[clairity]

you're talking about singularized/centralized electronic medical records as if it will solve all the ills of the healthcare industry, especially the rampant corruption, but it certainly won't, and certainly isn't the reason for the differences with french healthcare. sunshine can only go so far. the root problem of healthcare, as with many american industries (e.g., education), is the lack of competition and (uncaptured) regulatory function.

and as with many gigantic, mult-faceted problems like this, band-aid solutions like centralizing medical records will do nothing (e.g., banning plastic bags) but distract us from the core hard problem. we need medical insurance, regulatory agencies, emergency services, care providers, medical training, pharma, medical devices, and a whole host of other interlocked industries to be subject to the pressures of a fair competitive environment, and we need to allow them to fail (and even punished) without that being life/career destroying (a crucial precept of our bankruptcy laws, incidentally).

spiraling costs and flagging care are a result of systemic rot, and it needs systemic solutions.

[gumby]

I read metehack's comment completely the opposite way: that a working records system is part of a functioning medical system and a consequence of a decision to have such a system.

In other words I interpreted the comment as making the point you make.

Having benefited from the French medical system (and having it treat my dad when he was visiting us) it's really quite good. People in the US (where I live) would laugh if they heard the way French people complain about their health care system: it's a dream by comparison. French complaints are like an American complaining that there is "too much room"

[clairity]

i mean, they focused on medical records as the core difference and referenced metrics to support that position.

it's true that functioning medical records could be a (small) part of an overall better and more efficient medical system, but it was positioned as the core solution that would unlock a better system overall. perhaps they had a different positioning in mind, but that wasn't the argument presented.