Genesis Health Systems

What do you think of the american medical system compared to government controlled systems.? Such as the British and Canadian system where you get good medical care for free compared to america where the medical system is controlled by the insurance companies I understand both sides of the argument, just because one persons situation did not work out in the UK does not mean its the same for everyone. 22 months is such a long time to receives such important surgery and I would be absolutely speechless if that happened to anyone. I don't however deny that these things happen, but the exact same things happen in the US too, people lose their homes and lives to pay for an operation. I am not on either side of this argument I just wanted to see what other peoples opinions were. I live in a government controlled system and it works fine for me. Doctors/surgeons are still the highest paid professions in the country and I've never had to wait for any operation.

Is the current American medical system ready with enough doctors to see 45 million new patients? And/or if those currently insured patients have an upcoming and quickly needed follow-up visit, will they have to wait 1-2 years to see their doctor again, so it's "fair for everyone"?

What do you think of the American medical system run by insurance companies compared government run system? Do you think that Americans are being tricked into believing their system is better, or are Canadians and Brits being ripped off? Opinions?

What are some advantage of the American medical system?

Is Eisenberg an example of how well the American medical system works? I don't know why anyone would want to change our wonderful system of medicine. captainobvious_lj - You think maybe it's because he doesn't have any health coverage for mental illness? "Eisenberg said he wanted help getting psychiatric care, but had been turned away because he didn't have the money."!!!!!!! Eyes Wide Open - The reason he went to her office was to get medical treatment.

Do you think American medical system is the best in the world?

what are the flaws of the american medical system?

How is the medical system in Canada? Hi, everyone. I am curious to know from those in Canada their thoughts and experience on the medical system there. What the positives and negatives of it? Do you prefer it over the American medical system? Why or why not? TIA, motherinprincess

Conservative or Liberal: Joe Stack speaks of "the joke we call the American medical system,? including the drug and insurance industries" http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2010/0218102stack1.html

Can A Person From The University Of Cambridge Adjust Well In UCLA Medical School? Me And My Brother Are Having This Argument On Whether Or Not I Should Go To Cambridge University. He Says If I Go, It Will Be Really Difficult To Adjust To An American System Of Medical Schools Since Cambridge Teaches Pre-med To Those Students Who Are Going To Attend British Medical Schools. My Question Is That Can I Go To The University Of Cambridge And Then Go To UCLA Medical School Without Any Hassle? Can I Adjust Easily In The American Medical School System With My Cambridge Education?

The problem with the American medical system? I just wanted to get some feedback from those living in the US, I moved when I was very young to the UK and have not spent much time there but I have heard a lot, mainly how the greed and corruption of insurance companies leaves people either in huge amounts of debt or they die because they are unable to pay for the care they require. So here's the million dollar question, why does anyone put up with it? Why not demand that a change be made, why not use the same system that most of the rest of the world does where people make small contributions every time they get a pay check and then Health care doesn't cost anything when you need it? I would have thought the public would be able to see through the "socialist" arguments the big insurance companies put up to scare people.

UK GP moving to US in 18 months with American fiancee. How do I convert to US medical system? USMLE? I recently qualified in UK as a General Practitioner. My fiance (who is American) and I plan to move back to the states in 18 months permanently. How do I go about converting to the US system. How do family physicians operate in US? Will I have to retrain in US system or is my Member of the Royal College of General Practitioners qualification from UK accepted? Do I need to do the USMLE?

How are such conflicts “policed” by the medical profession, and by the American legal system?

Why does the American Medical Association make it so difficult for nonmuslim Americans to become doctors? They let all kinds of muslims come here and practice medicine. A lot of muslim doctors do indeed send money back home not only to support their families, but also to support jihad. Yet......they really make sure "the system" is set up so that medical schools restrict the number of American students they let in. Sure....this keeps salaries high because of supply and demand......but it isn't improving the quality of the medical profession and it sure isn't improving the access of quality, affordable medicine. It is, though, definitely improving the funding for jihad. Who is profiting from this way of doing things?

Can I make money from American Business Systems? It is a medical billing business opportunity that cost $20,000 to invest can anybody help me out?

Why does the American Medical Association support the Democrat health reform bill? "AMA Supports House Passage of Health System Reform" http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/health-system-reform/ama-supports-reform-passage.shtml Is it the $138 billion savings the first ten years? Is it the $1.2 trillion in savings the first 2 decades? Is it their Hippocratic Oath to do no more harm to the 32 million uninsured?

How Can Anyone Trust Such A Corrupt Medical System As We Have Today? It is alarming to say the least when one makes a serious assessment of the medical industry today. The evidence of corruption is rampant, from the field of research all the way through to the highest levels of government. ..... It is perhaps even more alarming to view the way that so many hard line medical science worshipers simply ignore and deny the seriousness of the situation as it exists today. .. Instead of putting serious efforts towards addressing this serious infection that has overtaken the medical industry, ... these same individuals focus all their efforts on a constant onslaught against all natural forms of healing. ... This is in spite of how harmless natural healing is and has been in comparison to the pharmaceutical model. Here are some of the abundant examples of the corruption that exists in the medical industry today; "Wall St. Journal" - January 2009 "FDA Scientists Ask Obama to Restructure Drug Agency" "WASHINGTON -- A group of scientists at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday sent a letter to President-elect Barack Obama's transition team pleading with him to restructure the agency, saying managers have ordered, intimidated and coerced scientists to manipulate data in violation of the law. The nine scientists, whose names have been provided to the transition team and to some members of Congress, say the FDA is a "fundamentally broken" agency and describe it as place where honest employees committed to integrity can't act without fear of reprisal. ..." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123142562104564381.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Western Journal Of Medicine" - Oct. 2001 "The unhealthy alliance between academia and corporate America" "Academia's relationship with private industry changed in the United States when Congress passed the Bayh-Dole Act in 1980.1 This law enabled universities to patent their discoveries and license them to private corporations. This policy fostered collaboration between academia and industry, which created jobs and products of immediate commercial value. But the delicate balance between academic and corporate expectations has swung too far toward private profit at the expense of public trust. Universities are threatened by a growing public concern that industry funding distorts research and undermines its traditions of objectivity, independence, and free exchange of ideas. ..." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1071558/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "JAMA" (Journal of The American Medical Association) Vol. 300 No. 9, September 3, 2008 "Industry-Sponsored Clinical Research - A Broken System" "Over the past 2 decades, the pharmaceutical industry has gained unprecedented control over the evaluation of its own products. Drug companies now finance most clinical research on prescription drugs, and there is mounting evidence that they often skew the research they sponsor to make their drugs look better and safer. Two recent articles underscore the problem: one showed that many publications concerning Merck's rofecoxib that were attributed primarily or solely to academic investigators were actually written by Merck employees or medical publishing companies hired by Merck; the other showed that the company manipulated the data analysis in 2 clinical trials to minimize the increased mortality associated with rofecoxib.2 Bias in the way industry-sponsored research is conducted and reported is not unusual and by no means limited to Merck. ..." http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/extract/300/9/1069 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Wall St. Journal" - May 7, 2010 "Why the AMA Wants to Muzzle Your Doctor" " ...The AMA was not only a major supporter of ObamaCare but also an accomplice in its passage. Without the support of the AMA it is quite possible that the health-care reform initiative would have failed. So why the effort to silence other doctors? The AMA is not only worried about protecting this misguided legislation, it is worried about protecting itself. In the weeks since passage of this 2,700 page bill, more and more of its policy land-mines have exploded, including rising insurance premiums and admissions of inevitable rationing. Not surprisingly, an increasing number of physicians have expressed alarm over the impact that the legislation will have on their patients. This growing opposition makes the actions of the AMA, which represents only 17% of the doctors in the U.S., look very bad. It is essential to understand the primary reason the AMA stands alongside President Obama on health-care reform. The organization wants to protect a monopoly that the federal government has created for it—a m ... a medical coding system administered by the AMA that every health-care professional and hospital must use if they wish to get paid for the services they provide. This monopoly generates income of $70 million to $100 million annually for the AMA. That makes the AMA less an association looking out for doctors and more a special-interest group beholden to Congress and the White House. ..." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703961104575226323909364054.html?mod=rss_opinion_main#articleTabs%3Darticle "PBS Frontline" - 2003 "Dangerous Prescription" "More than a dozen dangerous drugs have been pulled off the market since 1997. Why were they approved in the first place? An investigation of America's drug safety system." "I think it was pretty well understood," say former FDA scientist Michael Elashoff, "that if you were advocating turning a drug down -- particularly if it was from a large pharmaceutical company -- that that wouldn't be good for your career." http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/prescription/hazard/ Sarah - Perhaps you would care to post the research which shows the harm done by natural healing in comparison to the harm done via the pharmaceutical model. .... and where exactly did you read the word "Totally" in my question here? Please don't put words in my mouth. fizbap - "sometimes corrupt" eh? .... I think you need to read more thoroughly before you post such a weak response. .... Why is it that the typical response from your camp to this rampant corruption is always denial and lame excuses?

Medical school? Please answer.? I am graduating medical school in this spring with bachelory-MD in asian country. I am not a us citizen. But i still want to study in usa as a residency with scholarship or sth. I don't know much thing about american medical system. Please help me, to reach my future goals and tell me the ways

Hey Sheep, why did Obama want 40 billion dollars to create a centralized medical record database? Why does the federal government need a computer system to keep track of American medical records? Anyone?

American Medical School vs. Indian Medical School: are they comparable? Are an undergraduate and medical degree from the US (7-8 years after high school) and a medical degree from India (4 years after high school) comparable? I don't mean in terms of the ability to be licensed in the United States, but in terms of the education itself. What are the pros and cons of this system? I am an undergraduate student, in the US (a psychology/biology double major with a minor in computer science) and want to do an MD/PhD in Neurocognitive Psychology. My question is, how do the schools in India pack what I believe should be an 7-8 year educational experience in 4 (please pardon my American arrogance)? How do people do things like honors theses and, otherwise, obtain research experience? Do schools offer these same opportunities? Moreover, do students take anything other than medical classes in their four years? If not, how do students develop their interests? I am asking for a cousin of mine who is deciding between doing the undergrad degree from America to follow the traditional US track, and Manipal. He deferred admission an Ivy, but is having second thoughts because the Indian medical degree takes 3-4 years less. As I have mentioned before, I have my bias. However, I want to make sure I am giving him a balanced opinion. I don't want him to close out any options; he might want to go into a research career. I am also just interested in learning about the life in Indian medical schools. Is there anyone here who wants to pursue a career in academia and is attending/has attended an Indian medical school? I would love to hear your advice. Thank you.

Does our public medical care system treat illegal immigrants better than American citizens? This has been around for a bit, but I thought is was worth sharing and debating: Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas is a fairly famous institution and for a variety of reasons: 1. John F. Kennedy died there in 1963 2. Lee Harvey Oswald died there shortly after 3. Jack Ruby, who killed Lee Harvey Oswald, died there a few years later by coincidence On the flip side, Parkland is also home to the second busiest maternity ward in the country with almost 16,000 new babies arriving each year. (That's almost 44 per day -- every day) A recent patient survey indicated that 70 percent of the women who gave birth at Parkland in the first three months of 2006 were illegal immigrants.' Crikey, that's 11,200 anchor babies born every year just in Dallas. According to the article, the hospital spent $70.7 million delivering 15,938 babies in 2004 but managed to end up with almost $8 million dollars in surplus funding. Medicaid kicked in $34.5 million, Dallas County taxpayers kicked in $31.3 million and the feds tossed in another $9.5 million. The average patient in Parkland's maternity wards is 25 years old, married and giving birth to her second child. She is also an illegal immigrant. By law, pregnant women cannot be denied medical care based on their immigration status or ability to pay. OK, fine. That doesn't mean they should receive better care than everyday, middle-class American citizens. But at Parkland Hospital, they do. Parkland Memorial Hospital has nine prenatal clinics. NINE. The Dallas Morning News article followed a Hispanic woman who was a patient at one of the clinics and pregnant with her third child -- her previous two were also born at Parkland. Her first two deliveries were free and the Mexican native was grateful because it would have cost $200 to have them in Mexico. This time, the hospital wants her to pay $10 per visit and $100 for the delivery but she was unsure if she could come up with the money. Not that it matters, the hospital won't turn her away. (I wonder why they even bother asking at this point.) How long has this been going on? What are the long-term effects? Well, another subject of the article was born at Parkland in 1986 shortly after her mother entered the U.S. Illegally -- now she is having her own child there as well. (That's right, she's technically a U.S. Citizen.) These women receive free prenatal care including medication, nutrition, birthing classes and child care classes. They also get freebies such as car seats, bottles, diapers and formula. Most of these things are available to American citizens as well but only for low-income applicants and even then, the red tape involved is almost insurmountable. Because these women are illegal immigrants they do not have to provide any sort of legitimate identification -- no proof of income. An American citizen would have to provide a social security number which would reveal their annual income -- an illegal immigrant need only claim to be poor and the hospital must take them at their word. My husband is a pilot for the United States Navy (yes, he fought in Iraq) and while the health care is good, we Navy wives don't get any of these perks! Car seats? Diapers? Not so much. So my question is this: Does our public medical care system treat illegal immigrants better than American citizens? Yes it does! As I mentioned, the care I have received is perfectly adequate but it's bare bones, meat and potato medical care -- not top of line. Their (the illegals) medical care is free -- simply because they are illegal immigrants? Once again, there is no way to verify their income. Parkland Hospital offers indigent care to Dallas County earn less than $40,000 per year. (They also have to prove that they did not refuse health coverage at their current job. Yeah, the 'free' care is not so easy for Americans.) There are about 140 patients who received roughly $4 million dollars for un-reimbursed medical care. As it turns out, they did not qualify for free treatment because they resided outside of Dallas County. So the hospital is going to sue them! Illegals get it all free! But U.S. citizens who live outside of Dallas County get sued! How stupid is this? As if that isn't annoying enough, the illegal immigrant patients are actually complaining about hospital staff not speaking Spanish. In this AP story, the author speaks with a woman who is upset that she had to translate comments from the hospital staff into Spanish for her husband. The doctor was trying to explain the situation to the family and the mother was forced to translate for her husband who only spoke Spanish. This was apparently a great injustice to her. In an attempt to create a Spanish-speaking staff, Parkland Hospital is now providing incentives in the form of extra pay for applicants who speak Spanish. Additionally, medical students at the University of Texas Southwestern for which Parkland Hospital is the training facility will now have a Spanish language requirement added to their already jammed-packed curriculum. No other school in the country boasts such a ridiculous multi-semester (multicultural) requirement. http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/parkland.asp

Why do Afro-Americans have a distrust of the medical system? I red today in a economical British magazine called "The Economist" that Afro-American have a distrust of their Health care system and do not like to be tested for HIV; therefor they are more likely to pass it to their partnaires. What is the nature of this distrust?

Has anyone seen the American Medical Associations (AMA) recommendation for the uninsured? Doesn't it sound like McCain's plan ... a tax credit to allow individuals to choose the health care plan they want. It may take some time but read... http://www.voicefortheuninsured.org/resources.html Obama doesn't want this he wants an already overburdened and underfunded system to take 47 million more people, in addition to expanding welfare with his redistribution ... spreading the wealth around.

please help me to find the best way? I am graduating medical school in this spring with bachelory-MD in asian country. I am not a us citizen. But i still want to study in usa as a residency with scholarship or sth. I don't know much thing about american medical system. Please help me, to reach my future goals.

about medical insurance? I receive a letter from american medical response,saying that I am oweing them 1.940,for that I was inhospitalized for 2 days,receiving phycological evaluation.The first day I arrive,the staff say,you don't have to pay anything,so I believe,thought it's on government tax dollar.Now,I felt like being betrayed,my counsellor(I am a student in college) called the ambulance(without my consent),and now I am paying the bill,I feel angry as hell.Currently,I don't have medical insurance,how sick is that,now,it's on my ass now,just 2 days,almost 2,000 dollars.what should I do?Should I buy a new insurance?Can they cover this bill as compesational way?Somebody advise,I am a foreigner who currently live here,don't know much about American medical insurance system?.

i need ideas for topics that u may want to hear about and think r interesting.? im doing a research paper that i want to present to a bunch of people. i havent chosen my topic yet but i have a few in mind. ex: medical issues on life extension, if the american medical system is good or bad and ideas like that. im also thinking about whether i should speak about topics like child abuse and neglect. please, please, PLEASE help me out with this by telling me wut topics would most interest u that r an issue today or anything that would interest most ppl. also i wanna have a fundraiser where i can donate to certain charities. plz tell me which charites u/most ppl would be willing to donate $ to. and im trying to find places where i can speak and where ppl will be interested in listening to me. plz make the charities relevant to the topics that u suggest. im trying to find this stuff out by myself but this is my first time and i need to get things together fast. b.c this is gonna be a lot of work and ive only got a month or so. thanks.

Any Americans who've lived in Canada a while? What did you think of the medical system? Preferably you lived there over 2 years and or had some incidents with the system.

Why are we Americans so dead set against any kind of reform of our medical systems? "you guys"? I worded the question as "we Americans", because I'm an American, but I said nothing about my own personal attitude on the matter. I'm searching for answers. Some Americans, a few Americans, a whole bunch of Americans, Americans on the left, Americans on the right, a majority of Americans, a minority of Americans - jeez, I don't know, I just wanted to ask a question. Some Americans, a few Americans, a whole bunch of Americans, Americans on the left, Americans on the right, a majority of Americans, a minority of Americans - jeez, I don't know, I just wanted to ask a question. This question will probably be reported and deleted anyway.

Why are many American dentists and doctors very amateurish? I have seen many US doctors and dentists and I can tell you their equiptment is literally dated by at least 10-20 years. Are they CHEAP? Their diagnostic and treatment abilities are pretty pathetic also. IS it the poor educational level? After all, this is 2008 and the American education has crashed over 20 years ago. There are good doctors and dentists BUT this is about the majority: poorly trained and ineffective. To be forgiving, it must be added that part of the reason is that the HMOs put tremendous pressure on the medical care system to operate like an assembly line.

I don't get this? Another stab in the American health care systems back? LSD was outlawed because it was used more for recreational use than it was medically, but Dramamine is still sold over the counter, used more as a recreational drug than a medical, and is a million times more dangerous physically and mentally. Who makes these laws? Actually LSD does have medical usage. I'm not going back to 10th grade psychology though.

Survive in America DIE in Europe!!! Just how much better is American MEDICINE?? ALOT!!!!!? READ THIS>>> Die in Britain, Survive In The US James Bartholomew The Spectator Which is better — American or British medical care? If a defender of the National Health Service wants to win the argument against a free market alternative, he declares, ‘You wouldn’t want healthcare like they have in America, would you?’ That is the knock-out blow. Everyone knows the American system is horrible. You arrive in hospital, desperately ill, and they ask to see your credit card. If you haven’t got one, they boot you out. It is, surely, a heartless, callous, unthinkable system. American healthcare is unbridled capitalism, red in the blood of the untreated poor. For goodness’ sake, the American system is so bad that even Americans — plenty of them anyway, if not all — want to give it up. They want something more like the Canadian system or our own National Health Service. That is what Hillary Clinton wanted and there are still plenty of people like her around. Tony Judt, in a recent edition of the New York Review of Books, was damning about American medical care and glowing about European healthcare. Think of all the money that is wasted in America invoicing patients and administering lots of separate, independent hospitals. At the same time, we can’t help being aware that back here in Britain the NHS is not exactly perfect. The waiting lists have come down, according to the government. They have probably come down somewhat in reality, too. But they still exist and, come to that, there is the worryingly high incidence of hospital infections. So is British healthcare better than American? Or the other way round? And how do you judge? Let’s try the simple way first. Suppose you come down with one of the big killer illnesses like cancer. Where do you want to be — London or New York? In Lincoln, Nebraska or Lincoln, Lincolnshire? Forget the money — we will come back to that — where do you have the best chance of staying alive? The answer is clear. If you are a woman with breast cancer in Britain, you have (or at least a few years ago you had, since all medical statistics are a few years old) a 46 per cent chance of dying from it. In America, your chances of dying are far lower — only 25 per cent. Britain has one of the worst survival rates in the advanced world and America has the best. If you are a man and you are diagnosed as having cancer of the prostate in Britain, you are more likely to die of it than not. You have a 57 per cent chance of departing this life. But in America you are likely to live. Your chances of dying from the disease are only 19 per cent. Once again, Britain is at the bottom of the class and America at the top. How about colon cancer? In Britain, 40 per cent survive for five years after diagnosis. In America, 60 per cent do. With cancer of the oesophagus, survival rates are low all round the world. In Britain, a mere 7 per cent of patients live for five years after diagnosis. In America, the survival rate is still low, but much better at 12 per cent. The more one looks at the figures for survival, the more obvious it is that if you have a medical problem your chances are dramatically better in America than in Britain. That is why those who are rich enough often go to America, leaving behind even private British healthcare. One reason is wonderfully simple. In America, you are more likely to be treated. And going back a stage further, you are more likely to get the diagnostic tests which lead to treatment. Fewer than one third of British patients who have had a heart attack are given beta-blocker drugs, whereas in America 75 per cent of patients are given them. In America, you are far more likely to have your heart condition diagnosed with an angiogram — a somewhat invasive but definitive test. You are far more likely to have your artery widened with life-saving angioplasty. In Britain not very long ago, a mere 1 per cent of heart attack victims had angioplasty. In America you are much more likely to have heart by-pass surgery. In 1996 British surgeons performed 412 heart by-passes for every million people in the population, less than a fifth of the 2,255 by-passes per million performed in the United States. America has many more lithotripsy units for treating kidney stones — 1.5 per million of population compared with 0.2 in Britain. It is true that in America they overdo the diagnostic tests. In one hospital they did a CT head scan on absolutely everybody who came in complaining of a headache. Even some of the doctors began to think this might be over the top when they realised that only in 2 per cent of cases was anything found. But in Britain the problem is the other way round. Having any diagnostic test beyond an X-ray tends to be regarded as a rare, extravagant event, only to be done in cases of obvious, if not desperate, need. Peggy, an American radiologist, came to Britain to meet her English boyfriend’s family. A pall fell over the visit when the boyfriend’s father found blood in his urine. He went to the local NHS hospital. Peggy knew that blood in the urine could mean something worryingly serious or could be utterly minor. A few tests could make things clear: a CT scan or cystoscopy for example. That would be routine in the US. But no such tests were done by the NHS hospital in Welwyn Garden City where the father was a patient. Tests are underperformed in Britain: first, because there is a shortage of equipment and second, because the equipment is underused. Britain has half the CT scanners per million of population that America has (6.5 compared with 13.6). It also has half the MRI scanners (3.9 per million of population versus 8.1). In Britain these machines are generally used during business hours only, regardless of the fact that some are extremely expensive. At the Mayo Clinic in America, by contrast, an MRI scanner is in use around the clock. And if you do get your X-ray scan in Britain, it may well be done with an old machine. Dr Colin Connolly carried out an audit on behalf of the World Health Organisation and found that over half of British X-ray machines were past their recommended safe time limit. Come to that, he found plenty of other machinery out of date, too. More than half of the anaesthetists’ machines needed replacing. Even the majority of operating tables were over 20 years old — double their safe life span. Look at any proper measure of the capacity or success of a medical service and one finds, again and again, that America comes out better. In Britain 36 per cent of patients have to wait more than four months for non-emergency surgery. In the US a mere 5 per cent do. While in Britain the government celebrates if the waiting times get a bit lower, in America they don’t do waiting. There are more American doctors per patient so, not surprisingly, patients have more time with their doctors. American patients also get to see specialists as a matter of routine whereas in Britain 40 per cent of cancer patients, for example, don’t see a cancer consultant. There are shortages of specialists in many areas of medicine in Britain. The father of Peggy’s boyfriend had asthma that was getting worse. In America he would have been seen by an asthma specialist while in hospital. They would have thought it convenient to do any necessary tests while he was readily available. Not in Britain. The father lay in his hospital bed with breathing difficulties but still did not see a specialist. He was told the wait would be six weeks. Peggy was surprised at how ‘accepting’ her boyfriend’s family was. She didn’t say too much because she did not want to come across as a pushy, arrogant American but she was thinking that ‘in America we’d go nuts if we were told we would have to wait six weeks to see a specialist. Expectations are so much higher.’ Shortly afterwards, her boyfriend’s father was discharged from hospital. Back home, before his appointment with a consultant came up, he died of an asthma attack. ‘Ah yes,’ comes the knowing response, ‘but what about the poor? The rich might get great care in America, but the good thing about the NHS is that everyone gets treated equally. The care is, in the hallowed phrase, “free at the point of delivery”.’ Before going into any detail, let us remember one thing: all those figures at the start about death rates from various forms of cancer were not just for the rich. They were for the whole population, poor included. That said, yes, it is true that American healthcare is expensive. It is true, too, that the financial burden on people is awesomely unequal; but not in the way you might expect. The seriously poor do not get the worst of it. They get treated for free. They get Medicaid, the national subsidy for healthcare for the poor. Their treatment is paid for by the state and subsidised by the hospital, or rather its other patients and — if it is a for-profit hospital — the shareholders. The poor might not get showered with as many diagnostic tests as those with full insurance, but they get treated and without the delays that are normal in Britain. No, the people who get the worst of the cost of the American healthcare system are not the poor. They are not the rich either, of course. Come to that, they are not the old, who are covered by Medicare, another government programme. And they are not the majority of people who are in jobs and have company health insurance. The ones who face major problems are somewhere between middle-income and poor. They are the ones who are not earning enough to take out an insurance policy, or not one with a high limit on medical expenditure. So if they come down with an illness which requires a long — and therefore ruinously expensive — stay in hospital, their insurance may run out and they may have to sell their homes or even go bankrupt. Those who are temporarily unemployed, between jobs, are similarly vulnerable. The numbers are not large in relation to the whole population. We are talking about a minority of the American population — figures of 35–45 million are mentioned — which is not insured and which is not covered by Medicare or Medicaid. Of that minority only a small proportion will need fairly long-term hospital treatment. But financial disaster can happen and sometimes does. People lose their homes, their savings, everything. Half the bankruptcies in America are people who had previously been ill. In Britain the system might kill you. In America the system will keep you alive but might bankrupt you. So there is no doubt that the American system is lousy in certain ways. Actually it is lousy in lots of ways. The insurance policies that cover most people are extremely expensive. They can cost as much as $8,000 a year. Part of the problem is that each state dictates what must be in such policies, thus raising the cost and reducing the competition among providers. A young man can be obliged to pay for a policy which insures him against getting pregnant. State interference means that people cannot easily get the kind of insurance they would really like and which could lead to the most economical healthcare. That could be insurance with a large ‘excess’ — offering coverage against real disasters but not against regular bills for ordinary visits to a doctor. The tax rules in America are also highly favourable to insurance provided through a company, but offer little of the same advantages to anyone taking out insurance personally. That gives rise to the ‘between jobs’ period of risk of falling ill. There is much that is wrong with American healthcare. The inflated cost is boosted by restricted entry into the medical profession. It has been pushed up by the courts which have given crippling damages for medical negligence. The doctors have to insure themselves against such damages and so the insurance premiums they pay are huge. Doctors can only pay these by charging high fees. The risk of being sued is also an important reason why American doctors would rather give you too many tests than too few. Let’s face it, the American system is rotten. It is not even a system. It is a hotch-potch. Most hospital provision is by not-for-profit, private hospitals. But the biggest buyer of medical care is the US government. Through Medicaid (for the poor) and Medicare (for the old) and other schemes, the government pays for 45 per cent of all healthcare. (The British assumption that American healthcare consists of an unfettered free market could not be more wrong.) Most British people do not realise that the non-private hospitals in America are not run by the federal government. They are local government hospitals. The San Francisco General is run by the City of San Francisco. And another unexpected thing for Brits is that even in such local government hospitals treatment is not free to those who can afford it. (Incidentally, all sorts of American hospitals — especially the not-for-profit ones — receive large sums of cash from charitable benefactors.) And if you think all the above is confusing, that is hardly even the beginning of the bewildering diversity and contradictions of American healthcare. It is a muddle. The British system was a muddle, too, until Aneurin Bevan came along in 1945. As minister of health, he set about unmuddling it. We, too, used to have local government (‘municipal’) hospitals until he took them over. He took over the charitable hospitals too, like St Mary’s and Moorfields and many other famous ones. He made it not confusing at all. What could be simpler than the central government being in charge of everything? Over time, the government put itself in charge of all the doctors, too. So all was made simple and clear. But the curious thing is that the new, improved, simple state system of Britain does not work as well as the American muddle. You have a better chance of living to see another day in the American mishmash non-system with its sweet pills of charity, its dose of municipal care and large injection of rampant capitalist supply (even despite the blanket of over-regulation) than in the British system where the state does everything. It is not that America is good at running healthcare. It is just that British state-run healthcare is so amazingly, achingly, miserably and mortally incompetent. James Bartholomew’s book, The Welfare State We’re In is published by Politico’s (£18.99).

How does the American university system work? I live in the UK but am really interested in going to an American university, hopefully ivy league, I know that I would have to take SATs and have a good extra curricular application but I don't understand the actual process- say I was going to medical school, would I go straight from high school or do something else first, then go In a few years ( at the moment I'm really interested in med school or a doctorate in biochemistry or molecular biology- do they specialise in those courses like in England )?? HELP!!!

I'm pre medical student but want to do my MBBS from any american scool.so i want student visa+part time job. i want a student visa along with a part time job. i dont know anything abou american system. can anyone guide me? pls kk_stranger@yahoo.com currently i'm doing +12.

How does the American Health Care System work? I'm from England and considering moving to American but to consider it properly I want to understand some things. Most importantly how does the American Health Care System work? In the Uk we have the NHS, a free health care system. I understand that in the US one must have health insurance but where would I get this? Furthermore, where would you go for general medical queries such as a cold, headache etc. (The US equivalent to a GP)? I would really appreciate some help! Thanks :)

Ameican Business Systems, Inc? AKA American Billing Systems? I am interested in information about ABS. It is a medical billing business opportunity that I am looking into. Has anyone considered this business and what results have you received? Have you gone forward with purchasing the licensing? How do you like it? If you haven't gone forward with it, why? Any information would be appreciated.

Who thinks the American system of taxes and expeditures is a broken system? When I say government waste, I do not necessarily mean pork projects because they make such a small percentage of the federal budget. Is it wasteful spending? Yes, but would the elimination of pork projects mark the end of government waste? Would it be raining money all of a sudden because we stopped funding pork projects? The answer is no. It is functionally irrelevant in this debate. I think one problem is that, in America, the majority of people who pay taxes are not the beneficiaries. There is no return on our money. Think about it. Social Security - money for old people who are going to die anyways. Medicare - health care for old peol. By the way, why do prescription drugs in America cost so much when the same pill sold in Canada is so much cheaper? Welfare - why do we want to support the lower class? America should not be a country of losers. If you can't make money, then get the hell out. Education - this is more or less okay, but we can do better. College tuition is a scam though. Defense - taxes you pay to fund 2 half-assed wars. Why do military families pay taxes for fund the war, but also have to spend money to send their kids war supplies and body armour? Last time I checked, these expeditures were not tax deductible. It never used to be this way. It doesn't have to be this way. America is falling apart due to broken policies. I blame Republicans for placing the interests of Pfizer, Merck, KBR, Halliburton, Bank of America, Citigroup, MBIA, Equifax, Experian, Transunion, and the American Medical Association over the interest of the average American. And I also blame Democrats on creating a culture of entitlement---who make old people, poor people and stupid people feel they are entitled to a handout. Give me a break. I actually do see true value in public works projects, and I believe it is a good use of money. But tax dollars to not get sent back to us. At least not me. If I want to be a true benficiary of the American tax system, I need to be poor, unemployed, or old.

American Medical Association? I have identical twin boys that I adopted. They were crack babies born 3 months premature. They are diagnosed now as ADHD, MMR, ODD, EBD. They have been medicated since they were 4. Because of the school system here, I had them moved to a psychiatric MD. He has had them hospitalized and withdrawn off of their medication. Now he remedicated them. They had a reaction to the medication, which I wound up with them in the ER. I contacted the doctor over the weekend and he told me to discontinue their meds and he would take care of them on Tuesday when he came back to the office. Now they call and tell me that they have to wait over 2 weeks without medication before they can see them because he is too busy. I am so afraid of what could happen to my children between now and then without their meds. Who can I turn to for help and what should I do about the way that the other doctor has done us? I feel like he should be held accountable for anything that happens to my children.

Why do liberals tolerate the American Medical Association keeping a monopoly on the supply of Physicians? I always thought the liberals hated big corporations and monopolies. The AMA has been running the medical monopoly in America for over 100 years. This group has been keeping the supply of doctors low in order to ensure that doctors are paid hefty salaries. If Liberals really wanted to "free up" our healthcare system, wouldn't it make more sense to bust up this monopoly and allow more freedom in the area of doctor licensing? http://mises.org/story/1749 Sophie B - I am currently in medical school. The AMA sets limits on the number of students a medical school can accept. You also cannot apply for medical school unless you go through the AMA's application service, which costs hundreds to thousands of dollars to use.

Do you still believe in the conventional Medicine? Death By Medicine by, By Gary Null, PhD; Carolyn Dean MD, ND; Martin Feldman, MD; Debora Rasio, MD; and Dorothy Smith, PhD A definitive review of medical peer-reviewed journals and government health statistics shows that American medicine frequently causes more harm than good. This fully referenced report shows the number of people having in-hospital, adverse reactions to prescribed drugs to be 2.2 million per year. The number of unnecessary antibiotics prescribed annually for viral infections is 20 million per year. The number of unnecessary medical and surgical procedures performed annually is 7.5 million per year. The number of people exposed to unnecessary hospitalization annually is 8.9 million per year. The most stunning statistic, however, is that the total number of deaths caused by conventional medicine is an astounding 783,936 per year. It is now evident that the American medical system is the leading cause of death and injury in the US. "Complaint against Genocide and other crimes against humanity committed in connection with the pharmaceutical business with disease." "Throughout the 20th century, the pharmaceutical industry was built and organized with the goal of controlling healthcare systems around the world by systematically replacing natural, non-patentable therapies with patentable and therefore profitable synthetic drugs." "They deliberately defined the human body as their market place in order to generate further wealth." "The accused are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of millions of people who continue to die from cardiovascular disease, cancer and other diseases that could have been prevented and largely eliminated long ago. This premature death of millions of people is neither the result of coincidence nor negligence. It has been willfully and systematically organized on behalf of the pharmaceutical industry and its investors with the sole purpose to expand a global drug market worth trillions of dollars." http://www.healingourchildren.net/cause_of_disease.htm

Who does the American people blame for the Bush failed policies and Governing system in Washington? I mean--- each time Americans pay for $60-$80 of gas who did they cursed at? Each time Americans looked at medical bills who did they blamed? Each time an American boy/girl was killed in Iraq who did Americans blamed for causing the Iraq war? If you were these people that the Americans are cursing at do you not have any shames?

How can adding government beurocracy to the CF that is the American healthcare system be a good thing? I know you will say other countries do it but that doesn't explain how we could do it here without enslaving the medical professionals.

Why do Canadians think they have a better medical system than us? Canadians favour their health care to American system: poll The Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey suggests 82 per cent of Canadians believe our system is better than U.S. health care. http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/090710/national/poll_health_care And if our system is so great, than why are we the only ones who choose to stick with it? Corporate propaganda perhaps? Powerful lobbying in Washington? An easily manipulated population? I would say all three. Show me the statistics of how many Canadians come to the U.S for health care than we will talk my friend. Must be a lot of rich people in Canada if they can afford our health care.

How racist is the American system of justice? After watching the tape of the 14 year old Black kid being kicked, punched, beaten and dragged around the Correctional Boot Camp in Florida by guards and a nurse, who they then suffocated with smelling salts and ammonia, by placing this under his nose and holding their hands over his mouth, rendering him unable to breathe....a judge and jury can find these individuals not guilty and put blame on a pre-existing medical problem for the cause of death, when he dies shortly after being what in reality is murder! No wonder Black America, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson constantly scream racism! There is no way these guards and the nurse should not be charged with murder. This child was under their care, custody and control! He was helpless to defend himself and they believed at the time he was just refuseing to obey them and do physical tasks, he really was not able to do because of a lack of oxygen in his blood-stream due to a disease, through no fault of his own, but being born! Unbelievable!

Why has Obama said that Medical Malpractice Is Off Limits? Does this answer the question? By PHILIP K. HOWARD Eliminating defensive medicine could save upwards of $200 billion in health-care costs annually, according to estimates by the American Medical Association and others. The cure is a reliable medical malpractice system that patients, doctors and the general public can trust. But this is the one reform Washington will not seriously consider. That's because the trial lawyers, among the largest contributors to the Democratic Party, thrive on the unreliable justice system we have now. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204488304574432853190155972.html So the democrats don't want to cut off funding to their trial lawyer friends.

Is this something a right winger would write? "Yet at the same time, the joke we call the American medical system, including the drug and insurance companies, are murdering tens of thousands of people a year and stealing from the corpses and victims they cripple, and this country’s leaders don’t see this as important as bailing out a few of their vile, rich cronies." http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,586627,00.html?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a4:g4:r3:c0.000000:b0:z5

Do you wonder why The American medical Association is in favor of The Public Option Health Insurance? I mean obviously Doctors don't know anything about how to fix the Health Care system in America..Why should we listen to them? They surely don't know as much as Insurance company CEOs and right wing talk show hosts.. Here is your link doubters.. http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=health-care-reform-doctors-favor-a-2009-09-16 But,as i said,why listen to a bunch of stupid Doctors over a genius like Glenn Beck?

Would you let yourself be treated in a NY hospital...? Americans only: Would you let yourself be treated in a NY hospital... knowing that the personnel there lets patients to die??? How much do you trust the American medical system NOW - after the shocking news about a woman patient who was left in agony for 1 hour (!) in a waiting room to die?

Any Medical Rep in USA who whants to correspond with me? I am a medical Rep manager in France and I would like to know if pharmaceutical companies are in good health in USA. How does a Medical rep work in the american healthcare system, what is the level of studies needed..... Well; the aim of this question is to find somebody who loves this job and wants to talk about it with me. Oups! sorry for the mistake!

How great is the American healthcare system? 1 in 10 people with cancer said they could not obtain health coverage, and six percent said they lost their coverage, because of being diagnosed with the disease. It is legal in nine states for insurers to reject applicants who are survivors of domestic violence, citing the history of domestic violence as a pre-existing condition. When offering coverage, insurers can exclude whole categories of illnesses related to a pre-existing condition. For example, someone with a pre-existing condition of hay fever could have any respiratory system disease – such as bronchitis or pneumonia – excluded from their future coverage. When a person is diagnosed with an expensive condition such as cancer, some insurance companies review his/her initial health status questionnaire. In most states’ individual insurance market, insurance companies can retroactively cancel the entire policy if any condition was missed – even if the medical condition is unrelated, and even if the person was not aware of the condition at the time. Coverage can also be revoked for all members of a family, even if only one family member failed to disclose a medical condition. http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/upload/7591.pdf http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/20090616/rescission_supplemental.pdf http://www.americanheart.org/downloadable/heart/1240250946756LS-1982%20Heart%20and%20Stroke%20Update.042009.pdf http://srab.cancer.gov/prevalence/canques.html Isn't that an awesome system?

President Obama's health reform to give medical assistance to every America is a step forward? Today's American health system need to be regulated and changed to assist the American people as many rights in america including the health of the unemployed to the most wealthy needs to be looked after .With a healthy nation can work harder for its future and President Obama has a vision of this nation America becoming stronger in internal and external trade.What is your opinion on the health plan Obama has to offer.

With 89% of Americans Satisfied with current Health Coverage...do we Over-Haul or Tweak it? http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/06/24/obama-pushes-national-health-care-americans-happy-coverage/ ABC NEWS/USA poll A survey conducted jointly by the Kaiser Family Foundation, ABC News and USA Today, released in October 2006, found that 89 percent of Americans were satisfied with their own personal medical care, but only 44 percent were satisfied with the overall quality of the American medical system. The survey is the only recent poll for which data is publicly available that allows for a comparison of the satisfaction of insured and uninsured Americans. So why does President Obama want something the American people are CLEARLY saying they don't want....has he heard the town-Meetings...............of course not his fake one!

What are your views on the medical system in Canada compared to the United States? I live in British Columbia Canada and I here lots of Canadians complane about our medical system because there is such long waiting lists for specialists and procedures, surgeries etc. and in the States there isn't because as long as you have insurance or the money to pay you can get what you need. I here many Americans say their system is better than Canada, that ours sucks in comparison to theirs, yet I hear many complain that they can't go to the doctor because it is so expensive and they have no inurance ($125 a visit and more). It seems that somewhere in between would be better....what do you think about these two different systems and do you have any opinions on what both countries could do to make things better for sick people in thier country?

If the American healthcare system is such a failure, why do we have the best medical schools in the world? I am talking about Harvard, Johns Hopkins, UPenn, Washington University, Duke, Stanford, Yale and Michigan to name a few. Our top two, Harvard and Hopkins are by far the two greatest and most exclusive in the world and are leaders in medical research and funding and no med school in Canada ranks anywhere near our top 10.

When Clinton was president, Hilary Clinton was given job to 'fix' the medical system for all Americans. What happened to that? If she did not get that working, how does she think she could be a president for all of USA. She knows nothing about Army, Navy, etc. A woman for president? No way.

Americans....so....i have just watched "Sicko" by Michael Moore...and I cannot...? believe that the American Medical System is like that...is it really that bad? What are your views on the film? One thing is certain...It made me very appreciative of the NHS and proud to be British I'm from Kent erm i live in Britain and work for a national organistation that supports the NHS and treatment is NOT denied o people who are too fat or old or drunk or whatever....please get your facts right before answering Also, treatment is provided for everybody and is not based on income....all medico policies are passed and agreed via the bma and are voted on...not a hint of fascism in sight...in fact the opposite....your system is fascist...denying health care for the poor, dictating who and who cant receive medicine, charging obscene amounts....it is a dictatorship...just another factor demonstrating america's culture of fear and inequality

Why do Europeans care what kind of health care we have in the United States? Seriously? Whats the difference to you? 95% of Americans are happy with the level of care they get in the country. - and the millions of your citizens who fly to America every year to have surgery or get treatment of some sort appear to happy with it as well. 60% are happy with their "health plan". Which is to say that only 40% of Americans dont like what they have to pay but are still fully satisfied with the level of care. While our system needs some tweeking, it is still the best in the world. No country comes close. But again, who cares. What we do over here has no impact on you people. Except when you consider all of the state-of-the-art medical equipment the American system has provided to the world. You know: X Rays, MRI's, CAT Scans, telescopic surgery, etc. Our "greedy" system was able to invent these things because our system works. Without us you wouldnt have any of this stuff. So instead of bashing our system - which to most Americans looks like nothing more

A possible out of the box solution to the American Healthcare System? I have been reading yahoo answers for awhile and it seems like we have a dilemma to healthcare: On one side, we have liberals claiming government regulation and a public option are necessary. But so many government programs are underfunded and poorly run. Plus government regulations will not be enough to rein in spiraling costs. On the otherside we have conservatives claiming the free market will solve the healthcare problem. But we have had a healthcare free market: it resulted in health insurance monopolies that charge obscene preimums and drop people for pre existing conditions. So here is a proposal: we keep healthcare away from the government and away from the private sector. Instead, we create an American Medical fund with elected officials to pool our healthcare costs together. Everyone pays into the fund equally and the government cuts taxes for all to make up the difference. Furthermore any companies responsible for America"s poor health( tobacco companies, fast food industry, industries that produce obscene air polution) will pay into this healthcare fund. What do you guys think? Have any input on this plan? Would it work?

American in Northern Ireland: Psychiatrist for Major Depression? I have recently relocated to the UK for job purposes. Over the past few months, I have begun to develop symptoms of major clinical depression. Although I have been trying to avoid it, it has become such an impediment to my daily functioning that I believe I now need psychiatric intervention. However, the medical system is so different here that I do not know where to start. And being depressed, I'm so emotionally and mentally 'tired' that I hardly have the energy to type this. The GPs that I have seen are more aloof than I'm accustomed to in the US. They are happy to write prescriptions for SSRIs like Lexapro, but my understanding is that I'd be put on a very long waiting list to see a specialist psychiatrist, up to 6 months. Does anybody out there have any experience with this?

Did American doctors failed Michael Jackson? I mean the psychologists, psychiatrists, family physicians, etc. Could Michael; Jackson have survived better in Canadian medical system? How come no one was able to diagnose him with all his mental and other conditions and have him treated properly? Why are the celebrities dieing in their houses instead of being admitted and properly managed in hospitals where there are enough manpower to help them?

Michael Moore: Sicko? I have just seen Sicko by Michael Moore and I have never been so shocked in my life. As a British citizen I would laugh at anyone who asked me to pay for my medical bills. How can American hospitals treat people in such a way? I know that Michael Moore is a biased film maker and edits everything to suit his political needs but there is no denying the horror of the American medical system. How can any society that supposedly cares about the welfare of its citizens place financial concerns above their welfare? I'm not saying that the NHS is perfect, far from it in fact. The NHS has been guilty of negligence and responsible for deaths which could have easily been prevented. But I would sooner go into the worst run hospital in Britain than any of the best ones in America. Is there anyone running for political office who is going to attempt to change the situation? Surely even the most ultra conservative Americans can't have anything against free medical care for all can they? In response to CJ's comments, what exactly is wrong with making sure that all citizens have the right to free medical care? Especially when it works so well in other countries? Yes the NHS isn't perfect and people are left behind, but we still have a better overall standard of health, lower infant mortality rates and a higher life expectancy. Even one of our former cabinet ministers who is HIV positive states that he owes his good health to the care he received on the NHS. How can it be anti-American to provide everyone with free health care? A healthy society is a hard working society which makes for a stronger society. And as America is built on Christian traditions, the traditions of charity and the claim that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle than a rich man to get into heaven, always seem to be forgotten when the Christian company directors are denying people vital care. I'm glad with the response from everyone especially the American citizens, perhaps you should take a leaf out of the French's book and everyone go on strike for free health care. lol. As I stated before I know that Michael Moore is biased and uses his films to promote his own agendas, but the horrifying reality of medical care in America would make me want to take my father to Cuba for a heart transplant.

What did the KKK do with the Addie Mae's body? Medical Apartheid was well-articulated and researched book, which all blacks must read including educators, doctors, nurses, and scientist. The book bought tears to my eyes because blacks today we are still being experimented on like lab rats and genocide secretly by our federal and state government thought medical, biological, and chemical research that are not design to save us medically. The abuse our ancestors and present day blacks have to endure by the hands of the oppressor (Private and Public institutions). The so-called "American forefather of Medicine" should have been executed or burned without going to trial for their inhumane acts perform blacks and humanity. Can you picture you go to move your deceased love from one cemetery to another better-groomed cemetery to unearth THE PLOT IS EMPTY. Addie Mae Collins, one of four young girls killed in the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Birmingham, Alabama. Addie Mae Collin Family wanted to relocate Addie Mae's grave due to the unacceptable condition of Greenwood Cemetery. When the crew went to dig up Addie Mae Collin the plot was empty (NO BODY OR COFFIN). The oppressor does not respect us when we are breathing or deceased! I do have utmost respect for the doctors that are genuinely sincere about decrease black's health issues. In addition, MS. Washington is right that black must "transform our attitudes toward medical research and to demand our place at the table to enjoy the rich bounty of the American Medical system in the form of longer, healthier lives." http://www.amazon.com/review/product/076791547X/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?%5Fencoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/m_r/randall/birmingham.htm http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/m_r/randall/birmingham.htm John, stop making me laugh!

Is an oncologist making 10,000,000$, obscene? This is from another Yahoo Answer's person glamorizing the American medical system...maybe it is time that of instead of Donald Trump saying.."you're fired"...maybe we should have cancer patient pleading for their life and this doctor can say.."no money, you are DEAD" 10,000,000$...I don't care what training one has and if they have been to hell and back to get it, it is still OBSCENE Hey tara...10,000,000$...come on this is not argumentative just enhancement And do not use sports figures and celebrities because they do not have 30 years working span.

Does anyone else think ghee (clarified butter) tastes disgusting? Maybe it's just the brand (Purity Farms)? This is the second time I've bought a bottle of Purity Farms organic ghee, and once again, I found it disgusting. I wanted to use it because I'm under the impression that it's less vulnerable to burning or oxidation than any other non-hydrogenated fat (please correct me if I'm wrong), aside from non-hydrogenated lard (can *non-hydrogenated* lard be found in the grocery store, or does one need to make it oneself?). If anyone out there actually likes ghee, could you recommend another brand and tell me where I might find it (perhaps an Indian grocery store)? By the way, if you're thinking that vegetable oils are healthier than ghee because they have less saturated fat, I suggest you do some research on the subject using sources other than the mainstream American medical system at, for example, http://www.thegreatcholesterolcon.com/

The American System, how is it that the powers that are, can influence their citizens? to vote against their own self interest and for the interest of the wealthy? For example Lower taxes By lowering taxes the rich save a huge a mount of money (yes because they pay a huge amount of money) while the middle class and lower class save less money and in return have to pay more than their tax savings in new or higher user fees. Social security By privatizing it, the owners of the system will make huge profits while the participants will receive less in benefits. Medical insurance The top dogs of the corporations make an obscene amount of money, while middle and lower class pray that if a health issue arises that they will be taken care of. The war In hindsight, the war was based on illussion. Yet if you are of the right stripe are still for it but against raising taxes. The pro business pres has lowered the taxes to be paid currently but in reality has raised future taxes. How do the powers that are push our buttons so magically to get us to accept this

Cuba for Breast Augmentation versus healthcare for the poor average Cuban? would American UHC be any better? With an annual growth rate of 20% in health tourism, Servimed has done well in its task of marrying health and tourism. Many Italians now couple their annual vacations to Cuba with their annual dental work, while others come for cut-rate knee replacements or eye surgery. But perhaps Cuba's most popular medical service, and the one it heavily promotes to tourists abroad, is cosmetic surgery. Cuban doctors have become expert at breast implants, tummy tucks, liposuction and nose jobs, giving some doctors international reputations while letting them serve the Revolution as one of the country's best earners of foreign exchange. It's a "win" for the elite doctors and a "win" for privileged patients, who benefit from what has become the world's most extreme two-tiered medical system. It's also a "win" for the Cuban elite, from Castro on down, whom Byron describes as participating in a fitness culture. "When I treat tourists of 75 years of age, I am treating fit people with many healthy years ahead of them," he said. This is also the case with members of the Cuban elite. "Castro is fit, the others at the top in government, at age 75, are fit. They take care of themselves. "But an ordinary Cuban of 63 or 64 years is already feeble, an old man." For the poor, beaten down by the system and denied basic medical care, the medical system is all "lose." First published in the National Post

Why is the American taxpayer expected to sponser every illegal alien who sneaks into America? The American taxpayer has kids to send to college, buy expensive health insurance and pay exorbitant property taxes and the middle class finds itself squeezed each year. The illegal mexican get free schooling, free medical and does not pay high property taxes. The money comes out of our pockets and is not grown on the tree by the federal government. Americans must rise up and stop this unjust system.

What is the meaning of this sociological quote:? "As a physician, I have been trained to think of problems in terms of diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. My diagnosis of the plight of Blacks in American medicine is that today's medical system consists of 20th century technology shackled with a 19th century sociology." Dr. Max Seham 1971

Should American shoulder the expense for immigration citizenship? Why should tax paying citizen pay for the rights of Immigrants ? Our tax money is spent on programs like English is a 2nd language, Welfare, free medical, here in California they have over populated the school system to the point LosAngeles unified has built elementary schools acros the street from one another, using eminent domain to seize property, Jobs ask now that you be bilingual in order to fill out an application. How much more should the American people shoulder for cheap labor or the republican way of life BIG business cheap labor.

Do you think that it is a good idea that doctor training is reduced to 4 years in the UK? Would you feel safe? There is a proposal to reduce medical training from 5 years, plus a year as a PRHO, to 4 years in the UK. This is to bring it in line with Europe and America. Now, a lot of Europeans come here because we are supposed to have the best training, and a lot of the American medical boards look at the British system with a degree of respect. Now, considering a lot of doctors qualify without even knowing how to prescribe properly after 5 years, how safe would you feel if the training was reduced? Bear in mind that Pharmacy training has been increased to 5 years, and nurse training takes 3.

Is the management of American hospitals and healthcare systems out of control, cost-wise? I think that a lot of the problem with the healthcare system in America is that the costs are out of control. The management has been hijacked by greedy corporate types with MBA's. The healthcare industry has been hiring when other industries have been suffering and laying off. Most people who used to work at McDonald's go take a class and work at a hospital or nursing home. Hospitals have so much expensive equipment, some that cost MILLIONS. Yet, if you don't have decent health insurance or any health insurance, most patients get charged exorbitant prices for their care! Why should anyone have to go into serious debt for care? It seems like the executives of these hospitals are taking advantage of the situation and extorting people! This is why they can hire all sorts of people, even the dregs of society, and buy all kinds of machines! What's worse, the pharmaceutical industry hikes up their costs by using their drug rep minions to buy expensive lunches, dinners and outings for doctors to bribe them! That is outrageous! I used to work at a restaurant and whenever I needed to charge a rep extra, they didn't care, they'd tell me to put on a huge tip too! All that BS about needing to keep patents in order to recoup the costs of researching the drug are total garbage! I think hospitals and drug companies need to get their costs in line! Every other industry has had to, why not the medical industry?

American Business Systems, Inc? AKA American Billing Systems? I am interested in information about ABS. It is a medical billing business opportunity that I am looking into. Has anyone considered this business and what results have you received? Have you gone forward with purchasing the licensing? How do you like it? If you haven't gone forward with it, why? Any information would be appreciated.

Has anyone seen the new Micheal Moore movie, "Sicko" yet? I am utterly disgusted in the American medical care system! I came out of the theater with red eyes. He did a great job in his research. His best masterpeice yet! I want a revolution!!! What did YOU think of the movie? Tell me your thoughts.

American health care: A Canadian asks some questions? As a Canadian, I'd like some assistance from American readers who can help confirm or dispel some common notions about the health care system in the United States. Here are my questions: What really happens to an uninsured American who walks into a hospital or a doctor's office looking for some medical assistance? Are they promptly shown the door because they don't have coverage? What happens if you're in an auto accident and in need of life saving surgery? Can you be refused surgery if you can't show proof of coverage? Can uninsured Americans get medical treatment with a promise to pay later? If yes, what happens if they can't pay? What would a family consisting of two parents and two kids pay (roughly) per month for private health insurance? There are many people in the States who shun the idea of idea of universal health care. What are your main reasons for resisting this kind of system? Do hospitals routinely kick out patients whose insurance has run out? EDIT: I need to clarify one issue regarding the universal system in Canada: Freedom of choice when it comes to picking a doctor is very much allowed in Canada. I can give you a personal example: My father was being treated for prostate cancer by a urologist who lacked any sort of bedside manner. My family wanted nothing more to do with this doctor as far as future treaments go. Were we stuck with this specialist? Not at all. My father simply asked our family doctor for another referral to another urologist--done, fulfilled, no questions asked. Things aren't perfect under a universal health care system, but lack of choice when it comes picking a doctor is simply not the case.

what kind of cardiolgy to treat high blood pressure ? does a doctor who had american board of cardiovascular medicine fellowships: cardiolgy and heart failure/cardic transplantation agood to treat ablood pressure and make sure everything is right in your heart ? if not then plz tell me what type of cardiology to chose ? hope to find answer from doctors , or anyone work in medical system or has an experince ?

Why do Canadians want to live in the USA? Why do many Canadians want to come and live in the USA while Americans are not too crazy about living in Canada? Although, Canada has better medical systems, social security plans, more friendly people and safer in general, more and more Candians want to live in the US and the reverse is not true. Why is it? What are the USA's main attractions?

Describing three business practices by a physician that ethically may be considered conflicts of interest? Howa re such conflicts "policed" by the medical profession, and by the American Legal system?

Did you all know that America is using the poor and minorities as Guinea Pigs, and medical experiments? Yes and the Neo Con base of the govemant is behind it 1.The placing of Blacks, poor whites and hispanics in ghettos, aka the projects(get it projects) for poor whites it is trailer parks. 2.MedicaId- Program made to study new meds on these groups of people 3.AIDS= American Govermant made Chemical weapon used to kill blacks and gays 4.Capatalism= The one system that the american govermant(neoCons) knew that poor whites, blacks, and hispanics could not prosper under, but could out do midddle class and rich whites under socialism

Why do American think that they are the BEST? After reading a number of responses’ from Americans in regards to how little they know about the European Union and the thought that they are the best country in the world I realized why the rest of the world despises them. I want to inform them that their medical system is based on Canada’s medical system. Like many other countries in the world. Also, that your medical system is not as old as other countries in the world. As for your education system is rated lower than that of Canada and other countries. As for inventions Canada has developed more than your country. The x-ray machine, insulin, and the telephone to name a few. As for intelligence, why was Canada was asked to Iraq and get the answers to what the US was looking for to go to war. Days before the US stepped up and started the War, Canada told the world that there was no need for this war. This war was begun because your president’s family owned oil fields in conjunction with officials in Iraq. You are well liked in world because you are not properly educated about the world. You are all brainwashed by government. I have lived in other countries in the world and they despise Americans. This is not new. I was like this since the 60’s. If an American was to travel in Europe the bellboys at the airports and in hotels would ask Canadian or American. If a person said American they would get no help. If they said Canadian they would get all the help they needed. Is that why so many Americans living abroad lie and say that they are Canadian? Please understand not all American's are like this just the uneducated ones. I am not saying that all American's are this way. All countries like the one I live in have problems. I know our government officials are put into power to do what they think is best for all us. Just that when the vendetta become a family issue no country has the right to fight back only the person that it involves.

American vs British? Hi everyone; Well what I'm going to ask here is how the American Schooling system differes from that of a British one. I'm currently an IGCSE (british system) student but I'm thinking whether I should continue with this or switch to an American system. I would like it if anyone could tell me how the grading is done, whether there are different types in the American system, which is preferred by universities in general...etc. I would also like to know on how the final examination is going to be done, I mean like for the IGCSE O levels (which I might be doing next year) we have to study almost every single topic we took in grades 9, 10 and 11 in all subjects we're going to take (I'm taking 7) and then we could go for A/As levels. I want to go to a medical university in the future so I would like to know which system is going to be of greater help. Thanks!