HEALTH The 3 Reasons the U.S. Health-Care System Is the Worst

Courtesy of The Atlantic:
The biggest reason is the Republicans and Canadian Conservatives are against any kind of Universal Health care regardless of costs or savings.  This is what you vote for.  This is what Ontario is in for.

The head of the Commonwealth Fund, which compares the health systems of developed nations, pinpoints why America’s is so expensive and inefficient.

According to the Commonwealth Fund, which regularly ranks the health systems of a handful of developed countries, the best countries for health care are the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Australia.

The lowest performer? The United States, even though it spends the most. “And this is consistent across 20 years,” said the Commonwealth Fund’s president, David Blumenthal, on Friday at the Aspen Ideas Festival, which is co-hosted by the Aspen Institute and The Atlantic.

Blumenthal laid out three reasons why the United States lags behind its peers so consistently. It all comes down to:

1. A lack of insurance coverage. A common talking point on the right is that health care and health insurance are not equivalent—that getting more people insured will not necessarily improve health outcomes. But according to Blumenthal: “The literature on insurance demonstrates that having insurance lowers mortality. It is equivalent to a public-health intervention.” More than 27 million people in the United States were uninsured in 2016—nearly a tenth of the population—often because they can’t afford coverage, live in a state that didn’t expand Medicaid, or are undocumented. Those aren’t problems that people in places like the United Kingdom have to worry about.
2. Administrative inefficiency. “We waste a lot of money on administration,” Blumenthal said. According to the Commonwealth Fund’s most recent report, in the United States, “doctors and patients [report] wasting time on billing and insurance claims. Other countries that rely on private health insurers, like the Netherlands, minimize some of these problems by standardizing basic benefit packages, which can both reduce administrative burden for providers and ensure that patients face predictable copayments.” In other words, while insurance coverage in general is great, it’s not ideal that different insurance plans cover different treatments and procedures, forcing doctors to spend precious hours coordinating with insurance companies to provide care.
3. Underperforming primary care. “We have a very disorganized, fragmented, inefficient and under-resourced primary care system,” Blumenthal added. As I wrote at the time, in 2014 the Commonwealth Fund found that “many primary-care physicians struggle to receive relevant clinical information from specialists and hospitals, complicating efforts to provide seamless, coordinated care.” On top of a lack of investment in primary care, “we don’t invest in social services, which are important determinants of health” Blumenthal said. Things like home visiting, better housing, and subsidized healthy food could extend the work of doctors and do a lot to improve chronic disease outcomes.

Together, these reasons help explain why U.S. life expectancy has, for the first time since the 1960s, recently gone down for two years in a row.

OLGA KHAZAN is a staff writer at The Atlantic.

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Why Canada's play as a country is so important: The world is not in Great shape yet; the contrary.

A

The GDP of the Following Countries

USA GDP% improve 2.9%

The G7 Group 2.4%

The European Union 2.5%

Canada 2.1%

Our markets are flat!  Together is the only way

we can make it!

The Trans Canada Pipeline

Canadians Receive A Wide Range of Benefits from the Trans Mountain Expansion Project, Including 15,000 Jobs and $46.7 Billion in Tax Revenue!  

BC is allowing BC produced oil to be loaded on their shores while blocking Alberta.  This is criminal

Alberta Advantage Party - the New Republican assault on Canadian politics!

I had the opportunity to talk with the AAP party reps.  Their membership push came at me.  I said, "I've had my fill of you guys, the WRP is run by the US Republicans." to which he replied, "Yes, that is true but we are different!"

Small talk' I took his brochure and left.

They are part of the UPC acronym  C.R.A.P  :The Conservative Reliance Alliance Party.
From the AAP flyer:

APP:  The right to recall your elected official.
WRP: Exact same thing.

Education:
If elected AAP will revise the Alberta Education Curriculum so that our students will receive the highest levels of academic and practical skills that are offered on the planet.
Wow!  They have no idea how such lofty ideals will cost individuals and money.  Think here of private schools,  Available if you can afford them.  They are the new Republican push to Morph still another party.

We will eliminate the mandatory gay-straight alliance clubs in Alberta schools and eliminate the NDP directive that parents must not be told about their child's sexual behaviours.  Not the WRP "Homosexuals will burn in the fires of hell" but, the next thing to it.

The NDP GAVE NO SUCH DIRECTION! The NDP did say that joining such an organization will be kept private.  The alternative is to turn back the clock, adopt a program of exclusion and do away with anything that suggests inclusion.  Do away with safety and endorse one of risk!

And finally, We will uphold and support the ability of parents to have their children educated in the manner they think best for their child, through a public, Catholic, private or charter or homeschool program.  We will not amalgamate the Catholic and public-school systems.

What they do not say, looking south of our border, they will cut funding to public schools giving the majority of funding to the private school.  There will be two distinct levels of education! Not just high school vis University.

The way it is now, the majority of the population make up the stripe of the school.  St. Albert, for instance, is Catholic Public and Protestant private.

Policing:
Rural Crime is at pandemic levels.
The AAP, if elected, would train and elevate sheriffs to the standard of Police forces such as Edmonton and Calgary Police Services.

Rural Crime is high, but not Pandemic!  The Sheriffs are fully trained for the duties they perform and have the full support and are in the communication with the Local Police forces.

As a member patrolling with the Citizens on Patrol group, I can tell you we are always in contact with local police and do not go at risk anyplace!

Equalization:
The people of Alberta know what equalization payments are.  We know that the taxes we pay are sent to Ottawa and we get nothing back in equalization. Transfers.

Straight out of the WRP/Republican playbook!

Alberta received equalization payments from its concept to 1954.  It was not called "equalization" at these times.  More recently we received money, a great deal of it, from Ottawa when this last recession hit.

If elected to government, the AAP will not sign an agreement with Ottawa that keeps us subjugated or maintains the status quo.
At the heart of the Conservative movement is such extremes which will very quickly break up this country which is their final solution.

Secondly, there is no pile of money sitting in Alberta waiting to go to Ottawa!
Any monies paid anywhere in Canada come from the taxes paid by you and I and like people and corporations!  It is out of the Federal Tax Base!

The AAP Will work to free Albertans from being Canada's tax slaves.
 What a bunch of extreme separatism crap!  Another thing that will help to break up  Canada.

Health Care: We will put an end to the separating of our elderly couples in their final years.

Getting old is not a lot of fun at times.  Palliative care in the past has taken up many of the Active Beds in the prototypical hospitals around Alberta.  An active bed costs the system 3000.00 per day,  a palliative bed costs several hundred.  That is the economies of dying in Canada, not just Alberta.

We will make a commitment to research, specifically immunology.
And what, do they think is happening now?  Simply playing on fears of the elderly with no real changes available to them.

Alberta's Place in Canada:
Albertans want greater autonomy from Ottawa.

This is playing to the Southern Alberta WRP group and is a political play first used by the United Farmers of Alberta in 1919! It was needed then and very effective and was the start of the family driven dynasties in Western Canada"

The AAP will demand Alberta's right to select our own immigrants, in the same way, that Quebec does.

They fail to say that all provinces can do this now to a large extent.  So what they are saying is they will set up to sort wants by colour and race.  So typical of the Republicans.  Manitoba for years has been trying to import German Mechanics! And, have little success.

The AAP would halt the process of sending Alberta's portion of income tax to Ottawa.  The AAP would set up an Alberta Revenue Service to collect the Alberta portion of our taxes.

Think here of the underlying task of separation they want.
Even if they got close, it would take 6 provinces to agree on such a change in the constitution.

Marilyn Burns, a lawyer.   Giver her my regards while asking her background and origins.

Contact  

Canadian Politcal History.

As a one time Conservative Riding secretary and of an age greater than 90% of Canadians I offer this glimpse into our past.

The Liberals built Canada with little interruption to their base until 1919 to 1937 in which case the American Republicans working through the Morman Church, helped them establish "The United Farmers of Alberta"  This party morphed itself into the Veterans and Active force, 1944 to 1948, again the US Republicans were fully involved.

This morphed into the Conservatives which found a hard landing after Diefenbaker and the Avro-Arrow. (You now know the reason Diefenbaker scrapped the Arrow in Canada allowing the US to take up the design and ordered the only prototype of the Aero destroyed.) and, Harper sold off the Canadian Wheat Board to US interest in leaving office.  Related:

They again morphed into the Progressive Conservatives. This party was started by Peter Lougheed and company.  Peter broke away from the Republicans, in fact, took on US oil interests in Alberta in the much-maligned NATIONAL ENERGY PROGRAM.  Peter became the most popular Premier not only of Alberta but, all of Canada. A time of no internet, those with the money ruled the press.  A world recession stepped in and interest rates went to 25%.  Families invested in oil lost homes and there were a number of suicides  With no internet, those with the money ruled the press!  This was all blamed onto The NEP which was destroyed!

When Klein took over he doubled down with the US Republicans.  All this happening while the Wild Rose Party kept the original foundation going with the Church.  Now we had two political parties which could appear as opposition, one extreme and one tame by comparison.  Doing what they do best, played both ends against the middle.

Notably, Klein started the bleed on the Heritage Savings and Trust by freezing the fund at 5% profit taking all above into General Revenue to support his 10% flat tax.  The loss to Albertans 760 billion dollars most of which went directly back to US parent companies.  Norway over the same period banked over 1 trillion dollars. 

Klein also ushered in the Energy East plan.  At one point he was going to continue with Lougheed's plan of building a Refinery in Edmonton,  Then, Shell oil suggested it would be better for everyone if they built pipelines to the Gulf Coast to their refineries.   West pipelines were never considered as Shell's gulf refineries already had the market captured.

Take a look at The Huffington Post" to see the teamwork us/Canadian and the treatment you get if you enter an opinion on US politics.

In a final analysis, I see the US is in a position to take over our country!  By putting in a Conservative Government again will facilitate the end of our Dairy Marketing board and any other institutions that may hinder this process.

For the record: Kenny and Harper were thrown out of every trade meeting they attended throwing the advantage to the US.  No one could be this unlucky!

More recently,  It allowed Harper to become a dictator in his own mind. Any conflict with a native group could be set aside by the Minister in charge. In action, it caused endless delays in the West coast pipeline. The US does not want us to ship off our west coast into Indochina and China!  

#C69 did away with two pieces of Harper/Kenny legislation National Energy Board Act: Replaced.s shipping off the west coast it will cut deeply into their markets in Indochina and China and, they will not be able to use their oil supply on or off as a bargaining chip!

Secondly: Canadian Navigable Waters Act; was changed by Harper/Kenny to a free-for-all. One outstanding item is the BC dam on the Peace River. A navigable river the dam was built and was criticized for not being able to produce enough electricity to pay for itself. It was however built to create a sump in the Peace River is suitable for drawing large amounts of water out of. 2/3 of the flow of the Peace River!!

Kenny/Scheer and his conservative friends are trying to kill the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion! Kenny was recently on TV opposite an environmental lawyer while jetting around the country. She was Trashing Tarns-Mountain expansion, he was sitting there, nodding and smiling his approval. 

The US does not want us shipping oil our west coast into Indonesia and China!  If they are allowed to kill the Trans Mountain Expansion, natives will lose their investments and  Canada will lose its investment into the expansion.

The UCP is on its' last legs! Kenny plummeting!

I say this because the Edmonton Sun scalped me for 100 dollars for a  years posting on their epaper.

Now they have changed my subscription so I have to sign in every article I read and then, it won't allow me to post.   THE EDMONTON SUN IS IN TOTAL PROTECTIVE MODE FOR THE UCP; the UPC cannot handle any questions about their flakey platform.

Right-wing media has lined up against the Liberals.  We have little or no journalism left in Canada.

The Difference between Conservative and Liberal Governments.

First published in 2018
As a one time secretary to a Conservative Riding association, I have insights that can be verified.

First off; the @Liberal Party is the one that built Canada.  They have been in office the majority of the time since Confederation.  The #Conservatives were started by the US Republicans in Southern Alberta and blossomed under the United Farmers Party of the day.

This party became the Conservative Party and very little has changed.  The Liberals prefer a pay as you go Government and continuing struggle to get into a surplus position to cover the crisis.  They have been paying down the deficits of every Conservative Government ever put in office!

This worldwide recession we have barely passed has left Canada, the USA, and the rest of the world with the single exception of Luxembourg on a deficit financing plan.

Conservatives say they will reduce the taxes for everyone.  This is the standard fare.  Consider who gets the most significant breaks; you, or the 10 million dollar company who probably pays the same amount of taxes you do.  Like the 10% tax, it downloads costs onto the lower and middle incomes.

Klein started robbing the Heritage Savings and Trust fund by limiting it's profits to 5% per year.  Everything above 5% went into General Revenues to be used as taxes.   All this time telling Albertans we were getting 30% royalties. This is where the money came from to run 10% taxes. This move lifted 760 Billion dollars from the Heritage Trust fund!

 Norway who has 1/2 the output that Alberta does has over a Trillion dollars in the bank.  How much is a Trillion?  A trillion seconds back in time we would be with the Dinosaurs!

They are also against the social nature of the Canadian makeup at different times citing the CPP as being a subsidy and contrary to the welfare of the private industries.  It should be privatized.  They do not mention the Canadian CPP is the envy of the world.

Health care is still another they keep beating on it should be private practice and private practice only!  Ralph Klein, the Alberta Premier called it "the third rail" referring to the third power track on electric railroads.  He then put us on to total privatization by changing health care so it matched the Oregon model.

Most of this country is younger than I am.  I thought a lesson in our history would be useful.
   

PNWER and Conservatives.

Recent experiences on the Huffington Post caused me to realize that PNWER is alive and well.   When you vote Conservative; know what you are voting for!   This post is in context and copied from a post I made in 2013 hence the dated names.


This organization, chartered in the US where they do not have to divulge anything under Canadian Law is the tool that Harper will use to "Change Canada so that even the Liberals will not recognize it" and by extension nor will any of us.

BC was up in arms saying no, this is not the case; we are Liberals.  Yet, Mr. Harper took the time to thank Gordon Campbell for his help in pushing the Conservative envelope forward.

The mission statement for the group is "Leverage regional influence in Ottawa and Washington D.C."

Harper's recent moves to lay off any number of Federal Employees is the setup for the total privatization of many Federal Departments and/or the licensing aspects of those same departments.

Take a look at the roster for this group and you will see at a glance just how Harper plans on changing Canada and, most of us won't like it.

If Harper gets in again we are in for a totally mean and lean Republican Government.

PNWER FOUNDATION 

The articles of ratification were passed in 1991 by similar statutes in the four states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. Alaska passed these same articles by the action of its legislative council. British Columbia adopted them by ministerial action, and Alberta passed them by government resolution. Amendments were passed in 1994, adding the governors and premiers, and updating other positions of the statutes.

Direct Link : http://www.pnwer.org/

Direct to  Supporters: http://www.pnwer.org/Supporters/CurrentSupporters.aspx

Mission Statement and Goals: http://www.pnwer.org/AboutUs/Background.aspx

Alberta
George Groeneveld, MLA
Hon. Rob Renner
David Coutts, MLA (Ret.)

British Columbia
Hon. Barry Penner
John van Dongen, MLA

Saskatchewan
Michael Chisholm, MLA

British Columbia
Premier Gordon Campbell
John van Dongen, MLA

 Yukon
Premier Dennis Fentie
Glen Hart, MLA
Hon. Jim Kenyon
Steve Nordick, MLA

Northwest Territories
Premier Floyd Roland
Hon. Bob McLeod
David Ramsay, MLA

Saskatchewan 
Premier Brad Wall
Michael Chisholm, MLA                     
Hon. Bill Boyd
Dustin Duncan, MLA
Lyle Stewart, MLA

Private sector Partners/Sponsors

·  Agrium

·  AltaLink

·  BC Hydro

·  BP

·  Canadian Natural (CNRL)

·  Capital Power

·  ConocoPhillips

·  Denali - The Alaska Gas Pipeline

·  Enbridge

·  Enmax

·  ExxonMobil

·  Fleishman-Hillard

·  IHS - Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA)

·  Lilly

·  Marathon

·  Meyers Norris Penny LLP (MNP)

·  Microsoft

·  Nexen

·  NOVA Chemicals

·  PEMCO

·  Premera Blue Cross blue shield of Alaska

·  Puget Sound Energy (PSE)

·  Safeway

·  SAP

·  Sea Breeze Power Corporation

·  Shell

·  Spectra Energy

·  Teck

·  TransAlta

·  TransCanada

·  United Way of King County

Other Government Partners

·  Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency (ALMA)

·  Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) part of the USDA

·  Argonne National Laboratory

·  Consulate General Canada-Seattle

·  Flathead County Montana Office of Emergency Management

·  Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC)

·  Idaho National Laboratories (INL)

·  King County Office of Emergency Management

·  King County Office of Emergency Management

·  Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

·  US Department of Energy

·  US Department of Homeland Security

·  Washington Economic Development Commission

·  Washington State Department of Commerce

·  Washington State Fusion Center

Statutory Member Jurisdictions

·  Government of the Northwest Territories

·  Province of Alberta

·  Province of British Columbia

·  Province of Saskatchewan

·  State of Alaska

·  State of Idaho

·  State of Montana

·  State of Oregon

·  State of Washington

·  The Yukon Territory

Partner Non-Profit/Associations/Foundations.

·  American Chamber of Commerce in Canada - Western Chapter

·  Applied Science Technologists and Technicians of British Columbia (ASTTBC)

·  Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists Alberta (APEGGA)

·  Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan (APEGS)

·  Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers

·  Cascadia Center for Regional Development

·  Institute of Health Economics

·  Northwest & Canada Cruise Association

·  Northwest Food Processors Association (NWFPA)

·  Northwest Power and Conservation Council

·  Pacific Northwest Border Health Alliance

·  Professional Engineers and Geoscientists British Columbia (APEGBC)

·  Washington State Public Utilities Districts Association