https://www.france24.com/en/20190830-french-connections-france-healthcare-system-doctor-affordable-hospital-social-security?fbclid=IwAR3PXqYEqj74xUE_V1_x0NumPAViJfzXpNlNHvdmJBsChKnzYY2a-CZHd90&ref=fb
By Taistealaí
When it comes to healthcare, the French are very proud of their system. It’s high quality, accessible and affordable. France’s “système de santé” ranks among the best in the world. Despite this enthusiasm, it’s far from perfect and critics say the system is hemorrhaging money. So who pays for it? And what’s its long-term prognosis? In this episode of French Connections Plus, Genie Godula and Florence Villeminot check up on French healthcare.
I can tell of similar circumstances that they share at the end of this. My son was born in Mexico City in 1981 prematurely – at 6 months. He weighed 1.5 lbs. and had 3 hernias. When I saw him that afternoon, he looked like a stick with a cantaloupe on top. He had no hair, no fingernails, his lungs weren’t fully formed and when the doctors removed his oxygen mask to show me his face (it actually covered his entire head) he let out a big scream, but no sound came out. They told me that he would not survive 72 hours, but it was okay because the priest had already come to give him his last rites (they are v-e-r-y Catholic).
He wound up staying in El Centro Medico hospital for a full year in an incubator. They also performed all surgeries on his hernias. And here’s the kicker: In a 3rd world country, in 1981, at 6 months (3 months early), after a quick surgery to save his mother’s life, spending 12 months in the hospital in an incubator and undergoing 3 surgeries to save his life, the total amount I paid was ……………………………………….. wait for it …………………………………… ZERO!
America’s system is antiquated, dilapidated, inefficient, doesn’t include everyone, and is the MOST expensive system on the planet AND it’s getting more and more expensive. We are not the best in the world. We aren’t even in the top 30.
It’s about time the US realized the truth and moved from a 19th Century naked capitalist health care system to the 21st Century.