Alon's Blog & Political Commentary

Obama says almost gleefully that Americans pay $6,000 more per year on health care than people of other advanced nations for no better care. “We are the only advanced democracy on earth… that allows such hardships for millions of its people… We spend one and a half times more per person on health care than any other country, but we aren’t healthier for it.”

Contrary to Obama’s statements, America has the best health-care system in the world. Senator Tom Coburn has aptly stated that if America had established a government run system like Britain or Canada’s ten years ago, there would be one million fewer American’s alive today. Because of our available technology and acute intervention, “our survival rates on cancer, malignancies and coronary artery disease” Are better than Britain’s or Canada’s*. Indeed- much as Obama seems anxious to find fault with America, and seems to regard every other nation with awe - he conveniently ignores that America leads the world in treating heart disease and cancer that America’s medical research industry produces more than half of the $175 billion of Health-care technology products purchased globally. In 2004, Sally Pipes notes, the US government spend $18.4 billion on medical research; the European Union, with a larger population, spent only $3.7 billion**. As some have observed , “Europeans are living off the US taxpayer in health care, as in so many things.” ***

Moreover, If America were to implement socialized care, the quality of our health-care would necessarily decrease. How do we know this? Because it’s been the case with every nation that has tried it. Economists uniformly tell us that price controls (which are part of Obamacare) always reduce quality. Anyone who doubts this should read the horror stories from British Hospitals. ****  

* “Exclusive Coburn: Dem Health Plan Will Kill Americans,” Wasington Times July 16, 2009 

** Sally Pipes, The top ten myths of american health care (San Francisco: Pacific Research Institute, 2008) p. 136

*** Bob Hall, Book Review of Sally Pipes’ ” the top ten myth of american health care,” The Old Jarhead blog, tartanmarine.blogspot.com, May 18, 2009

**** Susan Easton, “Health Care Horror Stories Just in Time for Halloween,” Human Events, October 19, 2009