Surely an argument for the cheapest system possible, which is not, however you look at it, the US system!

The outcomes are mostly driven by lifestyle choices, diet and exercise. Which is kind of a bummer for anybody who wants to seriously improve public health by changing the health care system, as well as being really uncomfortable for multi-culturalists to face.

Ah, that probably explains why the complete uselessness of the NHS is taken as a matter of fact by most US commenters here and on the original blog – whereas the data might suggest that it is at least reasonable value for money compared to other countries, and no worse for national health outcomes than the US system.

Because counteracting it would mean explaining the policy issues in a way that most Americans don’t have the patience to listen to. Anyway it’s not like we don’t also use stories of Canadian health care to frighten our children.

You reply, “Dear God, no! I don’t want that! To which the reply is, presumably the British didn’t, either, but they got it none the less.

Brett, is there any particular reason to think that last part isn’t a complete load of crap?

If 100,000 Americans fly overseas to save themselves some money on some vain notion of voluntary self-improvement, it’s not really much to do with their health or with their health care.

“On a slightly related note, there’s the belated discovery of MRSA in the American media, where it used to exist only in conjunction with Heh Indeedy references to the NHS.”

Really? The US has higher rates of MRSA than the UK from my understanding.

What happened to comparative advantage?

A dishwasher from Nancy, Vital Frérotte, who had just come back from Lourdes cured forever of tuberculosis, died Sunday by mistake.

Those who strive to defend America against “socialized” health care are so blind to the deficiencies of the status quo that they highlight any sign of inadequacy in competing systems, utterly unaware of what it reveals about their own.

It is not poor Americans who are medical tourists but relatively affluent ones who lack insurance. That self-employed people cannot get reasonably priced insurance in the US is a scandal. It clearly shows how flawed the US system is. Most of the Americans mentioned in the articles would have stayed in the US if the cost was reasonable.

I prefer market solutions to government ones, but it is clear that there is a massive market failure here. It is over 12 years since the Clinton plan was shot down and “the market” has failed to reduce prices or improve coverage.

2. The reaction here and at Ezra’s seems oddly defensive. I mean, what’s wrong with saying that NHS doesn’t work, given that no one sensible wants to import it? Unless…

3. The US is 5x the size of the UK. Sum totals can be misleading.

4. The US health care system isn’t a closed system in the way that NHS is (or purports to be). Medical tourism from the US is a continuous choice with, and not an escape from, the rest of the US system; that’s different from NHS. What is a feature in one is a failing in the other.

5. Given the expense of US health care, shouldn’t we expect (and be grateful for) many Americans to go abroad for medically unnecessary cosmetic procedures?

6. If one believes (as Ezra does, and I don’t) that the US is driving medical tourism, is that a good thing, or not? If the US were to change its health care or health care financing system such that medical tourism from the US declined, would that be good for provider countries? Good for the UK? Should those effects be counted in deciding whether and how to reform?

7. The underlying study driving these stories appears to be a marketing poll. The poll, apparently conducted for a medical tourism company, finds that more people than ever are using their services, and the trend can’t help but continue. In other words, exactly what these sorts of polls always find. I’d think we’d want better data than anything provided in this story (or in the stories that Ezra links to) before building too much of an empirical case.

8. Nick, of course Britons don’t come to the US except for experimental treatment. That’s where the greatest value added is, and in any case, if Americans can’t afford US health care, Britons certainly can’t. Some from the Middle East and South America may have a different view.