Daily News Updates - Health Insurance News

Health Insurance vs. Socialized Healthcare, Pt6 -- What Difference?

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This is the continuation covering Kevin Freking’s clarification of this controversial issue…the previous article addressed the Canadian national health system…

Private health insurance is also used very little in Great Britain. Only about 11 % of the population have it. They too, use private health insurance to escape the long waiting lists for elective services. Like Canada, the government in Britain pays for the great majority of health care services. There are both good and bad aspects of the single-payer systems of these two countries. One of the good things is the much lower cost of health care. In Great Britain the cost per year is only about $2,724 a person. In Canada, the cost is only about $3,359 per person. Contrast this against the U.S., who spend about $6,401 per person, as reported using the worldwide figures collected by the Organization for Economic Development. Much of the world-view is that the U.S. citizens are getting ripped of by these much higher figures. Of course, this makes it harder for U.S. companies to compete in the international market. Canadian health consultant, Steven Lewis expounds: "That's why it costs less to build a car in Canada than in the United States because you've got a bunch of money tied up in health insurance."

Of greater concern is that these high health insurance costs also make it much more difficult for US citizens to get health care. The Commonwealth Fund conducted a survey last year. Findings show that only 3% of the people in Great Britain skip the health care recommended by their doctors. The rate in Canada was only 5%. Compare these rates against the U.S, where a staggering 25% report that they did not visit a doctor when they were sick. It was pretty much the same concerning medical tests and treatments that were recommended by their doctors. Consider that about 47 million US citizens can’t afford the health insurance to defray direct billing.

End of series in next article…