Shock: Inside the Obama Healthcare Bill , page 17

Originally posted by JohnnyCanuck

I simply wish the same for y'all. And I cannot see how the system could be worse than what you cite now.

This entire thing is hard to explain because there's more than 4,000 characters worth of stuff here, so please bear with me.

The thing that is very hard to explain to people from other countries about our health care is that it's really not bad. The only thing that isn't quite right are specialists, they are a bit too pricey. The reason they are pricey, though, is because they have to attempt to protect themselves from being sued, and they do this through many expensive means that has a direct impact on the cost of health insurance (oddly, not on direct pay).

One thing you must understand as well is that we already have government run health care. The thing is, though, that it sucks. This comes from somebody who has used it. It is inefficient, costly, and just plain bad. People often opt out of using those programs instead of not using anything. That is how bad they are. I am one of those people.

The reasons for this are many. One of them has to do with how diverse we are as a country. When you compare Americans with Canadians, in terms of diversity, Canadians will exist in a fairly homogeneous clump compared to the United States. This results in, typically, fewer tests on a person than in Canada than a U.S.

For example, Sickle Cell Anemia probably isn't a big deal in Canada but it is much bigger in the U.S. Of course, it's a much bigger deal in areas where there are concentrated amounts of people from tropical areas.

You can also see this in your country as well. To bring a source to the table:

dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca...

If you go down to the Farmers section (do a find and type in A. Farmers), you'll see that rural citizens often have specific needs that urban citizens do not. An urban citizen probably has little need for care for Farmers Lung.

It's no different here. While you may have a very diverse group of people, we are more diverse by several fold. When you compare either of our countries to European countries, it's very shocking. Hell, to compare the two of ours is still pretty telling.

So, going back to the Sickle Cell thing, the cost of it in your country, percentage wise, is probably not going to be the same levels as it is in the United States because we have 12.5% black people in our population while you only have 2.5% (I believe those are the most accurate numbers available at this time but I'm not entirely sure) and black people are the primary people predisposed.

Likewise, Brazillians are probably paying much more for Sickle Cell care than we are. However, they're probably not paying as much for something that a white person is more predisposed to. To go further, you probably have more white people, percentage wise, in your country than we here in the United States have, so you'd be most impacted by it.

I know this next thing will be viewed as racist but it's not, it's just the truth. When genetic problems from two groups of people combine, it costs more money to deal with as you have to deal with two problems for one person. This can happen interracially as well, it could just be that where that person is from, say, Switzerland, the people that live there don't have a problem that, say, the Irish have... but they both have unique problems that they are predisposed to.

That is one reason why people in fairly homogeneous country tend to have lower health care costs and healthier people. It's why they probably won't check for Sickle Cell in Holland but they'll check it here, even if it isn't needed at all because the doctors have to cover themselves.

The only thing that really needs change here is Tort reform. Our health care system is very good. We have tons of choices available to us, all of which are approachable regardless of how much money you make.

52 characters left after all of that. Jeez