Our Health Care System is a National Disgrace

I was ill recently. I was so ill I spent most of two weeks in bed slipping in and out of fevers, violent chills with seizure-like shakes. I had an unbearable headache that persisted non-stop for two weeks no matter what pain killers I took.

My son had encephalitis several years ago and that was the only thing I could compare my symptoms with.

I stubbornly suffered through this malady without seeing a doctor because I had no health insurance. It was finally determined that I had West Nile Virus and after four weeks I'm still recovering. I get a little stronger every day.

In a report published by The World Health Organization on June 21, "The World Health Report 2000 - Health systems: Improving performance." The U. S. health system spends a higher portion of its gross domestic product than any other country but ranks 37 out of 190 countries. We're after Chile, Dominica, Costa Rica and just before Slovenia. It's a disgrace.

There are some things an open market can't determine. Health care is one. Drug manufacturers are gradually abandoning vaccines because of a lack of repeat business.

Paul Offit is chief of the Division ofInfectious Diseases and director of the Vaccine Education Centerat the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. His article, "Why Are Pharmaceutical Companies Gradually Abandoning Vaccines?" explains the process. Check it out at http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/24/3/622.

Drug companies spend a fortune advertising new products that in many cases are no better than the old ones at the same time insisting they need subsidies for R&D. The old drugs stop making a profit when the patents expire and cheaper generics are produced.

Doctors prescribe expensive, newer drugs when others will do the job quite effectively.

I worked as a videographer for years in the medical/legal field. This is what I observed. A beautiful young drug representative shows up at a doctor's office with a briefcase filled with new product samples. They have an expense account allowing them to take the doctor out for lunch. She'll have the doctor's undivided attention while she tries to influence his drug decisions. I have never seen an unattractive woman or male drug rep. It's a game that seems well understood by all the players.

Whenever the issue of national health comes around the people making unimaginable profits from this system always raise the specter of socialism. I have friends in Canada, The U.K., and France that can't believe how barbaric our system is.

A baby born in the United States in 2004 will live an average of 77.9 years. That life expectancy ranks 42nd, down from 11th two decades earlier, according to international numbers provided by the Census Bureau and domestic numbers from the National Center for Health Statistics.

"If the US were to shift to a system of universal coverage and a single payer, as in Canada, the savings in administrative costs [10 percent of health spending] would be more than enough to offset the expense of universal coverage" ("Canadian Health Insurance: Lessons for the United States," 10 pgs, ref no: T-HRD-91-35. Full text available online at www.gao.gov).

We have to make this a national discussion without interference from lobbyists.