Five myths of health care

[audtatious]

Fictions don't become facts through repetition.

Keep that in mind next time you hear a politician breathlessly decry the horrors of the American health-care system and then explain how he intends to fix it. Some of the most popular talking points in the health-care debate pass as the gospel truth simply because, well, they're popular — not because they're true.

Below, I debunk the five most prominent health-care myths:

(1) Forty-seven million Americans do not have health insurance.

This figure comes from the U.S. Census Bureau. What most people don't know, however, is that the Bureau counts anyone who went without health insurance during any part of the previous year as "uninsured." So if you weren't covered for just one day in 2007, you're one of the 47 million.

That also includes 10.2 million illegal immigrants, and about 14 million people who are eligible for public health-care programs like Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program but have yet to enroll. And nearly 10 million of the "uninsured" have household incomes of more than $75,000 — so they can probably afford to buy health insurance but choose not to.

(2) Universal health-care coverage can be achieved via "individual mandate."

According to the federal census, nearly two-thirds of the uninsured are aged 18 to 34. This makes sense — healthy people aren't going to pay for expensive insurance they'll never use.

Those who support an "individual mandate" — like Sen. Hillary Clinton and several governors — believe by legally requiring all Americans to buy health insurance the young and the healthy will increase the size of the risk pool and therefore lower premiums for everyone. As a way to enforce an individual mandate, Mrs. Clinton has suggested garnishing wages.

But many states require insurers to charge everyone the same rate. So young people would end up paying far more in premiums than they should — or could — pay. It's patently unfair to force people to purchase insurance they can't afford. Even in Massachusetts, which offers substantial premium subsidies for low-income residents, the government had to exempt a fifth of Bay Staters from the individual mandate because insurance was still so expensive. And, the plan is already $147 million over budget.

The real way to attract young adults into the insurance market is to lower premiums — not to impose draconian sanctions. This can be done by having states reduce costly mandates like coverage of in-vitro fertilization and by allowing people to buy insurance across state lines.

(3) Expensive prescription drugs are a big reason health-care costs increase.

The real price of prescription drugs is actually decreasing. In 2007, inflation rose more than 4 percent, while drug prices increased just 1 percent. So in real terms, drugs were 3 percent cheaper last year than in 2006, on average.

What's more, drug spending is but a small slice of total health-care spending — less than 11 cents out of every health-care dollar goes to prescription meds.

And drugs actually reduce health-care costs in the long-term. Medicare, for instance, saves $2.06 for every additional dollar it spends on pharmaceutical drugs, according to a paper recently published by the National Bureau for Economic Research. Prescription drugs often obviate the need for expensive surgeries and hospital stays.

(4) Drug importation will save patients a fortune.

At most, according to the Congressional Budget Office, foreign drug importation would save Americans 1 percent over the next decade.

Brand-name drugs are cheaper in foreign countries because their governments impose price controls. Drug-makers can only afford to sell pills at cut-rate, controlled prices in Europe and Canada because Americans pay full price.

If American politicians allow foreign drugs to enter the U.S. market, they'll in effect import price controls too. Such action will not only create practical problems, like shortages but also deny firms the return on investment necessary to plunge into the next round of research and development into new cures.

It takes nearly $1 billion to bring a new drug to market. Investors are willing to make such a risky investment because the rewards of developing a cure for Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, AIDS or diabetes are considerable. If the profit motive vanishes, the miracle cures for which America's drug industry is responsible would vanish.

(5) The state-run health-care systems in Canada and Europe are better and cheaper than America's.

People who make this claim usually note that life expectancy is higher in Canada and Europe. But life expectancy is influenced by a number of variables aside from the quality of a country's health-care system — like diet, genetics, exercise, smoking, pollution and even marital status.

A study published last year in the British medical journal the Lancet suggests America is much better at treating cancer than Europe or Canada. Researchers found Americans have a better survival rate for 13 of the 16 most prominent cancers. An American man has nearly a 20 percent better chance of living for five years after being diagnosed with cancer than his European counterpart.

This study's findings tell us a lot more about the quality of a health-care system than life expectancy rates do, because the relationship between treatment and outcomes is tighter, clearer and more direct.

Sally C. Pipes is president and chief executive officer of the Pacific Research Institute and author of "Miracle Cure: How to Solve America's Health-Care Crisis and Why Canada Isn't the Answer."

[smockers83]

Right on. I could not agree more.

[ishkabibble]

Myths or no, something needs to be done about health care. People going bankrupt because they get sick is not cool.

IMO it is something we should socialize to some extent.

[Cold_Zero]

Is the problem with Health Care or Health Insurance?

[audtatious]

Myths or no, something needs to be done about health care. People going bankrupt because they get sick is not cool.

IMO it is something we should socialize to some extent.

If I got sick, I would not expect everyone else to pay for it

Maybe it's just me....

[ishkabibble]

Sometimes you get so sick that you can't afford to pay for it. What then? Die?

[wawazat8402]

This is going to sound very cold hearted, however, I believe thats just a part of life. Sick things die. Ive lost my fair share of loved ones to illness, actually more so than just old age. It sucks and I felt miserable, but once the emotional reaction wore off I realized its a function of life. We cannot save everyone, nor should we try. Diseases that lead to premature death are what help clean up the gene pool. Cancers can be an exception because theyre not always passed on genetically, however, there is strong evidence to suggest that susceptibility to the disease can be traced to heredity. I truly feel that nature should be left alone to some extent if there is any concern for the health of a species over the long term.

[rn79870]

But we do have, to some extent, socialized medicine here. You just have to be old, or young to get it. There is Medicare for the elderly and disabled, and federal and state programs for those under 18, or 21 if they attending schools or training programs. It is just the average working person, the guy in the 22 to 61 year old bracket that has to fend for himself. He is the one paying for the medical care of both covered groups - he is the goose laying the golden egg and therefore, the one that should be covered. How ironic.

[ishkabibble]

This is going to sound very cold hearted

I'm waiting for the day you get an major illness that can be easily cured and say "No thanks, I have weak genes and need to be removed from the pool".

[audtatious]

UH will put limits on what people can get or not and there will be a huge line of folks wanting procedures they will simply have to wait for even if they are approved to have it. The procedures themselves and the care given to you will be determined via Insurance companies, hospitals and the Gov't as to what they can and can't do. That is one positive aspect of UH in that my wife will be able to tell patients "no" because what they want or need is not approved by the check list, thus her job would be much easier.

While nobody here, who is against UH, want's people to die due to lack of medical care, there is no proof that UH will be any better than what we have now. Providing medical care to the poor would be much easier if people would take more responsibility for themselves and not constantly abuse the system (calling an ambulance to take them to the ER since they don't have a car, taking their kid with the sniffles to the ER instead of the local clinic because of lines or simply not wanting to pay for insurance). The problem is only going to get worse with the high dropout rates and the number of illegals getting free healthcare in this country. Maybe Hillary is right and we should mandate young people to enroll in the healthcare system and garnish their wages in order to spread the load more. Seems pretty socialistic to me tho.

[ishkabibble]

While nobody here, who is against UH, want's people to die due to lack of medical care, there is no proof that UH will be any better than what we have now.

Under the current system, your life can be ruined if you go without insurance for a week and happen to get sick.

[smockers83]

Under the current system, your life can be ruined if you go without insurance for a week and happen to get sick.

True, but the chances of that are slim to none. A person is healthiest in his/her 20s. Why should I be obligated to have insurance or pay more taxes in order to pay for someone else?

What needs to happen is the available supply of medical care needs to increase substantially to reduce the costs. Doctors get paid more and more because demand for their services is going up and up...same goes for medical supplies. I have a dermatology appointment coming up in a couple of weeks that I scheduled the last week of February...although nothing serious, that's way too long.

[audtatious]

Under the current system, your life can be ruined if you go without insurance for a week and happen to get sick.

From what perspective? First it was "going to die" now it's "life can be ruined" (from a financial perspective I assume)? If they can't afford health insurance in the first place then they sure would have no qualms about skipping out on the bill. What is there to ruin? If they are the 10 million who can actually afford insurance and choose not to then they would simply file bankruptcy and be clear as a bird in 7-10 years anyway.