Red States and Rosier Views on U.S. Healthcare

You have to wonder if we're all using the same doctors and hospitals when 68 percent of Republicans say they think our healthcare system is the best in the world while only 32 percent of Democrats and 40 percent of independents would make that claim.

The surprisingly wide disparity in perception was revealed in a poll released yesterday by the Harvard School of Public Health and Harris Interactive. The poll also found that nearly three quarters of Republicans believed that patients in the United States get better quality care and face shorter waiting times to see specialists or be admitted to a hospital than do their counterparts in Canada, France, or Great Britain. Less than half of Democrats and independents felt that way.

Although this is not surprising, I post it so we can learn from it. If we want an overall health care policy, we must understand what we are up against.

Of course many of these people living in Red States are either devoted Bushie fans who are helplessly lost to reality or they are the uninformed who are doing their best to just get through their lives and don't have time to pay attention to what is going on in the rest of the world.

Our country is littered with these uninformed people who are happily unaware as evidenced by this quote:

(Apparently, many respondents didn't let a lack of knowledge get in the way of forming an opinion about how well or poorly our health system stacks up against others. Asked specifically how the U.S. system compares overall with that of France, more than half of respondents said "don't know," and 40 percent were unable to weigh in on Great Britain. Twenty-six percent said they didn't know how Canada's system compared with ours.)

This reminds me of a video link posted earlier that illustrated how blissfully ignorant most people really are. This is the part I just don't get.

Postscritp: It occurs to me that there is no mention of economic standing in this poll. I am willing to bet that a large amount of the Republicans polled were probably in the upper economic status which would explain why they have great health care. They can afford to pay for it.

So not only do we live in a country where there is only liberty and justice for the rich, but also your right to live a long and healthy is now based on your economic status. That way the poor damaged low lifes will die off faster than the snotty elistists. Hey's it's been proven repeatedly that those without insurance die faster.

Just another example of the class warfare that is going on right under peoples noses. But if you don't call it a war, then people don't pay attention, I guess.

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