~> http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE58G6W520090917
~> 
~> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly 45,000 people die in the United States each 
~> year -- one every 12 minutes -- in large part because they lack health 
~> insurance and can not get good care, Harvard Medical School researchers 
~> found in an analysis released on Thursday [17 Sep 09].

An interesting study, but one that (based on the admittedly brief summary
in the news story) would get laughed out of a class on research
methodology.  It compares two populations (insured and uninsured), finds
one healthier than the other, and jumps to the conclusion that it is due to
that one difference.  In other words it assumes that people who HAVE
insurance are just like those who do NOT have insurance, in every other way.

Now think for a minute about three categories of those who do NOT currently
have insurance.  Some are relatively young people who could afford it but
are prone to risk-taking and are willing to take the risk and save the
money, and they are on the whole more prone to other risk-taking behaviors
that would make their lives more vulnerable anyway (dangerous sports,
dangerous substance use, dangerous driving behavior, and so on).  Some are
the same people you were talking about earlier -- those with pre-existing
conditions that are serious enough to shorten their lives.  And some are
people who are in poverty or who have employment situations that do not
include regular benefits.  Even if you gave them FREE medical insurance all
three groups are going to have, on the average, higher mortality rates than
people who do not take risks, do not already have serious health problems,
and have regular employment in good jobs that pay enough to be out of poverty.

~> You guys realize we trail behind countries like France in providing
basic health 
~> and human services to our citizens?

I would take the US medical care system over France's any day at all.  Any
day at all.  If you are diagnosed with cancer, for instance, you are more
likely to still be alive five years later if you are getting care in the US
than France.  We spend more than France, but we also get more for it.  For
example, in the US there are three times as many CT scans and five times as
many MRIs (per million population) as in France.  Some of those may, of
course, be unnecessary tests run because the patient is not paying
out-of-pocket for it (and the Obama plan does not change that fact) or
because the doctor wants to protect against malpractice suits (also
unchanged).  But I would hate to be the one to go to five people waiting to
get an MRI and tell FOUR of them that they cannot get one because we want
to be like France.

 
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