I lived in Japan for 2 years from 1998-2000 and used their health system. No problems whatsoever and I went to the hospital twice. I also had a $100 root canal and crown done in Japan. I have had no problem with my Japanese dental work and every single one of my US root canals (2 different dentists) have had to be redone.

Root canal and crown runs about $2000.

Acquaintance just got it done across the border in Mexico for $450.

No wait times.

Doc was licensed to practice in both Mex and the US.

Japan is #1 in the world in terms of life expectancy. Males live on average to 83. Females to 86.

USA = #33. Males to 76. Females to 80.

Here’s the kicker.

Japan spends $3,036 on it’s nation’s healthcare per capita.

USA? $8,223 per capita.

Duh?

You see, big money destroys freedom. There are Americans who can’t afford their medications because they are priced out of the market. For instance, many people have asthma and need medicated inhalers to breathe properly. Most people I know need to breathe to live. Some are forced to pay $175 or more in the American market for an American-made inhaler that lasts a month. The same inhaler would cost them $60 in Canada. But the pharmaceutical companies have lobbied Congress to make it illegal for these Americans to buy their life-sustaining inhalers from Canada. So they either pony up the American price or suffer. Inhalers are just one example. Many Americans do without other medications for chronic conditions that would prolong their lives simply because they can’t afford to pay the American price. They could afford to pay the Canadian price – but by doing so they would be breaking the law. Even though they don’t call it a ‘death panel’ what else would one call it? By pricing an American out of the US market and forbidding him BY LAW to buy an American-made medication from Canada – effectively it could be viewed as a premature death sentence. And this has been going on for a LONG LONG TIME. Why doesn’t the media – which is supposed to fight and prevent tyranny and protect the interests of the common man – make a huge issue over this? Big money destroys freedom.

This is why the good people in the State of Maine are outraged that the pharma industry has stepped in to repeal their new law through the courts. The law that would allow them to buy their medications via mail order through Canada, New Zealand or Australia. Common citizens are dying prematurely or suffering in misery because they can’t afford to pay the high American medication prices that subsidize the rest of the civilized world.

So once again….American style healthcare is more about gov/corporate collusion and big money and greed than keeping you healthy. All the aforementioned facts and statistics point in this direction. My Lord, talk about man’s inhumanity to man!

What did we do wrong?

You see, these health care cost pressures on the average citizen have gradually consumed America because of actions taken by the medical industry that, in practically any other industry, would constitute a crime. Health care expenses used to consume only a low single digit of our GDP. But today health care consumes nearly $1 of every $5 spent in the US economy. By FAR, the highest cost to GDP ratio on the entire globe!

Why? Easy. By using their money and political influence to get laws written and passed that amount to legalized extortion of the US consumer – by racheting up prices by 5 times or more of what they should be in a ‘free market’ then by forcing you to buy health insurance, without which you would end up financially bankrupt in the event that you required extensive medical care. If you would prefer to pay for your treatment with cash – instead of submitting to the insurance scam – the providers would charge you 10 times more for their services. So they’ve got you trapped into playing the game by their rules which, of course, benefit them and greatly disadvantage you.

Again, ask yourself why you should have to pay a minimum 40% more than a Canadian citizen for the same US made drug?

Ask yourself why a heart bypass surgery in India or Singapore or Malaysia would cost you $15,000-$25,000 cash when the same surgery would cost you $150,000-$190,000 cash in an American hospital when the hospitals use the same equipment, use board certified cardio-thorasic surgeons (trained in America) and the morbidity rates are practically identical?

Have you ever heard the mainstream US media (liberal or conservative) seriously address this angle when discussing the all-important health care topic before the American people?

Have you ever wondered why?

Canada is #4 in the world. Males on average live to 80 and females to 84.

America is ranked #33. Males live to 76 and females live to 80.

How could Canada be ranked #4 in life expectancy if it had a substandard healthcare system? That doesn’t make any logical sense.

Then to add insult to injury, Canada spends only $4,445 per capital for healthcare while America spends $8,223.

Maybe if the US mainstream media and the 6 o’clock news didn’t hide these pertinent facts from the American people more would understand the con job that’s being pulled on them and demand productive change. Not con job change like ObamaCare that just shifts all the added costs to the productive middle class worker by forcing him to buy a product that he doesn’t want or need. I mean real change that dismantles the government/medical industry collusion that is destroying the economy by pilfering nearly 20% ($1 in every $5) of all the money spent in the US economy!

“If you want to keep your Doctor, you can keep your Doctor period.”

That great late conservative historian and philosopher, Will Durant, once said:

“Truth changes her garments frequently, like every seemly lady, but under the new habit she remains always the same.”

I just adore that man.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!