Sunday, August 30, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
President Obama's First Year in Office
1. Offended the Queen of England .
2. Bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia .
3. Praised the Marxist Daniel Ortega.
4. Kissed Socialist Hugo Chavez on the cheek.
5. Endorsed the Socialist Evo Morales of
Bolivia .
6. Sided with Hugo Chavez and Communist Fidel
Castro against Honduras .
7.. Announced we would meet with Iranians with
no pre-conditions while they're building their nuclear
weapons.
8. Gave away billions to AIG also without
pre-conditions..
9. Expanded the bailouts.
10. Insulted everyone who has ever loved a
Special Olympian.
11. Doubled our national debt.
12. Announced the termination of our new
missile defense system the day after North Korea launched an
ICBM.
13. Released information on U.S. intelligence
gathering despite urgings of his own CIA director and the
prior four CIA directors.
=0 A 14. Accepted without comment that five of his
cabinet members cheated on their taxes and two other
nominees withdrew after they couldn't take the heat.
15. Appointed a Homeland Security Chief who
identified military veterans and abortion opponents as
"dangers to the nation."
16. Ordered that the word "terrorism"
no longer be used and instead refers to such acts as
"man made disasters."
17. Circled the globe to publicly apologize for
America 's world leadership.
18. Told the Mexican president that the
violence in their country was because of us.
19. Politicized the census by moving it into
the White House from the Department of Commerce.
20.
Appointed as Attorney General the man who orchestrated the
forced removal and expulsion to Cuba of a 9-year-old whose
mother died trying to bring him to freedom in the United
States .
21. Salutes as heroes three Navy SEALS who took
down three terrorists who threatened one American life and
the next day announces members of the Bush administration
may stand trial for "torturing" three 9/11
terrorists by pouring water up their noses.
22. Low altitude photo shoot of Air Force One
over New York City that frightened thousands of New
Yorkers.
23. Sent his National Defense Advisor to Europe
to assure them that the US will no longer treat Israel in a
special manner and they might be on their own with the
Muslims.
24. Praised Jimmy Carter's trip to Gaza
where he sided with terrorist Hamas against Israel .
25.. Nationalized General Motors and Chrysler
while turning shareholder control over to the unions and
freezing out retired investors who owned their bonds.
Committed unlimited taxpayer billions in the process.
26. Passed a huge energy tax in the House that
will make American industry even less competitive while
costing homeowners thousands per year.
27. Announced nationalized health care
"reform" that will strip seniors of their
Medicare, cut pay of physicians, increase taxes yet another
$1 trillion, and put everyone on rationed care with
government bureaucrats deciding who gets care and who
doesn't. (See cartoon.)
Daschle says, "Health care reform will not be
pain free. Seniors should be more accepting of the
conditions that come with age instead of treating
them," while former Colorado Governor Dick Lamm says
seniors have "a duty to die."
If this does not sufficiently raise your ire, just remember
that the President, Senators and Congressmen have their own
special gold plated health care plan which is guaranteed the
remainder of their lives and they are not subject to this
new law if they pass it.
2. Bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia .
3. Praised the Marxist Daniel Ortega.
4. Kissed Socialist Hugo Chavez on the cheek.
5. Endorsed the Socialist Evo Morales of
Bolivia .
6. Sided with Hugo Chavez and Communist Fidel
Castro against Honduras .
7.. Announced we would meet with Iranians with
no pre-conditions while they're building their nuclear
weapons.
8. Gave away billions to AIG also without
pre-conditions..
9. Expanded the bailouts.
10. Insulted everyone who has ever loved a
Special Olympian.
11. Doubled our national debt.
12. Announced the termination of our new
missile defense system the day after North Korea launched an
ICBM.
13. Released information on U.S. intelligence
gathering despite urgings of his own CIA director and the
prior four CIA directors.
=0 A 14. Accepted without comment that five of his
cabinet members cheated on their taxes and two other
nominees withdrew after they couldn't take the heat.
15. Appointed a Homeland Security Chief who
identified military veterans and abortion opponents as
"dangers to the nation."
16. Ordered that the word "terrorism"
no longer be used and instead refers to such acts as
"man made disasters."
17. Circled the globe to publicly apologize for
America 's world leadership.
18. Told the Mexican president that the
violence in their country was because of us.
19. Politicized the census by moving it into
the White House from the Department of Commerce.
20.
Appointed as Attorney General the man who orchestrated the
forced removal and expulsion to Cuba of a 9-year-old whose
mother died trying to bring him to freedom in the United
States .
21. Salutes as heroes three Navy SEALS who took
down three terrorists who threatened one American life and
the next day announces members of the Bush administration
may stand trial for "torturing" three 9/11
terrorists by pouring water up their noses.
22. Low altitude photo shoot of Air Force One
over New York City that frightened thousands of New
Yorkers.
23. Sent his National Defense Advisor to Europe
to assure them that the US will no longer treat Israel in a
special manner and they might be on their own with the
Muslims.
24. Praised Jimmy Carter's trip to Gaza
where he sided with terrorist Hamas against Israel .
25.. Nationalized General Motors and Chrysler
while turning shareholder control over to the unions and
freezing out retired investors who owned their bonds.
Committed unlimited taxpayer billions in the process.
26. Passed a huge energy tax in the House that
will make American industry even less competitive while
costing homeowners thousands per year.
27. Announced nationalized health care
"reform" that will strip seniors of their
Medicare, cut pay of physicians, increase taxes yet another
$1 trillion, and put everyone on rationed care with
government bureaucrats deciding who gets care and who
doesn't. (See cartoon.)
Daschle says, "Health care reform will not be
pain free. Seniors should be more accepting of the
conditions that come with age instead of treating
them," while former Colorado Governor Dick Lamm says
seniors have "a duty to die."
If this does not sufficiently raise your ire, just remember
that the President, Senators and Congressmen have their own
special gold plated health care plan which is guaranteed the
remainder of their lives and they are not subject to this
new law if they pass it.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Monday, August 3, 2009
Ten reasons why America’s health care system is in better condition than you might suppose.
By Scott W. Atlas.
Medical care in the United States is derided as miserable compared to health care systems in the rest of the developed world. Economists, government officials, insurers, and academics beat the drum for a far larger government role in health care. Much of the public assumes that their arguments are sound because the calls for change are so ubiquitous and the topic so complex. Before we turn to government as the solution, however, we should consider some unheralded facts about America’s health care system.
1. Americans have better survival rates than Europeans for common cancers. Breast cancer mortality is 52 percent higher in Germany than in the United States and 88 percent higher in the United Kingdom. Prostate cancer mortality is 604 percent higher in the United Kingdom and 457 percent higher in Norway. The mortality rate for colorectal cancer among British men and women is about 40 percent higher.
2. Americans have lower cancer mortality rates than Canadians. Breast cancer mortality in Canada is 9 percent higher than in the United States, prostate cancer is 184 percent higher, and colon cancer among men is about 10 percent higher.
3. Americans have better access to treatment for chronic diseases than patients in other developed countries. Some 56 percent of Americans who could benefit from statin drugs, which reduce cholesterol and protect against heart disease, are taking them. By comparison, of those patients who could benefit from these drugs, only 36 percent of the Dutch, 29 percent of the Swiss, 26 percent of Germans, 23 percent of Britons, and 17 percent of Italians receive them.
4. Americans have better access to preventive cancer screening than Canadians. Take the proportion of the appropriate-age population groups who have received recommended tests for breast, cervical, prostate, and colon cancer:
Nine out of ten middle-aged American women (89 percent) have had a mammogram, compared to fewer than three-fourths of Canadians (72 percent).
Nearly all American women (96 percent) have had a Pap smear, compared to fewer than 90 percent of Canadians.
More than half of American men (54 percent) have had a prostatespecific antigen (PSA) test, compared to fewer than one in six Canadians (16 percent).
Nearly one-third of Americans (30 percent) have had a colonoscopy, compared with fewer than one in twenty Canadians (5 percent).
5. Lower-income Americans are in better health than comparable Canadians. Twice as many American seniors with below-median incomes self-report “excellent” health (11.7 percent) compared to Canadian seniors (5.8 percent). Conversely, white, young Canadian adults with below-median incomes are 20 percent more likely than lower-income Americans to describe their health as “fair or poor.”
6. Americans spend less time waiting for care than patients in Canada and the United Kingdom. Canadian and British patients wait about twice as long—sometimes more than a year—to see a specialist, have elective surgery such as hip replacements, or get radiation treatment for cancer. All told, 827,429 people are waiting for some type of procedure in Canada. In Britain, nearly 1.8 million people are waiting for a hospital admission or outpatient treatment.
7. People in countries with more government control of health care are highly dissatisfied and believe reform is needed. More than 70 percent of German, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, and British adults say their health system needs either “fundamental change” or “complete rebuilding.”
8. Americans are more satisfied with the care they receive than Canadians. When asked about their own health care instead of the “health care system,” more than half of Americans (51.3 percent) are very satisfied with their health care services, compared with only 41.5 percent of Canadians; a lower proportion of Americans are dissatisfied (6.8 percent) than Canadians (8.5 percent).
9. Americans have better access to important new technologies such as medical imaging than do patients in Canada or Britain. An overwhelming majority of leading American physicians identify computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as the most important medical innovations for improving patient care during the previous decade—even as economists and policy makers unfamiliar with actual medical practice decry these techniques as wasteful. The United States has thirty-four CT scanners per million Americans, compared to twelve in Canada and eight in Britain. The United States has almost twenty-seven MRI machines per million people compared to about six per million in Canada and Britain.
10. Americans are responsible for the vast majority of all health care innovations. The top five U.S. hospitals conduct more clinical trials than all the hospitals in any other developed country. Since the mid- 1970s, the Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology has gone to U.S. residents more often than recipients from all other countries combined. In only five of the past thirty-four years did a scientist living in the United States not win or share in the prize. Most important recent medical innovations were developed in the United States.
Despite serious challenges, such as escalating costs and care for the uninsured, the U.S. health care system compares favorably to those in other developed countries.
Medical care in the United States is derided as miserable compared to health care systems in the rest of the developed world. Economists, government officials, insurers, and academics beat the drum for a far larger government role in health care. Much of the public assumes that their arguments are sound because the calls for change are so ubiquitous and the topic so complex. Before we turn to government as the solution, however, we should consider some unheralded facts about America’s health care system.
1. Americans have better survival rates than Europeans for common cancers. Breast cancer mortality is 52 percent higher in Germany than in the United States and 88 percent higher in the United Kingdom. Prostate cancer mortality is 604 percent higher in the United Kingdom and 457 percent higher in Norway. The mortality rate for colorectal cancer among British men and women is about 40 percent higher.
2. Americans have lower cancer mortality rates than Canadians. Breast cancer mortality in Canada is 9 percent higher than in the United States, prostate cancer is 184 percent higher, and colon cancer among men is about 10 percent higher.
3. Americans have better access to treatment for chronic diseases than patients in other developed countries. Some 56 percent of Americans who could benefit from statin drugs, which reduce cholesterol and protect against heart disease, are taking them. By comparison, of those patients who could benefit from these drugs, only 36 percent of the Dutch, 29 percent of the Swiss, 26 percent of Germans, 23 percent of Britons, and 17 percent of Italians receive them.
4. Americans have better access to preventive cancer screening than Canadians. Take the proportion of the appropriate-age population groups who have received recommended tests for breast, cervical, prostate, and colon cancer:
Nine out of ten middle-aged American women (89 percent) have had a mammogram, compared to fewer than three-fourths of Canadians (72 percent).
Nearly all American women (96 percent) have had a Pap smear, compared to fewer than 90 percent of Canadians.
More than half of American men (54 percent) have had a prostatespecific antigen (PSA) test, compared to fewer than one in six Canadians (16 percent).
Nearly one-third of Americans (30 percent) have had a colonoscopy, compared with fewer than one in twenty Canadians (5 percent).
5. Lower-income Americans are in better health than comparable Canadians. Twice as many American seniors with below-median incomes self-report “excellent” health (11.7 percent) compared to Canadian seniors (5.8 percent). Conversely, white, young Canadian adults with below-median incomes are 20 percent more likely than lower-income Americans to describe their health as “fair or poor.”
6. Americans spend less time waiting for care than patients in Canada and the United Kingdom. Canadian and British patients wait about twice as long—sometimes more than a year—to see a specialist, have elective surgery such as hip replacements, or get radiation treatment for cancer. All told, 827,429 people are waiting for some type of procedure in Canada. In Britain, nearly 1.8 million people are waiting for a hospital admission or outpatient treatment.
7. People in countries with more government control of health care are highly dissatisfied and believe reform is needed. More than 70 percent of German, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, and British adults say their health system needs either “fundamental change” or “complete rebuilding.”
8. Americans are more satisfied with the care they receive than Canadians. When asked about their own health care instead of the “health care system,” more than half of Americans (51.3 percent) are very satisfied with their health care services, compared with only 41.5 percent of Canadians; a lower proportion of Americans are dissatisfied (6.8 percent) than Canadians (8.5 percent).
9. Americans have better access to important new technologies such as medical imaging than do patients in Canada or Britain. An overwhelming majority of leading American physicians identify computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as the most important medical innovations for improving patient care during the previous decade—even as economists and policy makers unfamiliar with actual medical practice decry these techniques as wasteful. The United States has thirty-four CT scanners per million Americans, compared to twelve in Canada and eight in Britain. The United States has almost twenty-seven MRI machines per million people compared to about six per million in Canada and Britain.
10. Americans are responsible for the vast majority of all health care innovations. The top five U.S. hospitals conduct more clinical trials than all the hospitals in any other developed country. Since the mid- 1970s, the Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology has gone to U.S. residents more often than recipients from all other countries combined. In only five of the past thirty-four years did a scientist living in the United States not win or share in the prize. Most important recent medical innovations were developed in the United States.
Despite serious challenges, such as escalating costs and care for the uninsured, the U.S. health care system compares favorably to those in other developed countries.
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