Hey guys can you provide me some links about universal health care

[sasquatch]

I need links that can prove the preference of Medicaid/Medicare to private providers.
The amount of doctors the US produces and sends around the world.
The amount spent per person compared to other nations.
And other stats that can make the case to people that're on the fence about this issue.
Thanks.

[bobbolink]

1. not exactly what you're asking for....

but this should be of interest to you:

http://www.iacenter.org/cuba/cuba_medstudents0108/
U.S. med students get free training in Cuba

By Bryan G. Pfeifer
Detroit

Jan 20, 2008

There's a bright ray of hope for students in the United States who want to become doctors. And it's shining in socialist Cuba.


Beginning in 2001 students from the U.S. began studying in Havana for free at the Latin American School of Medicine (LASM). Originally 500 students were offered scholarships annually. This has been increased to 1,000. The only condition is that the students make a commitment to serve poor communities in the U.S. after receiving their medical licenses.


This is in stark contrast to the U.S. where, confronted with a capitalist educational system rife with institutional oppression and massive economic barriers, poor working class and/or students of color are virtually excluded from pursuing medical and most other degrees. Entrance exam fees and tests alone can be thousands of dollars. Poor students in the U.S. wanting to obtain an M.D. are often forced to either go deep in debt through high-interest loans and/or rely on loved ones who are also facing economic disasters—such as layoffs, foreclosures and bankruptcy.


Most of the U.S. students who have either graduated from the LASM or are now in the medical program are people of color and/or women. In U.S. medical schools it’s just the reverse.

http://www.ifconews.org/node/19
Eight US students graduate from the Latin American School of Medicine
"We get everything from books, even uniforms. But the conditions are that we go back to our communities, wherever we're needed, and we provide healthcare and that's what we really want to do, so we're actually looking forward to it," said Evelyn Erickson, a graduate from New York.

Nearly 100 US students are currently receiving training at the Latin American Medical School in Havana.

The U.S. students praised Cuba's universal, free health-care system, which is community based and focuses on preventing illness before it becomes more serious and costly, in contrast to the U.S. health industry indicted for being profit-based in Michael Moore's recent film "SiCKO."

"We have studied medicine with a humanitarian approach," said Kenya Bingham, 29, of Alameda, California. "Health care is not seen as a business in Cuba. When you are sick, they are not going to try to charge you or turn you away if you don't have insurance," she said.

The main difference in studying in Cuba was that there was no charge and the graduates can begin their practice debt-free, said Jose De Leon, 27, from Oakland. "When medical doctors graduate in the United States they are usually in debt, between $250,000 to $500,000, and spend the first 10 years of their careers paying it off," he said.

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Check this site out...

http://www.pnhp.org/facts/single_payer_resources.php

Single-payer national health insurance is a system in which a single public or quasi-public agency organizes health financing, but delivery of care remains largely private.

Currently, the U.S. health care system is outrageously expensive, yet inadequate. Despite spending more than twice as much as the rest of the industrialized nations ($7,129 per capita), the United States performs poorly in comparison on major health indicators such as life expectancy, infant mortality and immunization rates. Moreover, the other advanced nations provide comprehensive coverage to their entire populations, while the U.S. leaves 47 million completely uninsured and millions more inadequately covered.

The reason we spend more and get less than the rest of the world is because we have a patchwork system of for-profit payers. Private insurers necessarily waste health dollars on things that have nothing to do with care: overhead, underwriting, billing, sales and marketing departments as well as huge profits and exorbitant executive pay. Doctors and hospitals must maintain costly administrative staffs to deal with the bureaucracy. Combined, this needless administration consumes one-third (31 percent) of Americans’ health dollars.

Single-payer financing is the only way to recapture this wasted money. The potential savings on paperwork, more than $350 billion per year, are enough to provide comprehensive coverage to everyone without paying any more than we already do.

Under a single-payer system, all Americans would be covered for all medically necessary services, including: doctor, hospital, long-term care, mental health, dental, vision, prescription drug and medical supply costs. Patients would regain free choice of doctor and hospital, and doctors would regain autonomy over patient care.

Physicians would be paid fee-for-service according to a negotiated formulary or receive salary from a hospital or nonprofit HMO / group practice. Hospitals would receive a global budget for operating expenses. Health facilities and expensive equipment purchases would be managed by regional health planning boards.

A single-payer system would be financed by eliminating private insurers and recapturing their administrative waste. Modest new taxes would replace premiums and out-of-pocket payments currently paid by individuals and business. Costs would be controlled through negotiated fees, global budgeting and bulk purchasing.

[sasquatch]

3. Thanks