of Iraq. I was 100% against the idea of invading. Once there he installed his buddy Bremer. What we have today is a destroyed country. One of our customers is a big oil field services company that has operations in the oil fields of southern Iraq. From a business perspective it now takes approximately three months to ship a needed product from us to our customer in Iraq. GWB destroyed the infrastructure in Iraq and the country is in a shambles. Unfortunately the leading democrats are equally evil (I have to assume that they understand what they are doing). I am totally disgusted at our foreign policy and hate to say that the Trump makes more sense than the others.
Mr. Cole's article exposes the sad truth about US foreign policy. The situation in EU is now becoming unstable so there is every reason to be worried. I talked to my sister in Germany this morning to ask her about the situation. It is interesting to find out that there are now too many volunteers to help out. The public is yet to debate the real drivers behind the stream of refugees.
My heart goes out to the persecuted Palestinians. Murder at the hands of the IDF and the criminal state of Israel. Not much better than the Saudis. Sweden had the guts to stand up to Israel and its 'ally' Saudi Arabia. Needless to say the Swedish government is not popular in Israel. As for Saudi Arabia it didn't take long for Sweden to back down given pressure from the Swedish arms manufacturers and other big exporters. As a US citizen I deeply resent that Israel behaves like it was the 51st state of the Union. Citizens of the US are prohbited from joining BDS. This is a clear violation of the first amendment. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." Why do we tolerate being told by Israel that we are not allowed to criticize it? Why is it that US business people are not allowed to refuse doing business with Israelis for political reasons. Not that I'm a big fan of the Iranians but they look like a civilized country compared to Israel. The US Congress, president and others should be ashamed of themselves for their hypocritical actions.
Dear Juan,
Thanks for reporting on this . . . That said I thought my experience from five different health care systems might provide some food for thought. Please see my ranking below.
#1 France
We bought a vacation home in France. The system here helped us solve some medical issues that the US system failed to resolve. Read on for more.
France has a single payer system that covers everyone. What doctors and hospitals charge is regulated so even if you have insurance it’s not bad. Laboratories are not owned by physicians or hospitals so little corruption here. The patients own their medical and lab records. No fighting with providers to get what you need. Drugs are reasonably priced and pharmacy chains are outlawed so as to preserve competition and service.
We are uninsured in France so the below is our actual costs out of pocket.
Our GP charges $35 for 30 minutes of consultation. He is quite thorough and very professional. He is in medicine not to get rich but to help people and have a rewarding career. He doesn’t have to worry about $400 K in student loans.
Here is an experience from an endoscopy and a colonoscopy. Here is how costs break down:
Consultation with anesthesiologist: $80
Cardiological examination and ECG: $80
Endoscopy/colonoscopy: $120
Hospital bill pending: estimated at $400
Total: $680.00
Administrative procedures are much more efficient than USA.
France spends approximately 40% less on medical care than USA but with better outcomes.
#2 Canada
They have a single payer system that covers all Canadians. Getting appointments with physicians or specialists was easy.
#3 UK
Government owned and managed system. You get health care but difficult to see a GP and hard to see specialists.
#4 Sweden
The system is mostly government owned and highly deficient. Medical care appears to be breaking down. Some single payer experiments with good results. If Republicans needed a poster boy for socialized medicine Sweden fits the bill.
#5 US
Dead last for the poor. A lot of folks in our little town are pursued by hospital debt collectors. Some loose their cars or homes. Meanwhile the hospital constantly begs for money from the ‘community’ all the while 60% of their revenue is derived from the federal government – Medicare, etc.
If you have $$ and connections you can get excellent surgical care. I know from our own experience. We are both on Medicare which costs us $925.40 per month. Supplemental insurance is $478.13 per month. Drugs are still quite expensive and various other non-covered items add to the bill.
We have found most US doctors disinterested in doing anything to help us. All they want to do is to generate revenue and issue prescriptions.
The administrative procedures are cumbersome due to the many insurance plans, but in our experience generally not very competent.
We have always provided medical insurance for our employees. It’s gotten more and more expensive by the year. Things got a little bit better with ACA. We handled payment by simply increasing compensation and all elected to purchase their own policies. When I realized that ACA was going to be destroyed we managed to find a great group plan so our employees are safe for now.
At the end of the day the United States has an inhumane medical system. If R gets its way there will be even more destroyed families. I’m a businessman but R will never again get my vote.
Thanks for having the energy to read my rants.
Why am I not surprised? Perhaps a neutral negotiator would be a better choice for the job?
Thanks for an excellent article! I also appreciate the majority of the comments. I run an international business that is based in the boonies. I guess HRC would refer to the town I live in as populated by a bunch of 'deplorables.' Politically I'm an independent and I have always followed world events carefully. Mr Sachs' article is a very accurate piece that seeks to explain the history and the current state of US - Iran relations. I have tried to carefully explain the details to my Republican friends but they don't care about facts. All that counts is ideology. This doesn't bode well for the future of the US. I think we are about to reach a point of no return. Eventually, wars and sanctions will lead the US into a serious fiscal situation after the USD is dethroned as the world's reserve currency. When that happens perhaps the US will wake up as a real crisis is an opportunity to change for a better future of the world.
The whole picture is worth considering. While alternative energy is an important complement the UAE is currently building four nuclear power plants. https://www.thenational.ae/uae/government/construction-of-uae-s-first-nuclear-reactor-complete-but-operation-delayed-to-2018-1.42360 The first one which has been delayed several times is now supposed to go online next year. Perhaps solar can replace some the gas now supplied by their friends in Qatar.
I despise both candidates. Neither has presented a reasonable plan for the US. The debate from what I can tell was a joke.
I am a businessman and my company exports our products all over the world. Politically I'm independent and didn't care much until G. W. Bush started the invasion of Iraq. I was 100% against the idea of invading. Once there he installed his buddy Bremer. What we have today is a destroyed country. One of our customers is a big oil field services company that has operations in the oil fields of southern Iraq. From a business perspective it now takes approximately three months to ship a needed product from us to our customer in Iraq. GWB destroyed the infrastructure in Iraq and the country is in a shambles. Unfortunately the leading democrats are equally evil (I have to assume that they understand what they are doing). I am totally disgusted at our foreign policy and hate to say that the Trump makes more sense than the others.
Mr. Cole's article exposes the sad truth about US foreign policy. The situation in EU is now becoming unstable so there is every reason to be worried. I talked to my sister in Germany this morning to ask her about the situation. It is interesting to find out that there are now too many volunteers to help out. The public is yet to debate the real drivers behind the stream of refugees.