Who’s Number 1? We’re not
If you think the US has the best health care system in the world, think again. A Commonwealth Fund study, released today, shows we’re not at the top, even though we spend twice as much on health care.
The United States ranked last when compared to six other countries — Britain, Canada,Germany, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand.
For all that money, we get get lower quality, less efficiency and have the least equitable system, according to the report (read the Reuters story here: http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE65M0SU20100623; read the report at http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/Publications/Fund-Reports/2010/Jun/Mirror-Mirror-Update.aspx).
To those who say we have the best health care system in th world, I’ll say it again: We only have the potential for the best system in the world. We don’t become the best until everyone has access to that system. Until then, all we have is technology and bad outcomes for all but the wealthiest or best insured.
But fewer jobs come with insurance, and when they do, premiums and copays increase every year and fewer things are covered. For those in the private market, rates are expected to increase by about 20 percent again this year.
A conservative talking point is that people who are diagnosed with cancer in the US are more likely to survive than anywhere else in the world. I think I’ve found the study they’re talking about. It was based on numbers from 1990-1994, when only 16 million Americans were uninsured. I haven’t found any comparative studies done since then.
The Commonwealth Fund is a nonprofit that studies and advocates for improvements to the American health care system. The study was one using uses data from nationally representative patient and physician surveys in seven countries in 2007, 2008, and 2009.
According to Reuters, the study looks at five measures of healthcare — quality, efficiency, access to care, equity and the ability to lead long, healthy, productive lives.
“On measures of quality the United States ranked sixth out of seven countries,” the group said in a statement.
U.S. patients with chronic conditions were the most likely to say they got the wrong drug or had to wait to learn of abnormal test results.
Overall, Britain, whose nationalized health care system was widely derided by opponents of our reform, ranks first.
The president of the Comonwealth Fund, Karen Davis, told reporters she hopes the new health care reform law will help close the gap.
Have a beer in May
Stop into Altamont Brewing, 1042 Haywood Road, West Asheville, any time in May and ask for their "charity" beer of the day. Buy one and Life o' Mike gets $1. In fact, we get a buck for each one sold. So go in every day and have one to support Life o' Mike.
Thanks, Altamont!
Patient Pals & Family Friends
Life o' Mike has a peer support program for people with one or more serious or chronic medical issues or disabilities.
We aim to reduce isolation and fear among people who have conditions, including psychiatric illness, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, mild dementia or other cognitive disorder or disability, thereby reducing depression and complications as people learn to improve self-management of their medical conditions.
Patient Pals help alleviate feelings of isolation and frustration. They can help people develop a list of questions to ask the doctor and then accompany the person to the doctor to make sure all the questions are answered, taking notes to be sure the person understands the doctor’s answers.
Our trained volunteers also accompany their “Pals” to art exhibits, movies and walks outdoors, meet for coffee, call to check in and more.
Our Pals have experienced weight loss, improvement in diabetes, HIV, psoriasis, depression and more, just because they have someone who cares about them. Some relationships develop into longer-term friendships; other Pals move on to more independent lives.
Family Friends are there to help caregivers and other family members grow into their new role.
We need volunteers, who are asked to donate a minimum of one hour a week. Training is free and includes information on active listening, ways to help and when to know more help is needed.
And of course, we need funding.
To learn more, call Leslie Boyd at 828-243-6712 or e-mail lifeomike@gmail.com.
Start From Seed
Life o' Mike has a new program- Start from Seed (SFS).
SFS is a volunteer doula program aimed at providing non-medical, comprehensive support to low income, high-risk women and families of Buncombe County focusing on three areas:
1. We help new doulas with certification and training in return for their participation as a volunteer doula for SFS
2. We mentor volunteer doulas with their first few clients
3. Our volunteer doulas provide birth and postpartum doula services to low income, high risk moms, providing support and tools to empower them as a new parent.
A birth doula is a trained and experienced professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to the mother before, during and just after birth; a postpartum doula provides emotional and practical support during the postpartum period.
Start from Seed clients are referred to us from the Buncombe County Department of Health’s Nurse-Family Partnership Program, Western North Carolina Community Health Services, and Mission Hospital. The Program is intended and designed for growing clients’ inner strength and helping them gain empowerment to help them cope with the emotional, physical and mental challenges of childbirth, labor, and motherhood.
Our new moms and their infants have many needs. If you would like to help them get off to a good start, please visit our Start from Seed web site: Start from Seed, or call Program Director Chelsea Kouns at 804-814-9946.
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