In the midst of the Obamacare/Trumpcare debate, there's news from the Annals of Internal Medicine that Canadian Cystic Fibrosis (CF) patients live more than 10 years longer on average than patients with the same disease in the U.S. — universal healthcare plays a large role in that survival rate.
According to the CTV News story one factor is that Canadians with cystic fibrosis were told ten years earlier than Americans to adopt a high-calorie, high-fat diet, to take pancreatic enzyme supplements and vitamin supplements at every meal, and that Canadians were more likely to get lung transplants.
But one of the key differences between the two countries is that Canadians have universal, publicly funded health care while Americans do not.
In the study group, Canadian CF patients as a whole had a 77 per cent lower risk for death than U.S. patients with no health insurance or who health insurance status was unknown. They also had a 44 per cent lower death risk than Americans receiving continuous Medicaid or Medicare, and a 36 per cent lower risk than those receiving intermittent Medicaid or Medicare coverage.
Wikipedia summarizes:
Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disorder that affects mostly the lungs, but also the pancreas, liver, kidneys, and intestine. Long-term issues include difficulty breathing and coughing up mucus as a result of frequent lung infections. Other signs and symptoms may include sinus infections, poor growth, fatty stool, clubbing of the fingers and toes, and infertility in males. Different people may have different degrees of symptoms.
(Score: 3, Funny) by turgid on Thursday March 16 2017, @11:06AM (1 child)
If the people needed to live longer, the Market would see to it. At least in America honest people can make a good living out of selling health insurance. You won't get that in commie countries.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 16 2017, @02:38PM
At least in America
honest peopledishonest agents can make a good living out of selling overpriced health insurance designed for maximum deniability.