World is Falling Apart Thread (Locked forever)

[marurun]

So, in Canada, cystic fibrosis patients live, on average 10 years longer than those in the US.

The difference is largely because of one large group of US patients: "US patients with continuous or intermittent Medicare or Medicaid or with no insurance at all had 36 to 77 percent higher risks of death than their Canadian counterparts"

This is what the "free market" does to health. You can only be healthy if you can afford it. This is why I believe so-called socialized medicine is truly the only way forward for medicine. A lot of folks like to insist that the US's poor mortality and health numbers (compared to the rest of the world) are due to cultural issues, but those with private insurance had similar survival rates to patients in Canada. If this were a cultural issue these differences would show up across different subgroups.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/03 ... in-the-us/

[prfsnl_gmr]

I would like us to move to something like the French system (which, shockingly, isn't actually socialized health care). It sounds pretty great, but I am fairly certain that health insurance and pharmaceutical industry interests will see to it that we never get there.

[MrPopo]

So, in Canada, cystic fibrosis patients live, on average 10 years longer than those in the US.

The difference is largely because of one large group of US patients: "US patients with continuous or intermittent Medicare or Medicaid or with no insurance at all had 36 to 77 percent higher risks of death than their Canadian counterparts"

This is what the "free market" does to health. You can only be healthy if you can afford it.

That seems like a perfectly reasonable state of affairs to me. At the end of the day you need to be able to pay for things.

[Erik_Twice]

I would like us to move to something like the French system (which, shockingly, isn't actually socialized health care). It sounds pretty great, but I am fairly certain that health insurance and pharmaceutical industry interests will see to it that we never get there.

I'm confused. Why does the article say that the French system is not socialized? The vast majority of the funding, infrastructure and burocracy comes from public sources, and hence, is socialized. If the French system is not socialist, then no system is!

Personally, I feel that a French-like system is extremely unlikely on both a political and a social level for the US. Something like the German one (Insurance-based, more participation from the private sector, decentralized to the point states can negotiate individually, etc.) seems to align much closer.

[marurun]

Apparently, internal, non-public data available to the administration clearly highlights why Trump's travel bad is all image and no substance. Honestly, Trump's agenda so far is about appeasement of a vocal minority. Polls and surveys have repeatedly shown that independents and moderate Republicans are increasingly bothered by not just the president's communication, but his actual agenda. His support numbers remain startlingly low and he seems to have no interest in appealing to a broader America.

From the article:
"One internal report, titled “Most Foreign-Born US-Based Violent Extremists Radicalized After Entering Homeland,’’ analyzed roughly 90 cases of suspected or confirmed foreign-born terrorists, finding that most of them likely embraced extremist ideology after they arrived in the United States, not before.

Another report, drawn on classified FBI data, has been used by the Trump administration to bolster its claims that refugees pose a risk of terrorism. But the figures that are the basis for that report undermine a key premise of the travel ban because most of the suspects cited in the report came from countries unaffected by President Trump’s executive order, according to officials familiar with the report."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/na ... story.html

[Sano]

I have to admit it, I use to be proud to be an American..... these days I feel a little ashamed of it...

I will state that I am still honored by the men and women of the US Armed Forces. I always thank them when I see them out and about

[Sarge]

For myself, my pride in being an American isn't hinged on who inhabits the Oval Office.

[MrPopo]

The person in the White House is just one person, but to get in the White House you need the support of a lot of the country. So the POTUS is a reflection on the American public.

[Sarge]

True. However, I think my concept of "American" is tied to something greater than where the populace currently resides ideologically. I can certainly be embarrassed for my country, but I will always be proud to be an American.

That's probably what Sano is getting at, too.

[marurun]

I find it odd to be proud to live somewhere you just happened to have been born.