Take this one, a U.S. military spending vs other countries per capita chart:
Astounding, isn’t?
And then you get the health care industry bribery level (a.k.a. 'campaign contributions') in the U.S, which basically insures there will be no reform to universal health care:
Yeah, that's millions and millions.
And then you get the breakdown of cost in US dollars per person of health care in each country of the world and the most expensive is the U.S. – without universal health care! More than twice that of the superb universal health care systems in Canada, France and Sweden!
Rank Countries Amount
# 1 United States: 4,271
# 2 Switzerland: 3,857
# 3 Norway: 3,182
# 4 Denmark: 2,785
# 5 Luxembourg: 2,731
# 6 Iceland: 2,701
# 7 Germany: 2,697
# 8 France: 2,288
# 9 Japan: 2,243
# 10 Netherlands: 2,173
# 11 Sweden: 2,145
# 12 Belgium: 2,137
# 13 Austria: 2,121
# 14 Canada: 1,939
# 15 Australia: 1,714
# 16 Finland: 1,704
# 17 Italy: 1,676
# 18 United Kingdom: 1,675
# 19 Israel: 1,607
# 20 Ireland: 1,569
# 21 United Arab Emirates: 1,428
# 22 New Zealand: 1,163
# 23 Spain: 1,043
# 24 Greece: 965
# 25 Portugal: 859
# 26 Slovenia: 746
# 27 Singapore: 678
# 28 Argentina: 654
# 29 Uruguay: 621
# 30 Bahamas, The: 612
# 31 Barbados: 601
# 32 Korea, South: 470
# 33 Lebanon: 469
# 34 Saint Kitts and Nevis: 408
# 35 Czech Republic: 380
# 36 Bahrain: 358
# 37 Hungary: 318
# 38 Brazil: 308
# 39 Chile: 289
# 40 Slovakia: 285
# 41 Costa Rica: 257
# 42 Poland: 248
# 43 Panama: 246
# 44 Estonia: 243
# 45 Mexico: 236
# 46 South Africa: 230
# 47 Colombia: 227
# 48 Dominica: 208
# 49 Trinidad and Tobago: 204
# 50 Grenada: 193
{Source: World Bank}
Makes it all easier to understand, doesn't it?
Now, where's the outrage from the huddled, sick and bankrupt masses?
I'm ready to be outraged, but I'm in the wrong country, namely #10.
ReplyDeleteAnd from your sharing of your ongoing health issues, Irene, where would you be if you were back living in the U.S.?
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Exactly, where's the outrage? You'd think with such an obscene amount of money being spent on the military rather than public services, ordinary folk would be firebombing government buildings - every day. But I guess they just shrug their shoulders and assume any public protest would be like water off a duck's back.
ReplyDeleteThe Empire needs to have a strong enough military to defeat any power or combination of powers thus the health of its citizens is sacrificed on the altar of Mars. Its the old guns or butter dilemma.
ReplyDeleteGFB
trust me, there is plenty of outrage here. and terrible stories. it's not the people. it's the politicians.
ReplyDeleteDisgraceful, isn't it WWW?
ReplyDeleteAnd it's not all the fault of the Republicans, although they bear a lot of blame. Democrats are too weak or centrist to fight for what they SAY they believe in.
I'm not blaming Obama though. He will do his best, in trying circumstances, to at least set the country in a slightly different direction, but it'll take a long time - more time than he has, probably.
Most Americans are so afraid of what they see as "socialism" that any talk of single payer health care sends 'em into a frenzy.
Then there's the lunatic fringe of the right-wing Republicans - led by Limbaugh, Beck etc. preaching to their choirs, and ensuring the Great Unwashed stay that way.
It seems to me that Americans (I'm one now, but only recently) and Democrats in particular (I'm not one, I'm Independent) don't want what they say they want, otherwise they'd have supported Dennis Kucinich last election, sufficiently to at least give him a chance of a cabinet position.
He was ridiculed, then ignored and he was truly the one who'd have tried harder, fought harder, to give them what they now say they want.
I am so angry about this WWW!!!
Being as I haven't bothered a doctor for over 5 years I doubt I have cost my country a single penny in healthcare for the last 5 years.
ReplyDeleteAm I alone in this? Or should there be lots of monies left over from people like me to go on healthcare for those who really need it?
What about offering an incentive to stay healthy and encourage people to look after themselves (much though wear and tear and bad luck can sadly come into it to skew the figures sometimes)?
Nick:
ReplyDeleteI, too am astonished at the passivity of the sheeple in the US. Where are the protests and marches? Oh yeah, I forgot, that's forbidden now.
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GFB:
ReplyDeleteIt certainly seems that way down South, I've just started reading a book about the derelict sick on skid row in American cities.
Awful stuff.
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Laurie:
ReplyDeleteI think the outrage needs to become more visible!
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T:
ReplyDeleteI remember reading about Nixon being the one who originally (in collusion with the insurance health care industrial complex) thought of brainwashing the sheeple into thinking any kind of single payer system was socialism. And they bought it. And it still continues to this day. He thought of it as one of his shining successes as president. I guess it was.
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Laura:
ReplyDeleteAs am I, but it is there if we fall horrendously ill and for that I'm eternally grateful.
Catastrophes do happen.
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I think people are outraged. Polls say that a large majority of Americans want either single payer or an optional government run plan for health care. The impediment now is the Senate. And the so-called conservative Democrats in the Senate will ultimately be responsible for defeating meaningful health system reform. I am really outraged. This was a great post, and says it all with a few charts.
ReplyDeleteI think an uprising is called for Anne, to shake them all up, a pots and pans thing like Buenos Aires a few years back. It is so shameful. My heart aches for the ill and the desperate.
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I would be on skid row as a bag lady, or living on medic-aid in one of those run down hotels. Or crazy mad in a state mental hospital, but they've all been closed down, haven't they?
ReplyDeleteNo Irene, you're SOL on those state mental hospitals, they were costing too much so they came up with a reason to close them all. There is so little value placed on human life these days, it is scary. Especially the sick, I still think of that poor woman in "Sicko" being thrown out on the street.
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