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Foreign Press

Foreign Press

Beitrag zur Krankenkasse steigt auf 15,5 Prozent

RP Online
October 29, 2008
www.rp-online.de/public/article/politik/deutschland/631756/beitrage-zur-krankenkasse-steigt-auf-155-Prozent.html

As expected the premiums for members of the public sickness funds will rise to 15.5 percent on 1 January 2009. This is lower then the sickness funds had asked for.

Hoehere Kosten fuer weniger Leisung

Focus
November 5, 2008
http://www.focus.de/gesundheit/ticker/der-gesundheitsfond-hoehere-kosten-fuer-weniger-leistung_aid_346481.html

Not only will Germans be paying more in premiums next year but drug prices are rising and the new system of health funds may not provide Krankenkasse with enough money to cover their members. That may mean additional costs to patients.

‘Das ist nicht das Ende der privaten Krankenversicherung’

Die Welt By Stephan Maass
November 1, 2008
http://www.welt.de/welt_print/article2658266/das-ist-nicht-das-Ende-der-privaten-Krankenversicherung.html

With new premiums set for the public Krankenkassen and the health funds due to start next January, private insurance is looking at a complex future. But the head of one firm says that despite the need to increase costs, private health funds will remain an important part of the health care system.

Looking to Europe for health-care answers

Globe and Mail By Lisa Priest
October 22, 2008
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/L…

Dr. Ouellet stressed that he is not out to privatize Canada’s $160-billion health-care system, but to ensure universal medicare for generations to come. What’s needed, he says, is a little competition.

Private clinic, public cash

The Vancouver Sun By Dustin Walker
October 22, 2008
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=2972a740-0c49…

The number of publicly funded surgeries performed at a private clinic in Nanaimo has more than doubled in the past year, as the local hospital grapples with a growing waiting list for procedures.

Private sector could help public health system provide better care: CMA head

The Canadian Press
October 21, 2008
http://www.680news.com/news/national/more.jsp?content=n1…

Canada’s ailing medicare system is in need of aggressive treatment, says the head of the Canadian Medical Association, which is planning a fact-finding mission to Europe to see up close and personal how other countries deliver health care.

Universal Coverage Kills

National Review By Michael F. Cannon
October 21, 2008
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZjA0NTk1MmNhNDEzNzk0YjIyMGQ…

In the final presidential debate, Barack Obama and John McCain continued to slug it out over health-care reform. McCain accused Obama of wanting to put all Americans in the type of single-payer system that exists in Canada and England. “Senator Obama wants to set up health care bureaucracies, take over the health care of America,” McCain warned. “As he said, his object is a single-payer system.”

Federal health care won’t work

Tuscaloosa News
October 21, 2008
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20081021/NEWS/8102…

On a trip to Montreal, Canada, my husband became ill and had to be transported to a hospital emergency room by ambulance. The scene reminded me of some third-world countries I’ve read about. Patients were on gurneys lined up in the halls, moaning and bleeding.

Thousands of cancer patients facing delays

Telegraph.co.uk By Rebecca Smith
October 20, 2008
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/health/3226839/Th…

Thousands of British patients are having vital cancer tests delayed because of a worldwide shortage of radioactive material used in diagnostics. Normally scans to diagnose a new cancer or determine if it has spread would be carried out within one or two days but some patients are being forced to wait up to a month.

Should you buy private healthcare?

FinancialAdvice.co.uk
October 18, 2008
http://financialadvice.co.uk/news/4/insurance/8243/Should-you-bu…

The private healthcare issue is very similar to the pensions situation as the value of the NHS to each and every person in the UK is diminishing under a mountain of executives, healthcare trusts and excess spending. The days when you were able to go to the doctor and arrange an immediate appointment at the hospital have long gone with many people waiting years to get treatment.

Americans Deserve a Real Health Care Debate

RealClearPolitics.com By Tom Coburn and Richard Burr
October 10, 2008
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/10/ame…

Government-controlled health care is a seductive message that, in practice, is most cruel to those who can least afford a way out. Much of Europe is moving away from the very form of government-control health care Obama-Biden embrace.

UK Limits Quality of Life Drugs to £30,000 per year

Istockanalyst.com By Click Broker
October 11, 2008
http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewarticle+articleid_2699370.html

The NHS threshold is £30,000 per “quality adjusted life year.” In “UK Provides No Public Funding for Genentech’s Avastin Users”, I wrote that not only did the NHS refuse to pay for Avastin, but also refuses to pay hospital and doctor fees for patients that bought Avastin themselves. The UK is taking a hard line on proven results and appears to be the first country to put a monetary value on patient comfort.

The price of life – it was £20,000. Now NHS drugs body recalculates.

Independent By Nina Lakhani
October 12, 2008
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbc…

What price a life? The controversial National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) is about to decide. Under bitter attack for denying life-extending drugs for conditions such as cancer and dementia, the body is to revolutionize how it chooses which vital life- saving drugs are funded by the NHS.

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