×
This is a very surprising article:
Zoe Boone and Ellen Bisci are two girls with an ocean between them. Zoe, 11, lives in Bowie, Md., a suburb of Washington, D.C. Ellen, 13, lives in Harrow-on-the-Hill, just outside central London. The girls are strangers to each other, but they have one thing in common: A few years ago each developed a lethal form of childhood leukemia. After months of brutal therapies and unbounded support from their families, both girls are alive today and doing better.They were saved by two very different health care systems. Zoe was cared for by private hospitals, and her care was paid for by her father's private insurance plan offered by his employer. In Ellen's case it was the National Health Service, the government-run program that offers universal and free care to all Britons.[...]The countries have the same survival rate after five years for pediatric leukemia overall of 81%, but with the deadly form Zoe and Ellen had, the U.K. has a higher survival rate of 66%, versus 58% for the U.S. Both got excellent care, but Zoe's cost $950,000, almost twice Ellen's. Zoe's father, Vincent, was lucky enough to have a good insurance plan, but he spent $10,000 to cover his out-of-pocket costs. He had a decent boss who allowed him to miss work and a caring sister-in-law who spent many nights in the hospital.Comment On This StoryEllen's mother never saw a bill, split up with her husband and in February took a leave from her job as an administrator in a municipal office without worrying about losing her coverage. But she, too, leaned heavily on her family. Her sister Kay cut back on hours at her physical therapy clinic to care for Ellen.Some people may be surprised to learn that the UK, which spends 41 percent what we do on medical care and has a fully socialized system, has better survival rates for certain lethal diseases. But even so, the real shock of the article is not the factual content, nor the depth of the reporting. It's the venue. The article appeared in Forbes.
