[BITList] Everyone is leaving America behind

[John Feltham]

Is world outpacing U.S. on health care?

Monday, May 14, 6:32 AM

Even as Americans debate whether President Obama’s health-care law and its promise of guaranteed health coverage should be scrapped, many far less affluent nations are moving in the opposite direction — to provide medical insurance to all citizens.

China, after years of underfunding health care, is on track to complete a three-year, $124 billion initiative projected to cover more than 90 percent of the nation’s residents.

Mexico, which a decade ago covered less than half its population, completed an eight-year drive for universal coverage that has dramatically expanded Mexicans’ access to life-saving treatments for diseases such as leukemia and breast cancer.

In Thailand, where the gross domestic product per person is one-fifth that of the United States, just 1 percent of the population lacks health insurance. And in sub-Saharan Africa, Rwanda and Ghana — two of the world’s poorest nations — are working to create networks of insurance plans to cover their citizens.

“This is truly a global movement,” said Julio Frenk, a former health minister in Mexico and dean of the Harvard School of Public Health. “As countries advance, they are realizing that creating universal health-care systems is a necessity for long-term economic development.”

Many countries are struggling to improve the quality of their medical care. And making health care affordable remains a challenge for most countries, as it does for the United States, where about 15 percent of people lack coverage.

But the international drive to provide health care for everyone is leaving America behind.
  


Note:

In the latest budget (las week), the Australian Government have started a "Disabled Insurance" scheme.

Those who are born disabled or become disabled will be able to access the scheme.

There are too many greedy people in the US. Look what is happening in Europe. All caused by greed in the US.


ooroo