10 August 2014

Biggest flaw with what the US provides for its citizens? I'd always considered the US to be the best for customer care, but I was surprised. US health provision, despite tinkering around the edges by the new Obamacare, is still appalling. In France there are many things that fall short, but its health care provision is rightly the best in the world. I'm disappointed in Obama. As leader of the richest nation, he had every opportunity to bring French-style health care to US residents, but clearly he's failed. Here's what I found in one aspect. When immigrant seniors become US residents, it's impossible to find 100% health coverage. The system assumes that all seniors are automatically entitled to Medicare from life-time working in the US. So, both the immigrant senior plus the family-sponsor soon become bankrupt - one single treatment like radiation therapy can cost as much as $50,000! And if immigrant seniors have pre-existing health conditions, forget it. I know the US is founded on commercialisation but you can't run a health service with profit-seeking insurance companies - that runs completely counter to the patient's best interests. Come on Obama:  send Ms. Burwell, new US Health Secretary, to France and see how a health service should be run! And Him indoors: I've come to barack Obama not to praise him...