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Food For Thought.
Mar 8th, 2009
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i
don't know about the systems in countries that have them (foreign to the USA) but reading about the problems scares me. Much study is needed and the one who actually pays (the patient) needs to be in on the decision making.i think it isn't a health "care" crisis, it's a health insurance issue. All the illegals, young people who don't want insurance, and the self-employed who can't afford it or don't want it. There is no crisis. Everyone, and I mean everyone, get care at any hospital.
i don't believe there is a way to provide all care to all people, regardless of ability to pay. Government intervention and high taxes/fees on salaries or workers would never generate enough money. Wage and Price controls, freezing them to control inflations didn't help.
The Problems with Socialized Health Care (Nightmare headlines from around the globe)
http://www.liberty-page.com/issues/healthcare/socialized.html#britain| 3/07/09
The Problems with Socialized Health Care
Australia
Australia's universal health care scheme is relatively new (introduced in 1983, which built on the 1974 Medibank program). As with all socialized health care systems, there is a mixture of public versus private care (approximately 30% of Australians also retain private health insurance). As a result, the private patients receive better care than their medicare counterparts.
The salary caps and artificial increase in demand for care that always occur in a national health care system are resulting in predictable physician shortages.
Mental patients face bed shortage
- Clara Pirani, July 4, 2005 [News.com.au]
Public patients wait longer for surgery
- June 29, 2005 [The Sydney Morning Herald]
Painful wait for care
- Luke McIlveen, February 17, 2005 [Herald Sun (Australia)]
Hospitals crippled by poor planning
- Ruth Pollard, December 1, 2004 [Sydney Morning Herald]
Operating theatres shut to save cash as thousands wait for surgery
- Nick O'Malley, November 23, 2004 [Sydney Morning Herald]
Private funds creating 'two-tier' health system
- David Uren, November 3, 2004 [The Australian]
Great Britain
Great Britain's National Health Service (NHS) was created on July 5, 1948. As with all government programs, bureaucrats underestimated initial cost projections. First-year operating costs of NHS were 52 million pounds higher than original estimates1 as Britons saturated the so-called free system. Many decades of shortages, misery and suffering followed until 1989, when some market-based health care competition was reintroduced to the British citizens2.
Unfortunately for those requiring care, a mostly socialist health care system still has problems. The articles and commentaries in this section identify some disasters caused by government intervention in the British health care system.
Only five out of 51 hospital trusts pass hygiene test, say inspectors
- Sarah Boseley, November 24, 2008 [Guardian Unlimited]
Heart patients dying due to poor hospital care, says report
- Sarah Boseley, June 8, 2008 [Guardian Unlimited]
NHS dentistry loses almost a million patients after new dentists' contract
- David Rose, June 6, 2008 [The Times]
Private healthcare managers could be sent to turn round failing NHS hospitals
- Philip Webster, Political Editor, and David Rose, June 4, 2008 [The Times]
Cancer patients ‘betrayed’ by NHS
- Sarah-Kate Templeton, June 1, 2008 [The Times]
NHS scandal: dying cancer victim was forced to pay
- Sarah-Kate Templeton, June 1, 2008 [The Times]
Pensioner, 76, forced to pull out own teeth after 12 NHS dentists refuse to treat her
- Olinka Koster, March 26, 2008 [Daily Mail(UK)]
Dental patients face care lottery
- March 26, 2008 [Metro(UK)]
Lung patients 'condemned to death as NHS withdraws their too expensive drugs'
- Jenny Hope, March 24, 2008 [Daily Mail(UK)]
Women in labour turned away by maternity units
- John Carvel, March 21, 2008 [Guardian Unlimited]
Health inequality has got worse under Labour, says government report
- Andrew Sparrow, March 13, 2008 [Guardian Unlimited]
Angry GPs reluctantly accept plan for weekend and evening surgeries
- John Carvel, March 7, 2008 [Guardian Unlimited]
NHS chiefs tell grandmother, 61, she's 'too old' for £5,000 life-saving heart surgery
- Chris Brooke, February 28, 2008 [Daily Mail(UK)]
Patient 'removed' from waiting list to meet target
- January 31, 2008 [The Scotsman]
One in eight patients waiting over a year for treatment, admits minister
- John Carvel, June 8, 2007 [Guardian Unlimited]
Audit Office asked to investigate record £500m NHS underspend
- John Carvel, May 30, 2007 [Guardian Unlimited]
The drugs the NHS won't give you
- May 11, 2007 [Telegraph UK]
UK lagging behind on cancer drug access, study finds
- May 10, 2007 [Guardian Unlimited]
One in six trusts is still putting patients on mixed-sex wards
- Daniel Martin, May 10, 2007 [Daily Mail(UK)]
Specialist stroke care 'lottery'
- May 9, 2007 [BBC News]
Smokers and the obese banned from UK hospitals
- May 2, 2007 [Healthcare News]
Cancer patients told life-prolonging treatment is too expensive for NHS
- Lyndsay Moss, February 13, 2007 [The Scotsman]
UK health service "harms 10 percent of patients"
- Kate Kelland, July 7, 2006 [Reuters]
5,000 elderly 'killed each year' by lack of care beds
- June 26, 2006 [Telegraph UK]
Dental Socialism in Britain
- Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., May 9, 2006 [LewRockwell.com]
Pay for nurses and surgeons doubles NHS overspend
- Beezy Marsh, Patrick Hennessy and Nina Goswami, April 23, 2006 [Telegraph UK]
The money addicts: it's your cash they are gambling with
- Patience Wheatcroft, April 23, 2006 [Telegraph UK]
NHS chiefs get luxury car deals
- Daniel Foggo and Steven Swinford, April 9, 2006 [The Times]
Secret NHS plan to ration patient care
- Nigel Hawkes, April 7, 2006 [The Times]
British Healthcare To Be Rationed
- April 7, 2006 [United Press International]
British body rejects EPO drugs for cancer patients
- March 17, 2006 [Reuters]
National Health Service - Grappling with Deficits
- March 9, 2006 [Economist.com]
Hundreds wait to register as another dentist quits the NHS
- Martin Williams, September 23, 2005 [The Herald (Scotland)]
Life-saving cancer drugs 'kept from NHS patients by red tape'
- Sam Lister, September 20, 2005 [The Times]
NHS slides into the red despite record increases in health care spending
- September 20, 2005 [Telegraph UK]
Alzheimer's sufferers hit by further delay in NHS approval for vital drugs
- Michael Day, September 18, 2005 [Telegraph UK]
We all pay a price for our 'free' NHS
- John Smith, August 19, 2005 [The Scotsman]
2,000 British doctors out of work
- August 14, 2005 [The Washington Times]
UK health 'unsustainable'
- August 14, 2005 [Finance24]
NHS faces rising bill for negligence claims
- Ben Hall, August 8, 2005 [Financial Times]
British boy to go to India for operation
- August 5, 2005 [United Press International]
NHS failed to stop doctor raping scores of women
- Lois Rogers and Jonathon Carr-Brown, July 31, 2005 [The Times]
Top crimewriter funds drugs for cancer victim refused by NHS
- Martyn Halle, July 8, 2005 [Telegraph UK]
Report says NHS is mired in huge debts
- David Simms, June 25, 2005 [ABC Money (UK)]
U.K. set to restrict smoking
- June 21, 2005 [The Associated Press]
NHS ‘fund bias’ against men may cost 2,500 lives a year
- Sarah-Kate Templeton, June 19, 2005 [The Times]
Doubts on funding NHS 'monuments'
- Nicholas Timmins, June 10, 2005 [Financial Times]
17 million reasons why we must improve hospital meals
- June 7, 2005 [Cambridge Evening News]
Figures show more patients waiting for operations
- June 3, 2005 [Guardian UK]
Scarcity of NHS dental treatment is revealed
- Celia Hall, May 19, 2005 [telegraph.co.uk]
Why NHS Opposes 'Treatment by Demand' for the Dying
- Stephen Howard and Jan Colley, PA, May 18, 2005 [Scotsman]
800 queue for NHS dentists
- May 5, 2005 [telegraph.co.uk]
Hundreds more heroin addicts to be given a fix on the NHS
- Nic Fleming, April 25, 2005 [telegraph.co.uk]
British health service facing nurse exodus
- April 25, 2005 [United Press International]
About 400 patients a year in Scotland succumb to MRSA
- April 25, 2005 [Scotsman]
NHS debts soar to over £1bn
- Karyn Miller, April 24, 2005 [telegraph.co.uk]
British taxpayers foot $26.5 million bill for abortion tourists
- April 18, 2005 [Catholic World News]
U.K. Liberal Democrats Would Raise Taxes to Pay for Health Care
- Reed Landberg, April 14, 2005 [Bloomberg]
Number of NHS Bureaucrats 'Rising Faster Than Health Staff'
- Joe Churcher, March 22, 2005 [Scotsman]
'£500m hole' in hospital budgets
- Celia Hall, March 21, 2005 [telegraph.co.uk]
1,000 Scots desert NHS every week
- Murdo Macleod, March 5, 2005 [Scotsman]
British NHS facing financial crisis
- March 3, 2005 [Washington Times]
NHS drugs regulator to withdraw approval of Alzheimer's treatment
- Nicholas Timmins, March 2, 2005 [FT.com - Financial Times]
NHS waiting list rises
- February 11, 2005 [Guardian UK]
Tumour patients hit by NHS shortages
- Jo Revill, February 6, 2005 [Guardian UK]
NHS financial crises set to outlast winter
- Mike Waites, February 4, 2005 [Yorkshire Post]
NHS 24 'priority' callers wait four hours for advice
- Caroline Wilson, January 14, 2005 [Evening Times (UK)]
'No strategy' on NHS waiting time
- January 14, 2005 [BBC]
Output figures show NHS decline
- John Carvel, October 19, 2004 [Guardian UK]
Heart patients die on waiting lists
- Peter Sharples, October 18, 2004 [Manchester Online]
£25bn overspend feared for NHS computer network
- Karen Attwood, October 12, 2004 [telegraph.co.uk]
Gaps in care cost £7bn, says charity
- John Carvel, October 4, 2004 [Guardian UK]
NHS excluding poor people, UK
- September 15, 2004 [Medical News Today]
Smokers 'should not get NHS care'
- September 6, 2004 [BBC News]
Waiting list row blights Brighton
- John Carvel, September 4, 2004 [Guardian UK]
Patients are denied the last rites under data protection law
- Elizabeth Day, July 25, 2004 [telegraph.co.uk]
Shortage of dentists to double by 2011
- John Carvel, July 24, 2004 [Guardian UK]
Britain's stiff upper lip gives way to a snarl
- Sarah Lyall, July 18, 2004 [The New York Times]
Hospital Overcrowding A Cause of Superbug Infections
- John von Radowitz, July 1, 2004 [Scotsman.com]
Hospital Crisis: Fallen Angels
- Lindsay Mcgarvie, May 23, 2004 [Glasgow Sunday Mail]
Study finds British hospitals are still austere, cold, smelly and poorly maintained
- May 6, 2004 [News-Medical.net]
Hospital bathrooms and showers: a continuing saga of inadequacy
- Andy Monro, MRCP & Graham P Mulley, DM, FRCP, May 2004 [Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine]
Majority back public smoking ban
- March 24, 2004 [BBC]
Discrimination Rampant In British Health Care
- Peter Moore, November 17, 2003 [365gay.com]
PERIPATETICS—To the Medical Socialists of All Parties
- Sheldon Richman, September 2003 [FEE.org]
Creeping Privatization?
Shortages of skilled workers, low morale, long queues for services, crumbling facilities and corrupt practises.
- Roland Watson, August 6, 2001 [LewRockwell.com]
The World's Worst HMO
- Stephen D. Moore, November 24, 1999 [Random Thoughts]
Socialized Medicine in Great Britain: Lessons for the Oregon Health Plan
- Professor John Spiers, March 18, 1999 [Cascade Policy Institute]
The Sickbed Which is Socialized British Medicine
- December 23, 1997 [NCPA]
The British Way of Withholding Care
- Harry Schwarz, March 1989 [FEE.org]
Other European Countries
Only six potency pills per month to be covered by Social Insurance Institution
- August 13, 2004 [Helsingin Sanomat]
Hospitals on the verge of a breakdown
Switzerland’s hospitals may be the envy of the world, but rising health costs and patient numbers are increasingly putting the system under strain.
- July 24, 2003 [swissinfo.org]
Sweden Edges Toward Free-Market Medicine
- A. Wess Mitchell, August 31, 2001 [NCPA]
Netherlands aims to tackle health divide
Socioeconomic inequalities remain similar to those in the United Kingdom and Scandinavian countries, despite a sustained effort over 20 years.
- Tony Sheldon, October 13, 2001 [British Medical Journal]
A Hard Lesson About Socialized Medicine
Europeans are now learning some hard facts of life about socialized medicine: there's no such thing as a free lunch.
- September 23, 1996 [CATO]
Paying The Price For Drugs In Europe
Whether they admit it or not, those who advocate 'making drugs more affordable for American seniors' are actually headed down a slippery slope to price controls, free-market analysts charge.
- Stephen D. Moore, July 21, 2000 [NCPA]
Cuba
The Cuban Government has implemented a two-tiered medical system (e.g. "medical apartheid") that caters to foreign tourists while denying native Cubans access to basic medical necessities (at least it is "free" to them). This attempt to draw foreign dollars is one of many programs that were necessary once the Soviet subsidies ended in the early nineties.
Castro's Diet and Exercise Plan
- Ronald Bailey, September 25, 2007 [Reason]
Castro says still in full control after fall
The Communist dictator received prompt medical care to repair his shattered kneecap. He even used his cell phone from the ambulance. If only his countrymen had similar access to service and "evil" capitalist technology...
- Anthony Boadle, October 22, 2004 [Reuters]
La Lucha: The Human Cost of Economic Repression in Cuba
- Patricia Linderman, May 2000 [FEE]
Bad Cuban Medicine
Begging for medicines is common in Havana - next to begging for money to feed children, it is the most common plea...
- Larry Solomon, April 15, 2003 [Capitalism Magazine]
Canada
Parliament unanimously passed the Canada Health Act in 1984 and established a single-payer, publicly-financed health care system. To ensure a true government monopoly (is there any other kind?) Canadian provinces outlawed private health insurance.
Chaoulli v. Quebec UPDATE (June 9, 2005): In a 4 to 3 decision, the Canadian Supreme Court struck down Quebec's law that prohibits private medical insurance.
Surgery postponed indefinitely for 1,000 Kelowna patients
- Cathryn Atkinson, April 8, 2008 [Globe and Mail]
Majority of Que. dentists quit health-care system
- March 27, 2008 [CTV.ca]
Why Ontario keeps sending patients south
- Lisa Priest, February 22, 2008 [Globe and Mail]
Will Socialized Health Care in the US Kill Canadians?
- Don Surber, March 3, 2008 [Acton Institute]
Wait times for surgery, medical treatments at all-time high: report
- October 15, 2007 [CBC News (Canada)]
The Ugly Truth About Canadian Health Care
- David Gratzer, Summer 2007 [City Journal]
Cancer patients question why PET scan not covered
- May 28, 2007 [CBC News]
BC Medical Association: Waiting Too Long for Hip and
Knee Surgery Costs $10,000 Per Patient-Maximum Wait Times Should Be No Longer Than 6 Months
- June 28, 2006 [CCN Matthews]
Ont. physician turns away patient for being 55+
- March 17, 2006 [CTV.ca]
Canada inches toward private medicine
- Rebecca Cook Dube, August 8, 2005 [CS Monitor]
Doctor defends private cancer clinic
- Gillian Livingston, July 15, 2005 [Canadian Press]
Dogma trumps truth in health-care issues
- D’Arcy Jenish, July 7, 2005 [Ontario Business News]
Why Canadians Purchase Private Health Insurance
- Walter Williams, June 20, 2005 [Capitalism Magazine]
Doctor welcomes health ruling
- June 9, 2005 [CBC Montreal]
Patients shouldn't wait more than 8 weeks for cardiac defibrillator: experts
- May 24, 2005 [Canadian Press]
Grads fail to slow doctor shortage
- Jennifer O'Brien, May 21, 2005 [London Free Press]
Free Canadian health care comes at cost
- April 10, 2005 [Arkansas Democrat-Gazette]
Canada's drug tab reaches $22 billion, report suggests
- Sheryl Ubelacker, CP, April 6, 2005 [London Free Press]
Canadian health care is free and first-class -- if you can wait
- Beth Duff-Brown, March 19, 2005 [The Associated Press]
Pediatricians, parents warn of shortage of community-based care for children
- Colin Perkel, March 4, 2005 [The Canadian Press]
Access to specialists difficult: study
- February 16, 2005 [CBC Calgary]
Doctor shortages, frustrations vary from region to region, survey shows
- February 15, 2005 [Canada.com]
Montreal leads the country in offering private health care
- Aaron Derfel, February 12, 2005 [Montreal Gazette]
Canada falling short on medical imaging
- February 9, 2005 [Macleans.ca]
Creative incentives required to retain older doctors
- Dr. Charles Shaver, January 20, 2005 [Toronto Star]
MRI gap defies cash fix
- Mark Kennedy, January 14, 2005 [National Post (Canada)]
A boy's plight, a nation's problem
- Lisa Priest, January 13, 2005 [The Globe and Mail]
Where's proof private clinics cost more?
- Tom Brodbeck, December 4, 2004 [The Winnipeg Sun]
Surgery backlog tops 5,500 at kids' hospitals; One-year waits common
- Aaron Derfel, December 3, 2004 [The Gazette (Montreal)]
Hospital wait lists to get worse, Carriere says
- Chris Traber, November 14, 2004 [Yorkregion.com]
Frustrated patients can't handle ER waits
- Jennifer Stewart and Jeffrey Simpson, October 28, 2004 [The Halifax Herald Limited]
Private medical clinic opens in Montreal
...it answers, "an ever-increasing demand from the public for greater accessibility and quality of health services."
- October 13, 2004 [CTV.ca]
Canadians have higher death risk than Americans after heart attack: study
- Sheryl Ubelacker, September 20, 2004 [Canada.com]
Canadian medical tourists in India
- Jeremy Copeland, September 20, 2004 [CBC News]
Doctor shortage cripples Canada's free health care
- Clifford Krauss, September 18, 2004 [Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune]
Canada's Once-Proud Public Health System in Crisis
- David Ljunggren, September 14, 2004 [Reuters (Ottawa)]
Hospitals to cut, again
- September 5, 2004 [Toronto Star]
Canada's Medical Nightmare
- Robert J. Cihak, M.D., September 1, 2004 [Health Care News]
Canada faces shortage of doctors
- August 19, 2004 [MSNBC]
Canadians losing faith in health system: poll
- August 16, 2004 [CTV.ca]
Ontario hospitals a health risk
- Michael Hurley, August 8, 2004 [Toronto Star]
Need surgery? Here's how long you'll wait
"It's inhuman. The quality of my life is horrible and there's absolutely nothing I can do about it."
- Jason Fekete, July 28, 2004 [Calgary Herald]
Docs, nurses fed up
Canadian doctors and nurses are fed up with inter-governmental "bickering" that is dragging out wait times and causing more pain and suffering for patients.
- July 28, 2004 [Winnipeg Sun]
Free Health Care?
...in some cases, patients die on the waiting list because they become too sick to tolerate a procedure.
- Walter E. Williams, July 24, 2004 [CATO]
The truth about Canada's ailing health-care system
All the major candidates in Canada's recent national election acknowledged that the country's health-care system is failing Canadians.
- Robert J. Cihak, July 13, 2004 [The Seattle Times]
Health-care crisis looms, even with new money
Canada's health-care system is "five to 10 years" from the breaking point -- even with cash injections from government, says the new president of the B.C. Medical Association.
- Doug Alexander, July 5, 2004 [Vancouver Sun]
Emergency room delays a strong campaign factor
"Go into the emergency room — it is the most pitiful piece of work you ever seen in your life."
- David Bruser, June 22, 2004 [Toronto Star]
Canadian Health Care in Crisis
Analyst visits NC to describe how single-payer health care really works in practice.
- Donna Martinez, June 17, 2004 [Carolina Journal]
Quebec cancer patients sue over wait
Women waited months for radiation; lawsuit could cost system $50-million.
- Ingrid Peritz, March 11, 2004 [The Globe and Mail]
Health care: no waiting lists
'You get knee surgery within two days ... try and get that in human hospitals.' Canada's [private] pet health-insurance industry is projected to grow at roughly 50 per cent a year...
- Robert Scalia, November 30, 2003 [Montreal Gazette]
For some, surgery abroad a welcome answer
- Daniel Girard, November 29, 2003 [Toronto Star]
Canadian Doctors Eyeing United States
- Clifford Krauss, October 17, 2003 [The New York Times]
The Top Ten Things People Believe About Canadian Health Care, But Shouldn’t
- Brian Lee Crowley, October 9, 2003 [Mackinac Center for Public Policy]
Canadians' health at risk, CMA says
- Valerie Lawton, September 26, 2003 [Toronto Star]
Burnout is now doctors' ailment
Almost half of Canadian doctors say they're burned out, emotionally exhausted and blame medicine for putting a drain on their family life.
- Karen Palmer, August 20, 2003 [Toronto Star]
New MRI clinic in row over poaching
While she insists she's not making any money off the venture, she says it provides an income allowance for her and her husband, the other principal in the company.
- Theresa Boyle and Robert Benzie, July 28, 2003 [Toronto Star]
Price Controls and Overall Drug Spending
The Canadian system, however, tends to push up overall spending on prescription drugs, despite the low prices for some brand name ones.
- John Melby, July 2, 2003 [Buckeye Institute]
Gore Endorses Canada's Medical System
- William L. Anderson, November 29, 2002 [Mises]
How Good is Canadian Health Care?
- August 2002 [Fraser Institute]
Canadian Health-Care System Is No Model for Prescription Drug Reform
- May 1, 2001 [Mackinac Center for Public Policy]
The Ghost of America's Health Care Future Lives in Canada Today
- James Frogue and Robert Moffit, December 25, 2000 [Capitalism Magazine]
Socialized Medicine: The Canadian Experience
Explores several lessons that can be drawn from the Canadian experience with socialized medicine:
Socialized medicine, although of poor quality, is very expensive;
Political compromise is the result;
Socialized medicine is both a consequence and a great contributor to the idea that economic conditions should be equalized by coercion.
- Pierre Lemieux [The Freeman]
Canadian Health Care
...if Canadians knew as much as they think they do about the economic and moral workings of Medicare, they might not be as enthusiastic as they are about their cherished right to 'free' health care.
- Andrei Kreptul, August 30, 2000 [Mises]
When Patients Become Victims - The Crime of Government-Run Health Care
- Merrill Matthews Jr., Ph.D. and Kerri Houston, May 1, 2000 (PDF format)
Socialized Medicine Leaves a Bad Taste in Patients' Mouths
- Lawrence W. Reed, February 23, 2000 [Mackinac Center for Public Policy]
Canadians Dissatisfied With Socialized Medicine
- January 26, 2000 [NCPA]
Memo to Al Gore: Canadian Medicine Isn't Cheap or Effective
- William McArthur, former chief coroner for British Columbia, January 28, 2000
Loved to Death: America's Unresolved Health-Care Crisis
As Canada's national government slashes spending on medical care in order to reduce the deficit, local provinces are reducing medical staff. In Ontario, pregnant women are being sent to Detroit because no obstetricians are available. Specialists of all kinds are in short supply. Patients have to wait eight weeks for an MRI, ten weeks for referral to a specialist, and four months for heart bypass surgery.
- Michael J. Hurd, November 1997 [Liberty Haven]
Is Canadian Health care a Good Model for the U.S. to Follow?
- Michael Walker, August 1994 [Liberty Haven]
Health of the State (commentary by a cancer survivor)
I tell you this not to alarm you, to elicit sympathy, or to bore you. I tell you because the episode has been, for me, a salutary lesson (just in case I needed one) in why the government should not be allowed anywhere near a syringe, a dressing, a scalpel, an oxygen mask, a tissue sample — anything to do with health.
Michigan Shouldn't Copy Canada's Health System
- Lawrence W. Reed, July 29, 1991 [Mackinac Center for Public Policy]
Former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Russia's Health Care Is Crumbling: Dire Lack of Funds Creates Sick, Dwindling Populace And 'National Emergency'
- Jeanne Whalen, February 13, 2004 [Wall Street Journal]
Capitalism Comes to Russian Health Care
With the "free" government-run health system in Russia in a state of collapse, an increasing amount of health care is being provided by for-profit clinics and hospitals.
- Michael Wines, December 22, 2000 [New York Times]
Russia's public health care system is crumbling
- Rob Reynolds, November 13, 1995 [CNN]
Socialized Health-Care Nightmare
In contrast to the impression created by the liberal American media, health-care institutions in Russia were at least fifty years behind the average U.S. level.
- Yuri Maltsev and Louise Omdahl, November 1994 [Liberty Haven]
New Zealand
New Zealand's Ministry of Health is the New Zealand "Government's principal agent and advisor on health and disability."
On the waiting list roller-coaster
- Martin Johnson, March 20, 2008 [The New Zealand Herald]
No charge for trips to emergency department
The figures show most people who arrive at the emergency departments don't need to be there.
- Alison Brown, December 17, 2004 [Rotorua Daily Post]
Surgical waiting lists numbers come under twin attacks
- November 15, 2004 [stuff.co.nz]
Hospital Waiting Lists Under Serious Pressure
- October 26, 2004 [Scoop New Zealand News]
Hundreds on waiting list as hospital pleads for help
- August 23, 2004 [The New Zealand Herald]
Private hospitals offer help with waiting lists
- August 12, 2004 [The New Zealand Herald]
Alarm over GP shortage
- July 5, 2004 [The New Zealand Herald]
Hospital urges patients to stay away unless really ill
- March 6, 2004 [The New Zealand Herald]
U.S. health care problems caused by government intervention
All of the pervasive problems within the U.S. health care system are a direct result of statism. Unfortunately, most Americans buy into the feel-good soundbites and look to the socialist utopia to provide answers, not understanding that additional government intervention always worsens the problems.
Not even the so-called experts who villify capitalism understand the difference between Statism/socialism and liberty (see Dr. Arnold S. Relman's For-Profit Health Care: Expensive, Inefficient and Inequitable, in which he refers to "HMOs that would be paid by the government" as "care under the private system").
"War on Fat"
Creeping socialism gives government bureaucrats the power to pry into your eating habits for "the public good".
Deadly shortage
The federal ban on profit incentive is killing those awaiting organ transplants.
Entitlement programs eating up U.S. budget
- Stephen Ohlemacher, December 27, 2005 [IndyStar.com]
New York Medicaid Fraud May Reach Into Billions
- Clifford J. Levy and Michael Luo, July 18, 2005 [The New York Times]
Bad Medicine
The blame for the inadequacies caused by government’s intrusion into health care and other industries does not lie solely on the shoulders of politicians and bureaucrats; it also lies on the masses.
- Emiliano Antunez, June 24, 2005 [Strike the Root]
Medical trade is rife with inefficiencies, health secretary says
- Dave Murphy, May 25, 2005 [San Fransisco Chronicle]
Wanted: Scientific Reason for FDA's Gay ***** Ban
- Aubrey Noelle Stimola, May 23, 2005 [American Council on Science and Health]
Clinton, Gingrich Team Up on Health Care - Kevin Frekin
Check out the wait times Canadians have to endure for their “free” health care and keep in mind that Alberta is one of Canada’s wealthiest provinces. http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Health/Hospital+Patients+dying+help/1355451/story.html
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  | Posted Mar 9th, 2009 at 9:20AM This is a complex area. ur soundbites from the press do indeed highlight some of the efficiencies in government provided healthcare but there are also many examples of people benefiting from universal healthcare. I have other posts in here somewhere discussing the introduction of the internal market to UK healthcare and it's subsequent withdrawal. The market distorted the availability of healthcare delivery resulting in over supply in some areas. Also the perfect market demands perfect knowledge and the one failure was the user/patient customer is not in possession of those facts. Thus the primary care provider (in the UK the GP) becomes a proxy for the customers decision making. This resulted in GPs being subjected to a variety of pressures to use certain hospitals and the danger signals of this became apparent early on. Other points u raise about rationing are valid. In a market situation those with money get the service, because they create a demand in a funded system the service provider controls supply. all in all the UK NHS does many things very well but there is unlimited demand. Evidence shows that in primary healthcare clinics 80% of demand is generated by 20%of customers. That would not be met in a private system but in a public one it is a problem. Clinic resort to differeing tactics to control this abuse of the system. One clinicn has to stop people trying to book in advance to c the doc. How do theyknow they will be sick next week. Often it's the same people who turn up every day. They also can only discuss one problem at a time cos experience showed the same people turned up with a plethora of complaints. The integration of private and public healthcare is a solution as it can provide a mix of demand and supply controls but the development of a two tier healthcare system is inevitable. The intrusion of bureaucrats is also an issue.. The bureaucrats represent the biggest investor in the system - the government - and in an increasing desire for more and more accurate performance management info to justify spending they over burden the operational side. In summary I can acknowledge ur criticisms but they are a bit superficial to write-off a system that employs 1 million people in the UK and achieves more than u give it credit for. Kudos for all the research +2 nods   |
  | Posted Mar 9th, 2009 at 9:29AM, last updated Mar 9th, 2009 at 9:31AM Stevester, thanks for your add. Always good to get personal insight, as no government commission of our Congress would listen. None of these are my words. Not criticism, yet i think. Moreover, they highlight my concerns as it appears the US is headed in the same direction without some real research and discussion being done. i also am concerned since the patient, you and i, are never involved in these discussions. i guess the US government, as others have shown, only bring the industries to the table that are involved and never the end user. In the US anyone who seeks care at an emergency room gets it ... it's a federal law. It may not be paid for except by tax dollars as they have no other way to pay. Many do go this route rather than a doctor's office. Therefore, i do personally believe it is not a health care crisis but rather a health insurance issue. |
 | Posted Mar 9th, 2009 at 9:37AM The opposition in this country to universal health care is tragic. Talking heads have convinced people that the American system, one that is staggeringly expensive and inefficient, is superior to every other system which actually makes an effort to care for all of its citizens. We have lots of really cool toys that no one can afford to use. Then there is the issue of preventive care. If all Americans had access to free check ups then many problems wouldn't develop to the point where those really cool expensive toys are needed. The really funny part is when we look at the current housing crisis, what is the #1 reason that people are going into foreclosure or losing their homes? Medical costs. Their kid's sick. They have cancer. Can't take care of their dad's medical costs. It would be easy to compile a list just as long with complaints about the American system, so I don't find this list compelling. +5 nods |
| Posted Mar 9th, 2009 at 10:02AM, last updated Mar 9th, 2009 at 10:03AM Again VendettA12 you jump in and assume what i am saying. Problems others have faced in implementing their systems are something that must be looked at. That is what this list presents. i am concerned about people getting proper health care in the US. i don't agree with you that there is a health care crisis. i don't agree that the best method to finance it is by taxation or fees paid by everyone and the US government regulation how it works. Running healtcare is not a function of government. What many are advocating goes beyond government regulation and into government managed and run. That is a big problem for me. I don't want the government dictating my healtcare. That should be between me and my doctor. |
| Posted Mar 9th, 2009 at 10:09AM, last updated Mar 9th, 2009 at 10:10AM Healthcare is something all countries should strive to ensure their citizens receive. With so many countries trying and problems are still being encountered tells us that something isn't right. We can not assume that every country is incompetent. Maybe it's the plan. Maybe it's the set of assumptions that went into creating the plan. Maybe it's that the individuals receiving or providing that are complex variables. It is a complicated process and an expensive one as we see from looking around the world. Just because everyone is jumping off a cliff, does that me we must follow. Or does it mean we must try harder to understand the problem and hopefully find a manageable effective answer. |
 | Posted Mar 9th, 2009 at 10:45AM Josie...a lot of information to absorb but I have problems with a national healthcare system sponsored by our government and I can give two basic reasons: Medicare and Medicaid. The government have mismanaged these systems for decades. So now we want our government to oversee a national system. Maybe if the government can get Medicare and Medicaid correct than I might be willing to look at the possibility of a national health care program. I agree with the concept of a mixed system (public and private) but until our government can take care of their own mess I am against it. Let’s look at the impact of court judgements and the cost of health care. Huge impact but because lots in our government are lawyers they wouldn’t dare go after their own...lol. Freeespirit...you are on to something with what you say. We have become a society of pill popping, want no discomfort, give me the easy way out people who do not take responsibility for their own health. Maybe the focus also needs to change on expectations that we place on people. Recent studies in Canada (and around the world) make it pretty clear that their health care system is not working. For example, many Canadians are far from happy with their system. For basic health care needs it appears to work well. However, with more complicated cases their system does not do well. VendettA...again I’m not sure where you get your information from but what is the total percentage related to the housing crisis? A very small percentage does not make the argument for expanding government into peoples lives. Another point you overlook is that all of the major innovation in health care over the past 30 years has come out of the US. Move to a government system and those innovations are gone. Access to free check-ups is a great idea and most people already have access to that. Check with your Public Health Department. You might be surprised at how many people they see on a daily basis for some of this. But don’t forget that as a society we are over-weight and lazy. Maybe that needs to be dealt with first. |
| Posted Mar 9th, 2009 at 11:02AM keithseeker, i agree with government managed and run ... i don't want it. However, i do believe that government should have a regulatory role or to somehow effect a level playing field for the consumer. Exactly how without being over burdensome is the question. i don't believe they should be shut out totally but definitely should have no final say in how care is provided or what care is provided. They can effect better national policy with regards to insurance portability, possibly a national coverage (rather than limited by individual state), pre-existing conditions. Then there is the cost, affordability. Price and Wage Controls by the government are not the answer. What is i am unsure. Health care plans are driven by the employer and insurance companies is like the 'cart driving the horse'. The actual driver needs to be the insured/consumer and the providers. It will take a lot of thought and work. Other countries problems give us many things to think about and hopefully find a better way. |
| Posted Mar 9th, 2009 at 11:20AM No system is perfect, which is why I said that compiling a list of complaints isn't compelling, you could do that for any system in any country in the history of the world. What kind of problems do you want to live with, though? The Chicago Tribune recently went to a foreclosure court and asked all of the people there why they are losing their homes. Some because of of lost employment or due to adjusting rates on predatory mortgages, but the vast majority were due to health related concerns. Why are no major news networks covering this? Obama isn't proposing a single payer healthcare system. He has said repeatedly that if he were starting from scratch, that's the way he would go, but since he isn't, he is proposing a very compromising plan. You should look into it, it still allows you the choice on whether or not you want it, but what it also does is provides coverage for many millions more people that are currently uninsured or underinsured. Yet he is simply dismissed as a socialist trying to bring Marxism to the US. It's beyond frustrating trying to have a decent discussion with such people. |
 | Posted Mar 9th, 2009 at 11:27AM Josie, I'm not going to typa a long lecture. Howerer, oue of the things you said is untrue. If a person with no insurance goes to a private hospital, the only requirement the hospitas has by law is to stabelize the patient, then send him to a hospital which acceprs indigent patients (county hospitals, taxpayer money). I watched a documentory on Canada's health care system and to a person, the people loved their system and told horror stories about getting hurt visiting the U.S.. They buy special ins polocies for the us like we do when driving in Mexico. They laugh at our system and our prescription system. The stuff you hear here is funded by the businesses who do not want government interference in the massave amounts of money the are making. +3 nods |
 | Posted Mar 9th, 2009 at 11:33AM If the uk didn't have the NHS i'd be dead I know we have to wait but still I'd rather that than nothing t all +3 nods |
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