In a perfect follow-up to my post the other day, Jeff Jacoby writes in the Boston Globe “National health insurance: the wrong Rx”:
As it happens, the real-world consequences of single-payer healthcare -- also known as socialized medicine or national health insurance -- are well-documented. Single-payer care exists in Canada, New Zealand, Great Britain, and much of Western Europe. And wherever it has been tried, writes John C. Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, ''rationing by waiting is pervasive, putting patients at risk and keeping them in pain.''Or as P.J. O’Rourke once said: “If you think health care is expensive now, wait until it’s free.”
(P.S. - Welcome, In DC Journal readers!)
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I blogged on this on 2/15
http://astuteblogger.blogspot.com/2005/02/from-uk-more-proof-that-socialized.html
FROM THE UK: MORE PROOF THAT SOCIALIZED MEDICINE IS BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH
According to today's BBC,
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/health/4265559.stm)
the UK will soon have only half the surgeons it will need to meet demand:
Thousands of extra surgeons are going to be needed over the next few years to meet demand, a report warns. The Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) said there would be a 2,760 shortfall by 2010 because of early retirement and new working practices. The figure amounts to 50% of the current number of surgeons and takes into account surgeons who will graduate from training in the coming years. The study said action was needed now as it takes 10 years to train a surgeon. ... However, the government missed its target of increasing consultants [medical specialists which includes surgeons] by 7,500 by 2004. A Department of Health spokeswoman said the government was looking to increase the number of surgeons. "It is something we are working towards. We know we have more work to do here.
ALSO from the BBC( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/546846.stm ):
The death rates for most diseases is MUCH higher in the UK than the USA; here's one example:
"There are 17,000 deaths from the cancer in Britain each year and the five year survival rate for sufferers is just 40%, compared to 60% in America."
That means your have a 50% greater chance of dying from cancer sooner/younger in the UK, than in the USA. Which is a win-win for the UK socialists: the government saves money by spending less to save your life, and they ALSO pocket the receipts from your retirement taxes since you won't be around to collect the benefit!
MORE PROOF from THE OBSERVER/Guardian:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/nhs/story/0,1480,1036970,00.html
An authoritative study to be published later this year will demonstrate that the chances of survival after undergoing a major operation are far greater in an American hospital. The authors conclude that NHS waiting lists, the lack of specialist-led care and the fact that many patients do not go routinely to intensive care contribute largely to the difference. A team from University College London (UCL) and a team from Columbia University in New York jointly studied the medical fortunes of more than 1,000 patients at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan and compared them with nearly 1,100 patients who had undergone the same sort of major surgery at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth. The results, which surprised even the researchers, showed that 2.5 per cent of the American patients died in hospital after major surgery, compared with just under 10 per cent of British patients. They found that there was a sevenfold difference in mortality rates when a subgroup of patients - the most seriously ill - were compared. ... 'We looked at a number of hypotheses, but it does seem to show a difference in the systems of care, rather than a reflection of some other factor. The provision of intensive-care beds is obviously one of the differences. In America, everyone would go into a critical care bed - they go into a highly monitored environment. That doesn't happen routinely in the UK.'
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So, based on these facts, WHY WOULD ANY SANE PERSON WANT TO SOCIALIZE MEDICINE IN THE USA?!?!? Well, the answer is, NO SANE PERSON DOES WANT TO SOCIALIZE MEDICINE; ONLY INSANE LEFTIES WANT TO DO THAT!
And insane Lefties would rather enforce an equal outcome which is LOWER and WORSE for EVERYONE, than have a system in which outcomes may vary. Which is yet another reason why the road to socialism is ALWAYS the road to MEDIOCRITY as well as the road the poverty and servitude; IOW: the road to serfdom.
UPDATE: Last week, COMMON SENSE AND WONDER posted excerpts from an article on socialized healthcare in the UK, from THE SPECTATOR ( http://commonsensewonder.com/mtarchives/007087.shtml).
Here a few tidbits:
Suppose you come down with one of the big killer illnesses like cancer. Where do you want to be — London or New York? In Lincoln, Nebraska or Lincoln, Lincolnshire? Forget the money — we will come back to that — where do you have the best chance of staying alive? The answer is clear. If you are a woman with breast cancer in Britain, you have (or at least a few years ago you had, since all medical statistics are a few years old) a 46 per cent chance of dying from it. In America, your chances of dying are far lower — only 25 per cent. Britain has one of the worst survival rates in the advanced world and America has the best.
If you are a man and you are diagnosed as having cancer of the prostate in Britain, you are more likely to die of it than not. You have a 57 per cent chance of departing this life. But in America you are likely to live. Your chances of dying from the disease are only 19 per cent. Once again, Britain is at the bottom of the class and America at the top. How about colon cancer? In Britain, 40 per cent survive for five years after diagnosis. In America, 60 per cent do. With cancer of the oesophagus, survival rates are low all round the world. In Britain, a mere 7 per cent of patients live for five years after diagnosis. In America, the survival rate is still low, but much better at 12 per cent.
The more one looks at the figures for survival, the more obvious it is that if you have a medical problem your chances are dramatically better in America than in Britain. That is why those who are rich enough often go to America, leaving behind even private British healthcare. One reason is wonderfully simple. In America, you are more likely to be treated. And going back a stage further, you are more likely to get the diagnostic tests which lead to treatment.
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CONCLUSION: socialized medicine sucks - if you measure the RESULTS.
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