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Letter to the editor: French health care works

By Nick Allen

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

To the 308 million Americans it concerns:

For the last three months I’ve lived in Paris while participating in an internship program for the School of Architecture. Nearly every day since I began, the sound of an ambulance blaring down Avenue Daumesnil outside my room wakes me up before my alarm does. After first wishing that somebody’s medical emergency could have waited another 45 minutes, I begin thinking about the fierce health care debate back home.

I can’t say I closely examine every new headline on health care, but I do my best to keep up. And it puzzles me, to say the least, to hear politicians such as Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and comedians such as Glenn Beck suggest that the U.S. boasts the greatest health care system in the world. That’s arrogant talk when representing a country that ranks 50th overall in life expectancy. I would just as soon believe someone who tried to convince me that Utah State is better than my Jayhawks at basketball.

I’ve heard the criticisms of socialist health care systems: bad doctors and slow treatment. Here I see no evidence of it. Perhaps it’s better wine or more potent espresso, but there are millions of happy and healthy people buzzing about Paris, there are no lines of people waiting to get treatment outside hospitals and my morning ambulance serenade proves that those in need of immediate care get it.

Furthermore, the French government is even so kind as to provide me health care for being a legal resident. Last time I checked, private insurance companies in America are not that generous.

Call it a public option or call it socialism, the statistics don’t lie: People here live longer. In France, life expectancy is 81 years old, in the U.S. — 78. Let’s change this system first, then our elected officials will have an extra three years to fight about it.

— Nick Allen is a senior from Boulder, Colo.

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Comments

Letter to the editor: French health care works

Nicely Put!

Letter to the editor: French health care works

Life expectancy is not a good measure of the quality of a healthcare system because it is affected by far too many extraneous variables.

Letter to the editor: French health care works

You know what is a good measure of a healthcare system? How many people have died in that country. I would bet my life savings that more people have died in France than the United States of America.

Letter to the editor: French health care works

Thanks for your opinion.

Some thoughts though,

1. Our country's life expectancy is largely affected by the high infant mortality rate and obesity.
2. Awesome logic. (a) There's no one dying on the streets of Paris. Therefore the citizens of Paris must have a great health care system. (b) Ambulance sirens = availability of immediate care?
3. You lost all of your credibility at "I can’t say I closely examine every new headline on health care..." when you are writing an opinion piece on the matter.
4. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001...

Letter to the editor: French health care works

Take out homicide and accidental deaths and the US is #1 in life expectancy!! Yes-a-mesh! Too many cars!

Letter to the editor: French health care works

I was recently in New York City. There were so many ambulances there. And I didn't see anyone die. I also didn't see any evidence of America having bad health care. I didn't see any lines in the hospitals. Granted, I didn't visit any hospitals. But that's beside the point. God Bless America.

Letter to the editor: French health care works

Wait, I just read the column. The life expectancy we're competing for is missing by three whole years? Oh boy, the last three years of my life! How will I ever complete my magnum opus without those three years?
Why would I even want those three years, really? What am I going to do with three extra years of crippling medical bills?

Letter to the editor: French health care works

Well I'm glad I got at least a few comments on my letter, and even more glad that all responses were fairly sensible and not terribly accusatory or demeaning. I’ll respond to the first few I read…
-----connerm: you are absolutely right, and MLJayhawk did hit on some of them in #1 of his response, however I believe that is a valid statistic to use when making a point with healthcare, just like citing a nations GDP per capita would be appropriate when discussing the strength of international economies. If you were to argue that the United States were stronger economically than France, citing the greater GDP per capita in USA would likely help your argument.
P.S. After many months in Europe, don’t even get me started on gun control and public transportation policy in America!
-----pantheon: your argument is quite vague; perhaps you could clarify a time period. I don’t doubt that throughout the course of history, especially considering the relatively young age of the United States, many more people have died in France. However my article is more concerned with recent history. France underwent a significant healthcare reform in 1998, if we establish that year as the “start date,” would you still “bet your life savings that more people have died in France than the United States of America.” If so I will take that bet, and I will even give you 5:1 odds considering the population of the USA is roughly five times that of France.
As to your later points: First, three years?! I would “bet my life savings”, you’ve accomplished quite a bit in the last three years - at least in your eyes; enough to make you realize that three years is a valuable chunk of time to do something with your life. And it’s us, the Americans without insurance, that are stuck with crippling medical bills, not the French. Leave the sensible critiquing to MLJayhawk, please…

Letter to the editor: French health care works

-----MLJayhawk: Your comment argument easily shoots many holes in my argument, but given the restrictive length requirements of letters to the editor, and the lack of availability of quality research materials here in my small Paris flat, I thought it best to write a letter that would spark a debate, rather than to prove my point. To address your criticisms:
1. True, and France’s life expectancy is very affected by extremely high rates of smoking. And, since you probably have more data at your fingertips, what are the reasons for high infant mortality rate in the US? Is one of them lack of access to healthcare?
2. I think I hit on this above
3. noted, and I’m glad we agree that this is an OPINION piece.
4. Thank you for linking me to this article, I enjoyed reading it. I will admit that I reside on the left wing of the political spectrum, but I firmly believe that reform of many problems in America require debate from the right and left, and experts such as Dr. Flier who intelligently discuss the issues without liberal/conservative bias. The point I aim to make with my letter is that the healthcare system is very effective in France, the people on average live longer, it costs far less per person than in the United States, and everyone is covered. Clearly there are valuable things to learn from the French healthcare system here. MLJayhawk, do you have a model of a better healthcare system or a recommendation for the reform of the American one?...or do you simply aim to critique my writing?

Letter to the editor: French health care works

France cheats at many things, including soccer. How can we trust their health care statistics? What if they cheat on those too?

Letter to the editor: French health care works

I'm sorry you took my "argument" seriously. But for clarity's sake, I was talking about from the point at which both countries were formed. The joke here is that France is much older than America. I can draw you a diagram if you like, I'm good with visual aids.
Also, I believe you may have misread my three years of crippling medical debt, I meant here in the greatest country in America, the USA.
Although I do take issue with your assertion that three years of my life from any point in its course is equal to any three others. I really think saying "The last three years" while I'm in college is a bit different than saying "The years between age 78 and 81"
For example, I will not be going to Bonnaroo when I am 78, 79, 80, or 81. First, because I don't think Radiohead will still be together, and second BECAUSE I WILL BE FREAKING OLD AS HELL.

Letter to the editor: French health care works

Honestly and on a more serious note here: I wouldn't be surprised if more people have died in America. France is older, but America is much larger. More people have lived on the Earth in the past 50 years than all of the rest of human history combined, I'll warrant!

Karma Police, arrest this man!

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