BusinessWeek says the U.S. should learn a lesson from France about how to run health care. According to the July 9 issue:
“France also demonstrates that you can deliver stellar results with this mix of public and private financing,” wrote correspondent Kerry Capell.
Capell also called the French universal system “generous” and stated that it “offers valuable lessons for would-be health-care reformers in the U.S.”
Specifically referencing Michael Moore’s propaganda-mentary, Capell said the French system is not “quite as superb as Sicko maintains, but it’s pretty good.”
There were no critics of French health care quoted in her story, only proponents of it.
Lacking from Capell’s piece was a dose of perspective about French health care, because she included three experts who all support the system: Victor G. Rodwin of New York University, Daniel J. Pedersen of the Buffett Early Childhood Fund and Shanny Peer of the French-American Foundation.
As Kyle Smith pointed out in a review of “Sicko” in the New York Post, the French system is far from flawless. He specifically mentioned the August 2003 heat wave that claimed the lives of nearly 15,000 people in France.
“The French parliament blamed the health care system. That’s five times 9/11’s toll, all of it preventable, all of it unlamented by Moore,” Smith wrote.
Capell’s praise for the “stellar” system became really ironic when she stated that France is now dealing with “runaway health-care inflation. That has led to some hefty tax hikes” and the country is trying to find a way to “rein in costs” by - of all things, borrowing "U.S.-style health-maintenance organization tactics."
—Julia A. Seymour is an assistant editor for the Business & Media Institute.
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Smith was right. The decisi
July 3, 2007 - 14:06 ET by GalvanicSmith was right. The decision not to recall physicians, nurses, and orderlies during the August 2003 heat-wave, was at the Ministerial level. Perhaps they didn't want to pay the overtime or other compensation (In most Western European social-democracies, such compensation is very high), or anger the unions, but for whatever reason(s), they made a calculated decision that put the safety of the public behind other considerations, and directly contributed to the deaths of nearly 15,000 people.
Culling the useless eaters?
July 3, 2007 - 14:48 ET by dscottCulling the useless eaters? The brave world of socialism, the government decides how much you're worth, has X dollars alloted for your group and when the budget is used up, you die from lack of treatment or facilities. Crass? Not so, don't we see the same thing in Britian and Canada but on a more subtle scale with waiting in long lines to receive medical treatment? Obviously, if you die while in line someone else get's your spot thus saving the government money, even HMOs are not that heartless.
“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.” – Marcus Aurelius
dscott,You basically just nai
July 3, 2007 - 15:05 ET by Dave Rdscott,
You basically just nailed the whole problem. Government-run heath care is always going to have to be rationed to some extent or other.
Funny how the supporters of socialized medicine never seem to discuss that hideous aspect.
Help Fred Thompson defeat the RINOs, along with the Hitllary/Obama axis, & win the White House in '08.
Bad Medicine...
July 3, 2007 - 21:35 ET by danybhoyYour right, it would be rationed. But the sick thing is there are times in a socialized system where some patients will be treated like a old car in need of repair, is it worth the money to care for someone who has limited value to society. And we are not talking about someone who is terminally ill or who has been injured so badly that his/her family must decide whether to pull the plug either, but for people who are deemed to old to worth the treatment they need in relation to the cost of the care. Count me out.
The funny thing is that places like the Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins Medical Center, & the Mayo Clinic(just an hour down the road from me) are in the good old USA, not in a socialized nation who has seen it's best days go by years ago.
"A goverment big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away" Barry Goldwater
Culling the useless eaters?
July 3, 2007 - 21:39 ET by botgCulling the useless eaters?
Useless eater to Hillary is anyone who doesn't vote for Her Highness
“The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” -Chief Justice John Roberts
Let the French fix this one!
July 3, 2007 - 14:53 ET by Gary HallLet the French fix this one!
Everyone should have heard the story of most recent medical horror of socialized medicine — "the death of Edith Isabel Rodriguez, who writhed on the floor begging for help in the last moments of her life..", LA Times editorial.
Martin-Luther King Jr. - Harbor Hospital. What a dramatic event playing out right in front of our eyes. In the midst of the born-again escalating call, now led by Moore, to transform our part private, part government run health care system to a full blown national government run system, the State of CA is moving to close down this integral part of the local community's health care system.
Tens of thousands of medically dependent folks will be left without available health care in the resulting void - yet the liberal LA Times is calling for it to be shut down.
It's agreed that our government is not capable of correcting the problems of socialized medicine, even in an isolated incidence. The only solution available, in the eyes of the State of CA and the LA Times is to just shut it down. That's a confidence builder, is it not? Yet, they continue to call for the whole show to be run by the govenment.
Want the government running the whole show?
Perhaps, this could be seen as a trial baloon for Michael Moore and the left. Let's see if they can come up with a functional and self-supporting solution to the financial and social disaster of just one government run hospital.
GH, Quite right. That hospita
July 3, 2007 - 15:48 ET by Mr. KafirGH,
Quite right. That hospital is a county-run hospital. The LA County Board of Supervisors are the trustees of the hospital. It was built after the Watts riots to appease the black community, because there would be pride of ownership. Something the black community could benefit from. Well, its a pathetically failed experiment, because the trustees placed incompetent black managers in key positions (again to appease the black community). Congresswomen Maxine Waters is still trying to keep the hospital open, and has the gall to call the people who want to close it racists. LAPD cops that are injured demand to be taken to another hospital lest they die there (King/Drew is notorious for letting cops die). All this due to multi-culti bullshit combined with government control. I'd bet Moore wouldn't step foot in that hospital, but its okay for the little people.
Mr. Kafir
July 3, 2007 - 16:20 ET by Gary HallExactly. Michael Moore should have taken his pet patients to King Drew or to Martin Luther King /Harbor hospital, and say, "See America - this is what you will get if you want my America." (;~> gary
Now that's really sad. Don'
July 5, 2007 - 08:50 ET by dscottNow that's really sad.
Don't tell the reason me, let me guess... the reason they are claiming the King/Drew hospital isn't performing on par is due to a lack of money??? The same excuse used in the DC school system, lack of money even though they spend more per capita on every student than surrounding school districts (which was caused by treating the system as a JOB's program or Middle Class welfare)?
“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.” – Marcus Aurelius
Guess is why France is Moving to be Like America
July 3, 2007 - 15:20 ET by Lame CherryOdd that Sarkozy and the French people in having it so good in the American press are moving in France to get rid of French problems like health care, socialism and a dead economy to introduce the American methods.
I guess if you are Charlie Rose needing a new heart ticker then you got the head of the socialist line if you are an American millionaire, but if you are French you can just drool yourself to oblivion waiting for someone to treat you.
American liberal press they just keep on coming up with the most ignorant of things.
*HIC IACET ARTORIVS REX QVONDAM REXQVE FVTVRVS
Princess Diana
July 3, 2007 - 15:46 ET by david999Princess Diana was driven slowly around Paris for more then an hour while being treated in an ambulance instead of rushing to the nearest hospital. If her accident happened here in the USA she would be alive today
It has always amazed me that
July 3, 2007 - 23:11 ET by jdhawkIt has always amazed me that the leading business news magazines and business oriented newspapers could have some of the most liberal reporters on their staff. Of course, the result is unbelievable "stories" like this one. For that reason, I long ago cancelled my subscriptions to Fortune, Business Week, etc.
It will be truly refreshing when Murdoch takes over the Wall Street Journal and forms a news staff as conservative as its terrific editorial staff. I look forward to it.