"SICK AROUND THE WORLD" (PBS): A Globe-Trotting Tour of Five of the World's Advanced "Universal Healthcare" Systems, hosted by Washington Post's T.R. Reid
If you have a little less than ONE-HOUR'S TIME to spare, I promise you this is the DEFINITIVE "globe-trotting" exploration of FIVE countries' -- England, Germany, Switzerland, Japan and Taiwan -- varying, "working models" of successfully applied "Universal Healthcare" systems. It will at least open your eye's to the the types of working models -- government-only, public/private, public/nonprofit, public/nonprofit/for-profit, etc. -- that can be easily deployed with an open-minded, spirit of "humane innovation" and basic government reforms and enactment!
PBS'S FRONTLINE docmentary "Sick Around the World" is a "MUST-SEE" in-depth documentary exploration into “working” Universal Healthcare systems in a handful of countries around the world – exemplary “operating models” of what America could “simply” accomplish with a “melding” of our half-century-old Medicare for over-65 years of age Seniors system with the more recent expansion of Medicaid under the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010" (aka “Obamacare”) for the general under-65 population in this country. These are the kind of REFORMS U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders has made as one of his cornerstone platforms with the broader vision of a more all-encompassing "Medicare For All" single-payer Universal Healthcare platform as part of his 2016 Democratic Presidential Campaign run since the summer of 2015.
Many of the Facebook posters in favor of Healthcare Reform in this country first saw this FRONTLINE documentary when it first aired in April 15, 2008. Washington Post journalist T.R. Reid does an incredible job as host and narrator in traveling the globe to explore and reveal how five other "capitalist democracies" around the world -- the United Kingdom, Japan, Taiwan, Germany and Switzerland -- are successfully implementing various forms of "Universal Healthcare."
Reid does a really credible, thorough investigative job in covering the "pros" and few "cons" of each country's "Universal Healthcare" system. I really would like to encourage anyone interested in Healthcare Reform, along with any conservative-leaning, anti-healthcare reform advocates to watch this documentary -- because it proves "Universal Healthcare" can be provided at FRACTIONS of what healthcare currently costs America.
In T.R. Reid's investigative exploration, he found there is generally THREE COMMONLY-HELD TENETS OF HOW OTHER WORLD “UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE” SYSTEMS NEED TO OPERATE SUCCESSFULLY (either as “Socialized/Public Care” or hybrid “Public/Private Universal Healthcare”):
People on the "RIGHT/CONSERVATIVE side of the political spectrum" cannot dismiss the results these "Universal Healthcare" systems have produced for some of the most prosperous, productive and competitive industrial societies of the world -- Switzerland, Japan, Taiwan and Germany, in particular.
Before implementing Universal Healthcare in 1995, political leaders, economists and medical practitioners from Taiwan visited a number of countries practicing Universal Healthcare in taking what they considered to be the "best" working components to "craft" their own system -- featuring a government-backed "Single-Payer"/"Single Insurer" system and "smart cards" for each citizen in a country-wide database for medical records and billings. And Taiwan spends 5.5% of it Gross Domestic Product on Universal Healthcare while the world's leading debtor nation, the United States, spends about 17% of its GDP (or just over $3.3 TRILLION in 2015) on healthcare in a largely "private marketplace" - not really a "system" in the most literal definition of the term.
This hour-long documentary, Reid also co-wrote with executive producer, Jon Palfreman, really does a good job in dispelling much of the long-standing "demonizing" myths put up by Right Wing opponents of American healthcare reform -- in speaking falsely of "socialized/government-run" healthcare "wrecking the economies" of nations who have had the courage, humanity and foresight to establish national healthcare "safety nets" for their citizens.
It just blows me away that our "representative" republic can't just look to the "outside world" for "working" examples and templates of what has been successfully practiced with Universal Healthcare. To me, it just further illustrates how far removed our "elected" reps are from their constituents in largely doing the bidding of "For-Profit/Big Healthcare" lobbyists and other special interests -- all the in the obsessive interest of garnering BIG-DOLLAR contributions and this overriding goal of maintaining the status quo of a "middleman-based" For-Profit/Big Health Insurance marketplace dictated by corporations with "antitrust-exempt" immunity designed to exploit and punish American insurance consumers.
That is why our nonpartisan organization, Americans for a Nonprofit Universal Healthcare (ANUH), is advocating a little-known NONPROFIT-BASED sub-classification of "Social Managed Care Plan" insurance organizations taking part in the Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug (MA-PD) program for Senior Citizens to receive greater coverage areas, zero- to minimal-cost deductibles and co-pays, and "Medicare-minimum" base-rate premiums from nonprofit "Social HMOs" -- at mere FRACTIONS of what "For-Profit/Big Insurance" seeks to charge in the same Medicare Advantage "Insurance Exchange" program and in the unregulated under-65 marketplace.
After the release of our own 23-page position paper ("Rx for U.S. Healthcare Reform") advocating the "startup" funding for creation and fostering of NONPROFIT-BASED "Health Insurance Organizations" (aka "Social HMOs") for broadened application to the under-65 and over-65 American consumer marketplaces, ANUH firmly advocates that "For-Profit/Big Health Insurance" NOT be allowed to CONTROL and PROLIFERATE any state "Insurance Exchange" system mandated by the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Allowing the criminally-exempt "Big Health Insurance" carriers to continue control/monopolize and artificially price inflate health insurance premiums in the current "State-Run Insurance Exchanges" funded by the U.S. government is "like letting the wolves protect the hen house."
Again, please watch these two FRONTLINE documentaries, "Sick Around the World" and "Sick Around America," at http://www.pbs.org to get complete, fair pictures on what Universal Healthcare has done to improve the lives, productivity and state of well-being for these practicing nations. WE can do this -- it's not that "reinventing-the-wheel" complicated, it's about embracing something that is working and could be the most critical step in restoring a major piece of America's socioeconomic fabric with "ethics-based healthcare reform." #
PBS'S FRONTLINE docmentary "Sick Around the World" is a "MUST-SEE" in-depth documentary exploration into “working” Universal Healthcare systems in a handful of countries around the world – exemplary “operating models” of what America could “simply” accomplish with a “melding” of our half-century-old Medicare for over-65 years of age Seniors system with the more recent expansion of Medicaid under the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010" (aka “Obamacare”) for the general under-65 population in this country. These are the kind of REFORMS U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders has made as one of his cornerstone platforms with the broader vision of a more all-encompassing "Medicare For All" single-payer Universal Healthcare platform as part of his 2016 Democratic Presidential Campaign run since the summer of 2015.
Many of the Facebook posters in favor of Healthcare Reform in this country first saw this FRONTLINE documentary when it first aired in April 15, 2008. Washington Post journalist T.R. Reid does an incredible job as host and narrator in traveling the globe to explore and reveal how five other "capitalist democracies" around the world -- the United Kingdom, Japan, Taiwan, Germany and Switzerland -- are successfully implementing various forms of "Universal Healthcare."
Reid does a really credible, thorough investigative job in covering the "pros" and few "cons" of each country's "Universal Healthcare" system. I really would like to encourage anyone interested in Healthcare Reform, along with any conservative-leaning, anti-healthcare reform advocates to watch this documentary -- because it proves "Universal Healthcare" can be provided at FRACTIONS of what healthcare currently costs America.
In T.R. Reid's investigative exploration, he found there is generally THREE COMMONLY-HELD TENETS OF HOW OTHER WORLD “UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE” SYSTEMS NEED TO OPERATE SUCCESSFULLY (either as “Socialized/Public Care” or hybrid “Public/Private Universal Healthcare”):
- Insurance companies MUST COVER EVERYONE and CANNOT MAKE A PROFIT on “Basic Care Services” – they may charge a premium for certain “Supplemental Coverage” plans in certain countries. Most of the countries featuring some (if any) participation of “private health insurance providers” do not allow them to be attached to “public stock exchanges” and most governments can set limits on their pricing and profits;
- Everybody is (legally) “mandated” to buy insurance coverage and the governments pay for the POOR to have health coverage – many of the countries pay the “subsidized coverage” through higher taxes on the upper-middle class to the wealthy;
- Doctors and Hospitals have to accept “ONE SET STANDARD ON FIXED PRICING” for their services. Pricing levels are reviewed on either a quarterly or annual basis in some of these countries.
People on the "RIGHT/CONSERVATIVE side of the political spectrum" cannot dismiss the results these "Universal Healthcare" systems have produced for some of the most prosperous, productive and competitive industrial societies of the world -- Switzerland, Japan, Taiwan and Germany, in particular.
Before implementing Universal Healthcare in 1995, political leaders, economists and medical practitioners from Taiwan visited a number of countries practicing Universal Healthcare in taking what they considered to be the "best" working components to "craft" their own system -- featuring a government-backed "Single-Payer"/"Single Insurer" system and "smart cards" for each citizen in a country-wide database for medical records and billings. And Taiwan spends 5.5% of it Gross Domestic Product on Universal Healthcare while the world's leading debtor nation, the United States, spends about 17% of its GDP (or just over $3.3 TRILLION in 2015) on healthcare in a largely "private marketplace" - not really a "system" in the most literal definition of the term.
This hour-long documentary, Reid also co-wrote with executive producer, Jon Palfreman, really does a good job in dispelling much of the long-standing "demonizing" myths put up by Right Wing opponents of American healthcare reform -- in speaking falsely of "socialized/government-run" healthcare "wrecking the economies" of nations who have had the courage, humanity and foresight to establish national healthcare "safety nets" for their citizens.
It just blows me away that our "representative" republic can't just look to the "outside world" for "working" examples and templates of what has been successfully practiced with Universal Healthcare. To me, it just further illustrates how far removed our "elected" reps are from their constituents in largely doing the bidding of "For-Profit/Big Healthcare" lobbyists and other special interests -- all the in the obsessive interest of garnering BIG-DOLLAR contributions and this overriding goal of maintaining the status quo of a "middleman-based" For-Profit/Big Health Insurance marketplace dictated by corporations with "antitrust-exempt" immunity designed to exploit and punish American insurance consumers.
That is why our nonpartisan organization, Americans for a Nonprofit Universal Healthcare (ANUH), is advocating a little-known NONPROFIT-BASED sub-classification of "Social Managed Care Plan" insurance organizations taking part in the Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug (MA-PD) program for Senior Citizens to receive greater coverage areas, zero- to minimal-cost deductibles and co-pays, and "Medicare-minimum" base-rate premiums from nonprofit "Social HMOs" -- at mere FRACTIONS of what "For-Profit/Big Insurance" seeks to charge in the same Medicare Advantage "Insurance Exchange" program and in the unregulated under-65 marketplace.
After the release of our own 23-page position paper ("Rx for U.S. Healthcare Reform") advocating the "startup" funding for creation and fostering of NONPROFIT-BASED "Health Insurance Organizations" (aka "Social HMOs") for broadened application to the under-65 and over-65 American consumer marketplaces, ANUH firmly advocates that "For-Profit/Big Health Insurance" NOT be allowed to CONTROL and PROLIFERATE any state "Insurance Exchange" system mandated by the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Allowing the criminally-exempt "Big Health Insurance" carriers to continue control/monopolize and artificially price inflate health insurance premiums in the current "State-Run Insurance Exchanges" funded by the U.S. government is "like letting the wolves protect the hen house."
Again, please watch these two FRONTLINE documentaries, "Sick Around the World" and "Sick Around America," at http://www.pbs.org to get complete, fair pictures on what Universal Healthcare has done to improve the lives, productivity and state of well-being for these practicing nations. WE can do this -- it's not that "reinventing-the-wheel" complicated, it's about embracing something that is working and could be the most critical step in restoring a major piece of America's socioeconomic fabric with "ethics-based healthcare reform." #
"Sick Around America," first airing on PBS's "FRONTLINE" in April 2009, is the followup sequel to "Sick Around the World."
This documentary, coming almost a year before Congress passed the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (otherwise coined as "Obamacare" in the popular lexicon) and several years before the staged introduction of "mandated" health coverage and "state-run" health insurance exchanges began operation, is nevertheless a stark chronicling of how broken the "under-65 marketplace" for health coverage in America lead to countless numbers of Americans to suffer and die (and even go broke) for the lack of coverage or none at all.
As the worsening economy leads to massive job losses — potentially forcing millions more Americans to go without health insurance — FRONTLINE travels the country examining the nation's COST-SPIRALING and EXCLUSIONARY health care system and explores the need for a fundamental overhaul. Veteran FRONTLINE producer Jon Palfreman dissects the private insurance system, a system that not only fails to cover 46 million Americans but also leaves millions more underinsured and at risk of bankruptcy.
Outside of employer-based health care plans, the state of "pre-Obamacare" coverage, which now includes expansion of Medicaid-based health coverage for low-income to poor Americans, was pretty much a barren "Have or Have-Not" healthcare landscape. Americans seeking insurance in the individual market must submit to "medical underwriting," and if they have a pre-existing condition, they will likely be denied.
Please also visit at http://www.pbs.org to get complete, fair pictures on what Universal Healthcare has done to improve the lives, productivity and state of well-being for these practicing nations.
Keep up the fight and the faith, because Washington can't hold back the overwhelming tide of our collective humanitarian sentiments, needs and RIGHTS when it comes to EQUAL ACCESS to quality healthcare in this country!
This documentary, coming almost a year before Congress passed the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (otherwise coined as "Obamacare" in the popular lexicon) and several years before the staged introduction of "mandated" health coverage and "state-run" health insurance exchanges began operation, is nevertheless a stark chronicling of how broken the "under-65 marketplace" for health coverage in America lead to countless numbers of Americans to suffer and die (and even go broke) for the lack of coverage or none at all.
As the worsening economy leads to massive job losses — potentially forcing millions more Americans to go without health insurance — FRONTLINE travels the country examining the nation's COST-SPIRALING and EXCLUSIONARY health care system and explores the need for a fundamental overhaul. Veteran FRONTLINE producer Jon Palfreman dissects the private insurance system, a system that not only fails to cover 46 million Americans but also leaves millions more underinsured and at risk of bankruptcy.
Outside of employer-based health care plans, the state of "pre-Obamacare" coverage, which now includes expansion of Medicaid-based health coverage for low-income to poor Americans, was pretty much a barren "Have or Have-Not" healthcare landscape. Americans seeking insurance in the individual market must submit to "medical underwriting," and if they have a pre-existing condition, they will likely be denied.
Please also visit at http://www.pbs.org to get complete, fair pictures on what Universal Healthcare has done to improve the lives, productivity and state of well-being for these practicing nations.
Keep up the fight and the faith, because Washington can't hold back the overwhelming tide of our collective humanitarian sentiments, needs and RIGHTS when it comes to EQUAL ACCESS to quality healthcare in this country!