Title: 2010 Freedom Index -- Canada more Free than U.S. Source:
Heritage Foundation URL Source:http://www.heritage.org/index/Ranking.aspx Published:Oct 22, 2010 Author:staff Post Date:2010-10-22 17:46:19 by jwpegler Keywords:None Views:49706 Comments:100
15 freest countries:
Hong Kong
89.7
Singapore
86.1
Australia
82.6
New Zealand
82.1
Ireland
81.3
Switzerland
81.1
Canada
80.4
United States
78.0
Denmark
77.9
Chile
77.2
United Kingdom
76.5
Mauritius
76.3
Bahrain
76.3
Luxombourg
75.4
Netherlands
75.0
U.S. drops from "free" to "mostly free". As usual, Hong Kong and Singapore are on top.
don't all the countries on that list, except the U.S., have universal health insurance?
It depends on what you mean by that. They all have very different systems. Most of these countries have some mix of public and private, that includes some form of mandates on minimum coverage. For example:
New Zealand recently moved from a fully public system to a mixed public / private system. Everyone gets catastrophic insurance paid for by taxes that covers "accidents". Most incidental medical costs (like visits to general or family practitioners) are paid out of pocket.
Singapore also has a mixed private / public system, but it is all based on mandatory individual medical savings accounts. You have to save 8% and buy a catastrophic plan. You can use whatever is left over to pay incidental medical costs. Public hospitals have strict means testing with subsidies ranging from 40% to 80% of the bill for the poor.
Switzerland also has a mixed private / public system. The government mandates that everyone buy a basic health insurance plan. If basic insurance plan cost more than 8% of your income, the government will provide a cash subsidy to cover the rest. You can buy additional coverage if you'd like and also pay fees that aren't covered out of pocket.
Hong Kong also has a mixed private / public system. Users of government hospitals complain of long waiting times, an indifferent service attitude and lack of choice, while those who go to the private sector face high costs and variable service quality. The government just announced it will increase spending in an attempt to reduce wait times in public facilities.
I can go on and on with this.
No one has the kind of Utopian government run system that the American left dreams about.
Public hospitals have strict means testing with subsidies ranging from 40% to 80% of the bill for the poor.
Anyone can use the public hospitals (owned and operated by the government) and most do because the cost is lower. Government health care delivery competes with the private sector and acts as a control on prices.
You are making things up again, which is why I refuse to engage you in a conversation any longer.
No, I'm not making it up, you just don't bother to read; not on your own and not the links I've provided in the past.
One more time:
# "The private healthcare system competes with the public healthcare, which helps contain prices in both directions. Private medical insurance is also available."
...
# The government pays for "basic healthcare services... subject to tight expenditure control." Bottom line: The government pays 80% of "basic public healthcare services."
Conservatives are right: Singaporeans have the kind of "skin in the game" that promotes prudence.
But that's only half the story. There's also a massive public role. For starters, adequate savings for retirement and health expenses are mandated by government (employees must sock away 20 percent of earnings each year, to which employers add 13 percent). Public hospitals provide 80 percent of the acute care, setting affordable pricing benchmarks with which private providers compete. Supply-side rules that favor training new family doctors over pricey specialists are more extensive than similar notions Hillary Clinton pushed in the '90s. And in Singapore, if a child is obese, they don't get Rose Garden exhortations from the first lady. They get no lunch and mandatory exercise periods during school.
Right, and Singapore censors the media and "cains" people who chew gum.
Don't believe anything you read in the American press about Singapore.
I've been to Singapore many times. My company has an office there. We do business with the Singapore Hospital Authority.
Yes Singapore has government hospitals. So does the U.S. They are called County Hospitals. My two sisters were born in a county hospital. They existed long before the federal government ruined our healthcare system. I've told you this dozens of times before, but it just doesn't sink in.
No, the government does NOT pay for basic health services in Singapore. The government pays about 30% of healthcare expenditures, compared to about 50% in the U.S. No matter what your income level is, you have to pay part of the bill yourself out of your medical savings account. You are required to save money for healthcare.
The reason prices are low in Singapore is primary due to people having to pay their own bills, just like you pay your own grocery bill. Singapore created a nation of healthcare shoppers, while the U.S. created a nation of people who leech off of the productive part of the economy.
You have no real world experience. You Google something and post the first piece of garbage that fits your preconceived notions. This is why I am not going to respond to you any longer.
I've been to Singapore many times. My company has an office there. We do business with the Singapore Hospital Authority.
I've been to India, and even been a patient in India, in addition I was given a private tour of Indian health care facilities guided by the head of Department of Medical Health and Family Welfare in the state of Uttar Pradesh but I'm smart enough to know that that doesn't make me an expert on Indian health care.
BTW, I have experience with Egyptian health care too.
I've been to India, and even been a patient in India, in addition I was given a private tour of Indian health care facilities guided by the head of Department of Medical Health and Family Welfare in the state of Uttar Pradesh but I'm smart enough to know that that doesn't make me an expert on Indian health care.
But I am a consultant who does business with these people. We have a huge focus on healthcare. We are paid to help our customers turn their challenges into opportunities through the proper and cost effective adoption of technology.
