Health Coverage

It seems that whenever you talk with a typical person, they will gladly tell you that they are for better 'health care' in the United States. They point to the Socialist European countries, like Germany, France and the Netherlands and comment on what excellent 'health care' they have. Indeed, Democratic candidates in the United States (and some Republican ones as well) win votes by promising better 'health care' to constituents.

But this represents a misunderstanding of basic terms. What these people mean is that they will get better Health Coverage for their constituents. Germany and France have some of the best Health Coverage in the world; Health Care is a different story. Health Coverage implies how many people are insured, or can financially afford to receive medical treatment; whereas Health Care is the actual service being provided by Doctors, Nurses and Hospitals. Improved Health Care means a improved quality of the services provided by Doctors, improved Health Coverage means more people have access to the services, regardless of the quality.

While socialist nations can clearly boast of the greatest Health Coverage in the world, as a direct result they also posses some of the worst Health Care amongst all the industrialized nations. The counrty with the best Health Care in the world is the counrty that spends the most time training its Doctors. The country with the best Health Care in the world is the counrty that only lets qualified individuals provide medical services. The country with the best Health Care is the country where, in the vast majority of cases, Doctors get the diagnoses and surgeries right the first time. And most importantly the country with the best Health Care is the country that can provid Health Services on demand to those who need them most, when they need them the most. The country with the best Health Care in the world is the United States.

Sure they have better Health Coverage in Canada, but they also have to wait 12 weeks just to get an MRI. Sure German Physicians have cheaper costs than American Physicians, but their surgeons haven't had 12 years of intensive, pre-job training. And sure France can get all of their citizens to the Doctor, but it takes them so long that thousands died of a heat stroke a few years back, just because they had to wait to get in a hospital when they really needed (fairly basic) treatment. (American Hospitals would have been sued out of buisness if that had happened here.)

So the bottom line is this: Quality Health Care is much more important than Health Coverage because quite frankly, without good Care, Coverage means nothing.