Middlemen are a main moocher’s method to siphon off money invisibly.

Cut these paperwork and redtape leeches- set between consumer and provider -and that alone will be a good start at lowering costs.

Then tort reform, transportability, and across state lines insurance sales.

(Was that a Palin wink there at the very end from Elina van den Broek?

Goed zo!)

“What a load of crap. The system is way too expensive and the results are poor compared to just about any other industrialized country… Truth is, our system’s costs are undermining our competitiveness.”

The problem is not quality or quantity. The problem, as you clearly point out as the only issue, is cost. And why do we have the costs that we have? Because of government intervention, mandates, and regulation at federal and state levels. The truth of the matter is that we haven’t had free markets in the health industry since the 1940′s and with each decade more regulations were put in place. The point of the video is correct: get the government out of that industry and let, cut the middle man, and let the market balance the costs out.

they dress funny in europe

tlynch001 on November 3, 2009 at 10:52 PM

I agree. And I’m sure they think the same thing about us.

Video: The real lessons of Europe’s nanny-state health care system
As Barack Obama and the Democrats attempt to remake the American
health-care system into the European model, a European economist warns
the US that they have fundamentally……

There are some real good Dutch and Danish conservatives.
That’s because they see there nations drifting away in a slow motion Blizkrieg of Islamazation.

Hey…she winked! Who else do we know that winks?

crazywater on November 3, 2009 at 3:04 PM

Oooooh I know, I know!!! Remember Obama winked at the young lady at his town hall? She got all giddy, and well…..stupid over it, and said in a groupie sort of way….”he winked at me” *giggle* *giggle*

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/peo_dea_rat-people-death-rate

It looks to me like European annual death rates are all higher the the US’s. The US rate is 8.27 deaths per 1000. The wonderful socialist paradise of Sweden has an annual death rate of 10.24 deaths/1000! That’s amazing to me. Just consider if the US had the same rate as France (whose health care is rate #1 by the WHO BTW)at 8.48 deaths/1000. That would come out to about an extra 70,000 deaths per year. Why do Democrats want so many Americans to die? Why, Alan Grayson? Why?

Ms. van den Broek’s statement that “The right to universal health care in Europe often means the right to get into long waiting lines.”

she is absolutely correct. found 3 ,ups while doing self exam 6 months ago, my mammogram is not until May of 2010. I waited over a year for an MRI finally got one when I was rushed into emergency with encephalitis and had to have a spinal tap too.

Am Amerrican living in Europe here. You don’t think that can of soup really costs 2.59euros do you?

There is some hope for Europe.

Tennman on November 3, 2009 at 1:57 PM

LOL

All that, and cheap too?

Of course.

Because I didn’t ask to be sick.

And I have to pay my cable bill, for a luxury car, designer clothes, a blackberry, a 65″ plasma TV, etc.

Who can afford health care after they pay for the necessities of life?

He says “Yes the taxes are higher, but European standard of living is much better than US”
WITH A STRAIGHT FACE!!!
I almost laughed in his face!! YEAH RIGHT! I’ve been to Europe! The real estate is unattainable, nobody can afford a car (but then there’s state-run metros), and expendable income is way lower it seems to me.

People on the left not only live in a fantasy, they are total snobs. They really think Europe is so much better than the US.

This is a great way to drive talented people out of medicine.

And I want a Mercedes for $500.

how do you guys still win elections is beyond me.

sesquipedalian on November 3, 2009 at 1:53 PM

Because shockingly, a good many people won’t vote for a corrupt, incompetent, criminally ignorant Democrat?

We actually have a model of low-cost, high-availability health care in our system right now, and not coincidentally, it’s the markets without third-party payers: cosmetic surgery and Lasik. Providers compete to keep prices low, consumers pay out of their own pockets without interference from governments or employers, and as a result we have rational pricing and a plethora of providers.

This is at best an imperfect analogy as these are elective, relatively simple procedures that can be understood by lay persons and comparison shopped over time — unlike the kind of procedures that eat up most health care dollars.

When someone runs a red light and smashes into your car, when your kid has a seizure after a football game, when the tissue sample is malignant, you are not in a position to act as a traditional consumer and thus oncologists and emergency room physicians don’t behave (economically) in the same way that boob-jobbers do.

how do you guys still win elections is beyond me.

sesquipedalian on November 3, 2009 at 1:53 PM

We know. Whatever you do, don’t wise up.