Question about US healthcare (coming from a Brit)

Vaclav

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That's definitely the TL;DR version - not that TL;DR is enough for fanaskin to understand critically thinking about things before posting them. (And generally not after either)
 

ZyyzYzzy

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Ya. At least you could adjust for population if you really wanted to, but adjusting for laws and whatnot is next to impossible. Only way I cane think of a way would be to get patent numbers for iPhone (like you said) and other widely used products in each country and normalize the numbers based on the average number of patents they all have in that specific country.

A lot of work when it is easier to say the American patent system is somewhat fucked, and of recently hinders progress in some fields (patent trolls).
 

OneofOne

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based on what, how ikea their buildings look? here's a look at world patents granted.

rrr_img_60708.gif
Look dipshit, I was courteous enough to read your link before I commented on it (something I doubt even you did). Why don't you not be a douche and return the favor? Cause my link is 30 pics with a LITTLE text and... their methodology at the end (as stated). They don't base it solely on patents.

(I don't really care if you agree with their methodology or not, but if you're going to complain about it, at least be informed before doing so, jesus)
 

Tenks

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I can't find the article but isn't it true in the UK, and I'm assuming many public healthcare countries, it isn't uncommon to not fully treat the elderly or permanently disabled because they're seen as a major drain?
 

ohkcrlho

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I can't find the article but isn't it true in the UK, and I'm assuming many public healthcare countries, it isn't uncommon to not fully treat the elderly or permanently disabled because they're seen as a major drain?
THAT is a lie,i can assure you.and i don't live in the UK.
I laugh so hard when people in the US say "death panels in Europe" and blablabla.listen....people who say bullshit like that is fucking lying,they just want to misinform you.
 

Vaclav

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I can't find the article but isn't it true in the UK, and I'm assuming many public healthcare countries, it isn't uncommon to not fully treat the elderly or permanently disabled because they're seen as a major drain?
Depends on what treatment you're talking about - there's some corner cases it's likely true for but overall no.

I've seen similar, but it's stuff like elderly people get knee replacements that are cheaper than ones that are going to young athletic types because when a kid needs a knee replaced it needs to last for a century versus 10-15 years. The "rationing" argument by far doesn't actually exist, it's just prioritized towards those that actually need it more.

And of course note similar occurs here - your insurance company only lets you get X on their dime, if you want something better than what they allow you have to foot the WHOLE cost - just like they can opt to over there if they don't like the option made available to them.
 

OneofOne

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And here Brutul makes us all wish we were single 36 year olds with no significant health issues. When you have a family, and they can't say the same, you'll wish you had some super expensive no-deductable plan from your employer. I sure miss it.
 

fanaskin

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That is exactly what the "triadic patent families" is about, standardizing between countries

Here's some info

it adjusts the US and japan downwards like 2x% from their domestic issuance, even then the US has the highest total share.
 

Vaclav

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A) The OECD is hardly unbiased in such, they're actually lobbying for patent'ing similar to ours in the EU.
B) Your link doesn't work.
C) Still not adjusted for population. A nation of 50 people that invents 1200 things a year would be "terribly innovative" under that stupid criteria of just totals without factoring population because 100 patents a month is less than the US issues even though every person in that hypothetical nation is patenting two things a month.
 

BrutulTM

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And here Brutul makes us all wish we were single 36 year olds with no significant health issues. When you have a family, and they can't say the same, you'll wish you had some super expensive no-deductable plan from your employer. I sure miss it.
You're missing my point. It's not that people wouldn't like that, they just wouldn't pay for it themselves because it is wasteful. I would love to have a cheese whiz fountain in my living room, but it's wasteful so unless someone else is paying for it (or at least I *perceive* that someone else is paying for it) then it's not going to happen. I had a long debate with Tarrant and Cutlery many months ago saying that it is stupid for unions to push for "cadillac" health plans when they would be better off just asking for wage increases since that is more efficient but I got pretty much nowhere with it.

Also, I can't think of a more pointless pastime than arguing about whether Sweden or the US is more innovative.
 

BrutulTM

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Depends on what treatment you're talking about - there's some corner cases it's likely true for but overall no.

I've seen similar, but it's stuff like elderly people get knee replacements that are cheaper than ones that are going to young athletic types because when a kid needs a knee replaced it needs to last for a century versus 10-15 years. The "rationing" argument by far doesn't actually exist, it's just prioritized towards those that actually need it more.

And of course note similar occurs here - your insurance company only lets you get X on their dime, if you want something better than what they allow you have to foot the WHOLE cost - just like they can opt to over there if they don't like the option made available to them.
Some of that stuff actually makes sense. I know two old timers in the last two months that fell and broke their hips, had a hip replacement the next day, and died within a week. I can't help wondering about the motivations there and whether things would have been different with another system. How much did that hip replacment cost? Would they have gotten it if they had private insurance vs. medicare? Would they have gotten it if they had to pay themselves? Would they have gotten it if the hospital didn't make money by putting it in? Did it increase their chances of survival? By 5%? 50%? Did it make their last days more or less pleasant?

The incentives in the US are all to do as much as possible because the patients usually aren't paying anything and the clinics would prefer to do every test and procedure possible both due to financial incentives and fear of lawsuits. That doesn't necessarily make it the optimal approach though.
 

OneofOne

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You're missing my point. It's not that people wouldn't like that, they just wouldn't pay for it themselves because it is wasteful. I would love to have a cheese whiz fountain in my living room, but it's wasteful so unless someone else is paying for it (or at least I *perceive* that someone else is paying for it) then it's not going to happen. I had a long debate with Tarrant and Cutlery many months ago saying that it is stupid for unions to push for "cadillac" health plans when they would be better off just asking for wage increases since that is more efficient but I got pretty much nowhere with it.

Also, I can't think of a more pointless pastime than arguing about whether Sweden or the US is more innovative.
No, I understand your point. I don't think you understand that not everyone is a simpering moron and that people can and do fully calculate the dollar value of employer insurance contributions, retirement fund matching, etc and consider it when accepting jobs, and that doing so gives you a very good understanding that it's money that could otherwise be in your pocket. Likewise, I think you significantly underestimate the number of people (like my family) that are "drainers" on the system, and receive (required) services in excess of what they and their employer pay in premiums.

And on the face of it, I'm going to agree with Tarrant and Cutlery, because the purchasing power of a union in buying insurance means that each member will have much better insurance than they'd be able to buy with the same cash as individuals. You seem to be coming from the position of a young healthy guy who only sees insurance as something being needed in case of some freak accident where you break your leg. There are soooooo many other reasons to have health insurance, but until they enter your life, I'm not sure you'll understand that.
 

Vaclav

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And note that employer healthcare is pretax. So it's not 1:1 in replacing a plan with cash.
 

Eomer

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I can't find the article but isn't it true in the UK, and I'm assuming many public healthcare countries, it isn't uncommon to not fully treat the elderly or permanently disabled because they're seen as a major drain?
That shit's bullshit. While there might be waits to see specialists if your condition is not life threatening in some socialized health care systems, if your condition is indeed life threatening you're going to get treatment pretty much immediately. I've never heard of elderly being denied care because "it's a drain."
 

Big Phoenix

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So the narrative now when someone talks about a country like Sweden is that they are only able to be so awesome because of us.
Because comparing a country of not even 10 million to a country of 317 million is really a valid comparison.
 

BubbySoup

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I can't find the article but isn't it true in the UK, and I'm assuming many public healthcare countries, it isn't uncommon to not fully treat the elderly or permanently disabled because they're seen as a major drain?
No this is not true. We have very good care for the elderly and permanently disabled. Where our system tends to fall over is on waiting times for non essential care. For instance, you could develop a medical issue which might be both painful and disturbing to your daily routine, but if it is not life threatening then after your initial consult (which happens quickly) you may end up on a 9-18 month waiting list if you need an op to fix it. Until this happens all you can do is keep going back to your local doctor and try various meds to ease it.