The necessity of a national, tax-funded healthcare system is *never discussed* in France. People here associate it only with positive evolution since WWII and *would not imagine living without it.*
Nonetheless we witness constant efforts from the Right-wing parties to sabotage this institution in all ways possible, so we suppose their ultimate goal is to suppress it. Fact is the richest CEO can afford their own healthcare services and would like to save more money by no longer paying for their employee's health. They dream of having all the work magically done by dead corpse instead, I guess.🤷♂️🤯 So much they pay politicians to work for them, and pay medias to shape the opinions in this insane direction.
The source of the myth:
In this context, the most typical French Far-Right party, founded by actual nazis (not hypothetical nazis or rhetorical "nazis" or metaphorical "nazis", no: 100% genuine Waffen SS *is* nazi, unquestionably), now backed both by D.J.Trump and by В.В.Пу́тин, plays a double game:
• In the political assemblies, they vote anything that could reduce the efficiency of our healthcare system.
• In public, they pretend to warn us about the risk of abuse and destruction of this generous healthcare system by immigrants.
The myth itself:
The above instill the idea that immigrants are in France to benefit from the healthcare system without ever paying for it.
The facts.
Immigrants present an excellent — if not the best — ratio (participation in healthcare system / healthcare spendings)
Why ? Well, two main reasons, one being economical and the second being a moral lesson for us all.
1. Illegal immigrants without proper papers rarely manage to fully benefit from such system. They don't cost that much. Legal immigrants (most of them) can fully benefit from it, but consider this: they generally come to France *to work as much as they can* because the salaries are much higher here, they often want to feed a family abroad or become wealthy as fast as they can, and they generally accept worse working conditions because it's still better than where they come from. As healthcare is financed by taking a part of the salaries, *their financial participation is remarquable.* They don't pay taxes on capital they don't have, or on speculation they can't reach, they don't evade taxes as only the wealthiest can. They participate in the most real economy, witch the healthcare system is totally part of.
2. Many immigrants work directly for the healthcare system, as medics, nurses, cleaners in hospitals, secretaries for doctors, ambulance drivers, etc. Not only they contribute financially: they *ARE* , physically and professionally, an essential part of the French healthcare system.
Conclusion: not only immigrants aren't a danger for the French healthcare system, they are saving it with real work on their own life time.
How it translates in the USA:
Same old racist bullshit from the Right wing, except they can't so easily convince you that strangers are stealing from public services that don't exist. Don't be surprised if they start saying so if you manage to create a robust national, universal healthcare system. Maybe they already said this about Obamacare ? You tell me.
Comparative side notes:
• Healthcare cost per capita in France is equivalent to 7,367$, against 14,775$ in the USA. (double, yeah ! 🤯)
• National spendings for health care represent about 12% of GDP in France, against 17% of GDP in the USA.
• Life expectancy is about 82.3 years in France, 76.4 years in the USA.
But none of these values reflect the statistical distribution per arbitrary criteria on the population. I let those of you who want to better understand the U.S. social structure ask the _U.S. Census Bureau_ and the _U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis_. For a better understanding of the French social structure, ask the reliable French _I.N.S.E.E._ and avoid the _Ifop_ like the plague.
The one myth I have heard that isn’t addressed is the concern that we will have a shortage of doctors in the health care system because the incentive to make a lot more money from insurance company payments for services as they do now versus Medicare and Medicaid payments will be removed. As a result, the theory is that we will have fewer doctors per patient and quality of care will suffer. Also, the question has been asked about how will they pay off their student loan debt for their medical training if they don’t make as much money as a doctor currently does, again altering the incentive to become a doctor. Will medical schools lower their costs to increase the incentive to become a doctor? Will we continue to see a larger trend to rely on Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners to provide a greater portion of patient care? Will that cause quality of care to change? So many questions and scenarios to consider with a transition to universal health care. It’s a massive task and one I don’t see politicians motivated to tackle. Instead we apply a Bandaid on the wound and never see any measurable change.
Everything said is correct and has been common knowledge for decades amongst the “elite” so named because they’re not ill on non informed. Unfortunately, for the non elites they, by and large are the ones who suffer the direct consequences of their ignorance. After all, I can offset my costly medical care from the profits and dividends I receive from my health insurance stocks paid from the profits obtained by high premiums. It’s a pretty simple way of transferring wealth from the poor and uneducated to rich elites like me.
I only pause to point out that the medical profession has chosen not to get involved in “politics” so allowed their profession to be capitated. They could have and still could make a difference if they were willing to stand up as a profession and take a strong public position.
If things continue, the medical profession will continue to be quietly transferred from doctors to much cheaper “Physicians Associates” once again ignoring the nose in their face until it’s too late.
Maybe it’s time to get off your asses and take a stand!
Universal healthcare does cost less in the long run -- Americans are not good at looking past the immediate. Preventative care would save millions, if not billions. Healthcare is a human right, as the other civilized countries know -- Americans have to get over the idea that we know best about everything... and listen to the world. I am a U.S. retired R.N. Medicine, with its profit bottom line, can never put the patient first. Medicine should never have been a capitalistic profit-making business....... and for those put out of work? -- they can retrain at a more ethical career .... just as coalminers are doing.
Another myth to explore is that of Doctors pay. The way the system is rigged now the doctors are working harder than ever, have the same inflation to confront with their families, yet keep seeing reduced or stagnant reimbursement for services. With no incentive to increase reimbursement, and no way for the doctors to renegotiate decades old contracts, the insurers hold us hostage. I am an optometrist - so I am paid primarily by Vision Plans. One payer has not raised my reimbursement for a comprehensive eye exam in the 30 years I have been a provider. $50 was reasonable 30 years ago - it is not today. I must simply see more patients per hour to keep up with increasing payroll and overhead expenses.
So, we have a terrible healthcare system with poor outcomes. It likely needs to be gutted and rebuilt. Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates will have to be boosted 2-3 times or the entire system will collapse. Free is always over utilized. Add in that today's healthcare has very little science to back up the therapies utilized. Lots of fixing to do.
I have always wondered about the charges by providers to insurance companies - ie MRI $10k billed to insurance, insurance only allows $3k and I pay 20% of $3k for my part. (Numbers made up but not out of line) so why does this happen? My suspicion is a tax write of for providers. It seems like a game.
Please look at PNHP, physicians for National healthcare program, pnhp.org .They have loads of info on the cost, the stats, the transition from our profit making system to a nonprofit system.
I've lived in the US for the past 33 years, moving here from Canada for work. Whenever I run into people talking about how Medicare for All would be too expensive and result in horrible waits for health care, I tell them about my mother's broken hip and experience with the Canadian healthcare system. A number of years ago my mother, who was then in her early 80's, fell and broke her hip. She got into the hospital right away and was in hospital for a couple of weeks while they stabilized the hip, and then in a rehab facility for about a month after that. Sometime after she returned home, my parents got the bill. It was for the cost of my father parking to visit her and was for $10. That was the total cost of all that care over several weeks. Actually they were very upset that they got billed anything at all.
In Canada, the first universal hospital care plan was established in one province in 1947. In 1957, the Canadian Government passed the Hospital Insurance and Diagnostic Services Act which provided a framework for the cost-sharing of specific health services. It wasn't until 1984 that we had the Canada Health Act which is the universal health care system that all Canadians enjoy today.
Our system is far from perfect. We have a shortage of nurses, not everyone has a family doctor, rural communities have problems keeping their ERs open 24/7, there are long waits if your illness is not life-threatening, etc. But when our system works, it works beautifully and seamlessly. When a Canadian is diagnosed with an ailment, it is such a privilege and relief to not fear financial burden or ruin just because we are sick and need health care. It should be a universal right.
A wealthy and prosperous nation like the U.S.A. should be able to afford its own universal health care system. In fact, all Americans deserve to have one.
Just an observations about liberals vs conservatives. I think it’s a battle of control. Liberals can handle having a loose leash and conservatives just have to tighten the leash. I’m sure that we all know individuals like that…….
You have to have confidence in your values or else you risk pulling the leash too tightly.
My insurance company gets a kickback from CVS so they discourage me from using any other pharmacy. Walgreens is within walking distance of my home so that’s where I shop. I could get a 90 day supply for my prescriptions if I get them from CVS, but only a 30 day supply if I purchase them from Walgreens. The pharmacist at Walgreens has to constantly contact my PCP and the insurance company to get refills that my doctor has ordered. This is another way for profit healthcare controls us.
Same here. And every year, they change their "preferred" pharmacies. Now the closest one is 30 min away, so I will continue using the one 5 min away and likely pay higher costs.
French citizen here.
Since you ask, here is another myth.
First, a little context:
The necessity of a national, tax-funded healthcare system is *never discussed* in France. People here associate it only with positive evolution since WWII and *would not imagine living without it.*
Nonetheless we witness constant efforts from the Right-wing parties to sabotage this institution in all ways possible, so we suppose their ultimate goal is to suppress it. Fact is the richest CEO can afford their own healthcare services and would like to save more money by no longer paying for their employee's health. They dream of having all the work magically done by dead corpse instead, I guess.🤷♂️🤯 So much they pay politicians to work for them, and pay medias to shape the opinions in this insane direction.
The source of the myth:
In this context, the most typical French Far-Right party, founded by actual nazis (not hypothetical nazis or rhetorical "nazis" or metaphorical "nazis", no: 100% genuine Waffen SS *is* nazi, unquestionably), now backed both by D.J.Trump and by В.В.Пу́тин, plays a double game:
• In the political assemblies, they vote anything that could reduce the efficiency of our healthcare system.
• In public, they pretend to warn us about the risk of abuse and destruction of this generous healthcare system by immigrants.
The myth itself:
The above instill the idea that immigrants are in France to benefit from the healthcare system without ever paying for it.
The facts.
Immigrants present an excellent — if not the best — ratio (participation in healthcare system / healthcare spendings)
Why ? Well, two main reasons, one being economical and the second being a moral lesson for us all.
1. Illegal immigrants without proper papers rarely manage to fully benefit from such system. They don't cost that much. Legal immigrants (most of them) can fully benefit from it, but consider this: they generally come to France *to work as much as they can* because the salaries are much higher here, they often want to feed a family abroad or become wealthy as fast as they can, and they generally accept worse working conditions because it's still better than where they come from. As healthcare is financed by taking a part of the salaries, *their financial participation is remarquable.* They don't pay taxes on capital they don't have, or on speculation they can't reach, they don't evade taxes as only the wealthiest can. They participate in the most real economy, witch the healthcare system is totally part of.
2. Many immigrants work directly for the healthcare system, as medics, nurses, cleaners in hospitals, secretaries for doctors, ambulance drivers, etc. Not only they contribute financially: they *ARE* , physically and professionally, an essential part of the French healthcare system.
Conclusion: not only immigrants aren't a danger for the French healthcare system, they are saving it with real work on their own life time.
How it translates in the USA:
Same old racist bullshit from the Right wing, except they can't so easily convince you that strangers are stealing from public services that don't exist. Don't be surprised if they start saying so if you manage to create a robust national, universal healthcare system. Maybe they already said this about Obamacare ? You tell me.
Comparative side notes:
• Healthcare cost per capita in France is equivalent to 7,367$, against 14,775$ in the USA. (double, yeah ! 🤯)
• National spendings for health care represent about 12% of GDP in France, against 17% of GDP in the USA.
• Life expectancy is about 82.3 years in France, 76.4 years in the USA.
But none of these values reflect the statistical distribution per arbitrary criteria on the population. I let those of you who want to better understand the U.S. social structure ask the _U.S. Census Bureau_ and the _U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis_. For a better understanding of the French social structure, ask the reliable French _I.N.S.E.E._ and avoid the _Ifop_ like the plague.
The one myth I have heard that isn’t addressed is the concern that we will have a shortage of doctors in the health care system because the incentive to make a lot more money from insurance company payments for services as they do now versus Medicare and Medicaid payments will be removed. As a result, the theory is that we will have fewer doctors per patient and quality of care will suffer. Also, the question has been asked about how will they pay off their student loan debt for their medical training if they don’t make as much money as a doctor currently does, again altering the incentive to become a doctor. Will medical schools lower their costs to increase the incentive to become a doctor? Will we continue to see a larger trend to rely on Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners to provide a greater portion of patient care? Will that cause quality of care to change? So many questions and scenarios to consider with a transition to universal health care. It’s a massive task and one I don’t see politicians motivated to tackle. Instead we apply a Bandaid on the wound and never see any measurable change.
Everything said is correct and has been common knowledge for decades amongst the “elite” so named because they’re not ill on non informed. Unfortunately, for the non elites they, by and large are the ones who suffer the direct consequences of their ignorance. After all, I can offset my costly medical care from the profits and dividends I receive from my health insurance stocks paid from the profits obtained by high premiums. It’s a pretty simple way of transferring wealth from the poor and uneducated to rich elites like me.
I only pause to point out that the medical profession has chosen not to get involved in “politics” so allowed their profession to be capitated. They could have and still could make a difference if they were willing to stand up as a profession and take a strong public position.
If things continue, the medical profession will continue to be quietly transferred from doctors to much cheaper “Physicians Associates” once again ignoring the nose in their face until it’s too late.
Maybe it’s time to get off your asses and take a stand!
Excellent points!!!
Universal healthcare does cost less in the long run -- Americans are not good at looking past the immediate. Preventative care would save millions, if not billions. Healthcare is a human right, as the other civilized countries know -- Americans have to get over the idea that we know best about everything... and listen to the world. I am a U.S. retired R.N. Medicine, with its profit bottom line, can never put the patient first. Medicine should never have been a capitalistic profit-making business....... and for those put out of work? -- they can retrain at a more ethical career .... just as coalminers are doing.
Another myth to explore is that of Doctors pay. The way the system is rigged now the doctors are working harder than ever, have the same inflation to confront with their families, yet keep seeing reduced or stagnant reimbursement for services. With no incentive to increase reimbursement, and no way for the doctors to renegotiate decades old contracts, the insurers hold us hostage. I am an optometrist - so I am paid primarily by Vision Plans. One payer has not raised my reimbursement for a comprehensive eye exam in the 30 years I have been a provider. $50 was reasonable 30 years ago - it is not today. I must simply see more patients per hour to keep up with increasing payroll and overhead expenses.
Excellent article! Thank you!
So, we have a terrible healthcare system with poor outcomes. It likely needs to be gutted and rebuilt. Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates will have to be boosted 2-3 times or the entire system will collapse. Free is always over utilized. Add in that today's healthcare has very little science to back up the therapies utilized. Lots of fixing to do.
There are SO many myths about plant medicine, Qasim! This has been demonized and cleverly legislated for a LONG TIME. I wonder why.
I have always wondered about the charges by providers to insurance companies - ie MRI $10k billed to insurance, insurance only allows $3k and I pay 20% of $3k for my part. (Numbers made up but not out of line) so why does this happen? My suspicion is a tax write of for providers. It seems like a game.
Please look at PNHP, physicians for National healthcare program, pnhp.org .They have loads of info on the cost, the stats, the transition from our profit making system to a nonprofit system.
I've lived in the US for the past 33 years, moving here from Canada for work. Whenever I run into people talking about how Medicare for All would be too expensive and result in horrible waits for health care, I tell them about my mother's broken hip and experience with the Canadian healthcare system. A number of years ago my mother, who was then in her early 80's, fell and broke her hip. She got into the hospital right away and was in hospital for a couple of weeks while they stabilized the hip, and then in a rehab facility for about a month after that. Sometime after she returned home, my parents got the bill. It was for the cost of my father parking to visit her and was for $10. That was the total cost of all that care over several weeks. Actually they were very upset that they got billed anything at all.
In Canada, the first universal hospital care plan was established in one province in 1947. In 1957, the Canadian Government passed the Hospital Insurance and Diagnostic Services Act which provided a framework for the cost-sharing of specific health services. It wasn't until 1984 that we had the Canada Health Act which is the universal health care system that all Canadians enjoy today.
Our system is far from perfect. We have a shortage of nurses, not everyone has a family doctor, rural communities have problems keeping their ERs open 24/7, there are long waits if your illness is not life-threatening, etc. But when our system works, it works beautifully and seamlessly. When a Canadian is diagnosed with an ailment, it is such a privilege and relief to not fear financial burden or ruin just because we are sick and need health care. It should be a universal right.
A wealthy and prosperous nation like the U.S.A. should be able to afford its own universal health care system. In fact, all Americans deserve to have one.
IMO, for profit healthcare is an oxymoron.
Just an observations about liberals vs conservatives. I think it’s a battle of control. Liberals can handle having a loose leash and conservatives just have to tighten the leash. I’m sure that we all know individuals like that…….
You have to have confidence in your values or else you risk pulling the leash too tightly.
My insurance company gets a kickback from CVS so they discourage me from using any other pharmacy. Walgreens is within walking distance of my home so that’s where I shop. I could get a 90 day supply for my prescriptions if I get them from CVS, but only a 30 day supply if I purchase them from Walgreens. The pharmacist at Walgreens has to constantly contact my PCP and the insurance company to get refills that my doctor has ordered. This is another way for profit healthcare controls us.
Same here. And every year, they change their "preferred" pharmacies. Now the closest one is 30 min away, so I will continue using the one 5 min away and likely pay higher costs.
I’m in the same situation! The closest CVS is a good 30 minute drive and I could also just walk to a Walgreens! 😤