HEALTH: FRANCE VERSUS NIXON.

FAIR HEALTH CARE OUGHT TO BE A DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTION.


Justice is an institution. It is separated from other branches of government. In theory at least (but not really since Obama has been interfering with Holder's sword of justice).

France has the best health care in the world, according to international evaluations. Friends of the American health care private profiteering scheme scoff that the French are subject to their government. It will come as a surprise to typically misinformed Americans that private health care insurance covers more than 90% of French subjects. Proportionally more than in the USA!

Not just that, but French insurance companies are doing great: one them, AXA, not content with owning a giant tower in... Manhattan, is building the highest one in Paris, as if there never had been a crash, and so it is for AXA's profits.

So what is going on?

The French "PUBLIC HEALTH" system functions as a single payer for all basic health care, with greater efficiency than a private system, because it does not have to pay managers and owners handsome amounts of money to keep them more interested by the health of their citizens than by exploiting workers in China.

The French "Public Health" negotiates with pharmaceutical companies as a single dealer. The companies make excellent profits, because they do not have huge marketing costs. Their financial maneuvers are watched over, so they can use their capital to make research, not fortunes for third parties. And so on.

The French Public Health actually is self regulated, and is, de facto, an independent democratic institution. It's the government, only in the sense that the justice system is the government.

And what of private insurance in all this?

Well, because basic dental crowns, as reimbursed by "Public Health" do not have that translucent quality you can get from a real artiste, and because, if the doctor prescribes going to a four star resort, and, considering that the Public Health system is cutting down on those... then private insurance steps in.

There is nothing anti-American about the French Public Health system. But there is definitively something anti-American about the present health care plutocracy in the USA. And no wonder: Nixon created it. With tax dollars.

Much more details on my site...http://patriceayme.wordpress.com
***

Patrice Ayme