US or bust

I have a pretty narrow view about the health care systems of other countries because I never truly experienced their care first hand. Whenever I travel internationally, I always make sure to have my a abundant supply of meds to cover me for the entire duration of my stay and additional meds should my stay be delayed in any way. I have never had to receive emergency care while abroad. I have heard arguments about other systems being superior to our system, but as that may be, I would still choose our US system. For me, this decision primarily deals with the advance medical care available in the US.

When it comes to medical care in other countries, people always talk about how the cost of medical care is covered and that there are little to no out of pocket expenses for the consumer. As this may be great, I believe with this type of system there has to be some shortcomings. Whether it be quality or length of time till you are seen by the appropriate medical care giver, I believe that there is no way to compare countries with fundamentally different medical systems.

I believe that the movie SICKO paints a very biased portrait of our system. I'm not saying that the US system can not be improved. There are many aspects of the system that could use reform. What I am saying is that we can't afford a radical change by revamping our entire system. We need to make small adjustments, that lead to a more comprehensive coverage for a larger percentage of the population while at the same time reducing the cost of medical care.