France: 'Best' Health Care?

I am taking an International Comparative Health Care Course this semester, so will be adding to my US/World Healthcare Comparison tag I'm sure. Here's a piece from CBS Sunday Morning on France. The second half, showing the EMS triage system is pretty impressive.

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Health Care Reform Podcasts

5 Podcasts on Healthcare Reform found at the University Channel Web Site

Access to Universal Health Care Pt 1: New Jersey (Podcasts/Podcasts)
...Daniel A. Notterman, MD, MA, Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE IN NEW JERSEY - Senator Joseph Vitale, Senator and Chairman, Health, Human Servi...

Access to Universal Health Care Pt 2: Worldwide (Podcasts/Podcasts)
Pt 2 UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE WORLDWIDE - Uwe Reinhardt, PhD, James Madison Professor of Political Economy, Princeton University - Maggie Mahar, PhD, Fellow, The Century Foundation -

Access to Universal Health Care Pt 3: Keynote (Podcasts/Podcasts)
Pt 3 LUNCHEON SPEAKER - Len Nichols, PhD, Director, Health Policy Program, New America Foundation

Access to Universal Health Care Pt 4: Statewide Efforts (Podcasts/Podcasts)
Pt 4 UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE IN THE NATION – THE MASSACHUSETTS EXPERIENCE & OTHER STATEWIDE EFFORTS - Nancy Turnball, PhD, Associate Dean for Educational Policy, Harvard School of Pub

How the Next President Can Deliver on Healthcare Reform (Podcasts/Podcasts)
...ive Vice President for Policy, AARP; Robert Moffit, Senior Fellow, Heritage Foundation; Joanne Silberner, Health Policy Correspondent, National Public Radio (Sep 26, 2008 at the National Pr...

For this last one, I highly recommend watching the Video so you can see Uwe Reinhardt's slides.

I will give them a listen soon, but didn't want to lose the links...

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Two Reports: Insure The Uninsured Project :

Insure The Uninsured Project : Recent Reports

Health Care Systems Around the World
(November 2008)

Now I'm embarrassed. I just posted my summaries of the OECD summaries and get this in my inbox. Somebody who knows what they're doing spent some real time investigating and writing about 10 systems from around the world. I haven't read it yet, but wanted to get it up here, along with the one below:

The Healthy Americans Act (S. 334)
(October 2008)"

Cheers,

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Health Blog : Changes Brewing on Capitol Hill for Health Insurance

Health Blog : Changes Brewing on Capitol Hill for Health Insurance:

"Next year could see the biggest push in more than a decade to transform how health insurance works in this country. Obama and McCain have both proposed significant changes, and the Democrats just hammered out a platform plank that says the party is “united around a commitment to provide every American access to affordable, comprehensive health care.”

Meanwhile, Congress is busy hatching its own plans.

During the Health Blog’s recent field trip to DC, we spoke with Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who’s pushing a health reform bill that would make some big changes to the system.

The bill, known as the Healthy Americans Act, would require everyone to buy health insurance. But instead of sending a check to the insurance company, the premium for basic coverage would be tacked onto your federal income tax. You’d choose from health plans offered by private insurers in your state or region. If you wanted to buy a plan
that covered more than the basics, you’d pay extra.

There’s a lot more to it than that (including various taxes and subsidies), but those are the basics. You can read the whole bill for yourself here."

We've noted this before, but it really seems we may be acheiving critical mass/crisis for big change to occur...

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Report boosts bipartisan health plan - Yahoo! News

Report boosts bipartisan health plan - Yahoo! News:

"Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, the other sponsor of the legislation, said the report confirmed that the plan would not only cut health-care costs but actually save money in the long run.

'I am convinced we can reach our goal to improve coverage and provide affordable, private health insurance to every American,' Bennett said at a news conference with Wyden and other Senate supporters of the bill.

The so-called Healthy Americans Act would replace the current employer-based health insurance system with a system in which the government requires, subsidizes, and oversees a system of private health care plans that individuals select. The coverage would be guaranteed to be as good as that which federal employees receive, and the government would subsidize health care for people up to 400 percent of the poverty level.

The plan is paid for in part by changes to the tax code, including a new tax on employers of between 3 percent and 26 percent. Wyden labels the tax 'employer-shared responsibility payments' and notes that they would replace money employers now spend to provide private health insurance for their workers.
The employer payments are expected to generate up to $100 billion a year in federal revenue.

'Employers like this plan, and the reason they like it is because it cuts their current and future health care costs,' Wyden said."

Obviously, the torpedos are being loaded into the submarines already, but this may represent an opportunity for real reform and, although not single payer so much as Bismarkian/sickness fund style plan, I can live with it. And, more importantly, even many free marketeers can live with it, too.

Sen. Wyden's press release is here, and it lists current Senate co-sponsors.

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