Oh yeah - this is a great idea
Universal health care that is. There are three new reasons why. First is this one out of the UK.
"Smokers are to be denied operations on the Health Service unless they give up cigarettes for at least four weeks beforehand. "
Being an ex-smoker (who quit after having my ankle surgically repaired) I know just what smoking does to your ability to process the anesthesia out of your system and I am fully aware that smoking is unhealthy but really what other unhealthy habit is next? Junk food consumption? Drinking?
Next we go slightly north and west of the UK...to Scotland...(HT Noodles at Freedom Dogs)
"POOR NHS treatment has led to almost half a million Scots dying in the last 30 years, a new study has revealed.
Doctors at Glasgow University found that between 1974 and 2003, a total of 462,000 people died in Scotland as a result of health service failings
It means Scotland has one of the highest avoidable death rates in western Europe."
Oh I am so comforted by this. What is even more comforting is this report.
Policymakers should ignore imagined outcomes and focus closely on the performance of existing models: the British, Canadian, and other state-run systems. In these systems, health care is subject to bureaucratic and political rationing and driven by political and budgetary pressures. This leads to inevitable adverse effects, including:
Long waits and reduced quality. In Britain, over 800,000 patients are waiting for hospital care. In Canada, the average wait between a general practitioner referral and a specialty consultation has been over 17 weeks. Beyond queuing for care or services, single-payer systems are often characterized by strict drug formularies, limited treatment options, and discrimination by age in the provision of care.
Price controls, a routine feature of such systems, also result in reduced drug, technology, and medical device research.
Funding crises. Because individuals remain insulated from the direct costs of health care, as in many third-party payment systems, health care appears to be “free.” As a result, demand expands while government officials devise ways to control costs. The shortest route is by providing fewer products and services through explicit and implicit rationing.
New inequalities. Beyond favoritism in the provision of care for the politically well-connected, single-payer health care systems often restrain costs by limiting surgeries for the elderly, restricting dialysis, withholding care from very premature infants, reducing the number of intensive care beds, limiting MRI availability, and restricting access to specialists.
Labor strikes and personnel shortages. In 2004, in British Columbia, Canada, a health worker strike resulted in the cancellation of 5,300 surgeries and numerous MRI examinations, CT scans, and lab tests. Canadians have a shortage of physicians, and the recruitment and retention of doctors in Britain has become a chronic problem.
Outdated facilities and medical equipment. Advances in medical technology are often seen in terms of their costs rather than their benefits, and investment is slower. For example, an estimated 60 percent of radiological equipment in Canada is technically outdated.
Politicization and lost liberty. Patient autonomy is curtailed in favor of the judgment of an elite few, who dictate what health care needs and desires ought to be while imposing social controls over activities deemed undesirable or at odds with an expanding definition of “public health.” Over time, government officials will claim a compelling interest in many areas now considered private"
Someone want to remind me again why "universal health care" is a good thing?
"Smokers are to be denied operations on the Health Service unless they give up cigarettes for at least four weeks beforehand. "
Being an ex-smoker (who quit after having my ankle surgically repaired) I know just what smoking does to your ability to process the anesthesia out of your system and I am fully aware that smoking is unhealthy but really what other unhealthy habit is next? Junk food consumption? Drinking?
Next we go slightly north and west of the UK...to Scotland...(HT Noodles at Freedom Dogs)
"POOR NHS treatment has led to almost half a million Scots dying in the last 30 years, a new study has revealed.
Doctors at Glasgow University found that between 1974 and 2003, a total of 462,000 people died in Scotland as a result of health service failings
It means Scotland has one of the highest avoidable death rates in western Europe."
Oh I am so comforted by this. What is even more comforting is this report.
Policymakers should ignore imagined outcomes and focus closely on the performance of existing models: the British, Canadian, and other state-run systems. In these systems, health care is subject to bureaucratic and political rationing and driven by political and budgetary pressures. This leads to inevitable adverse effects, including:
Long waits and reduced quality. In Britain, over 800,000 patients are waiting for hospital care. In Canada, the average wait between a general practitioner referral and a specialty consultation has been over 17 weeks. Beyond queuing for care or services, single-payer systems are often characterized by strict drug formularies, limited treatment options, and discrimination by age in the provision of care.
Price controls, a routine feature of such systems, also result in reduced drug, technology, and medical device research.
Funding crises. Because individuals remain insulated from the direct costs of health care, as in many third-party payment systems, health care appears to be “free.” As a result, demand expands while government officials devise ways to control costs. The shortest route is by providing fewer products and services through explicit and implicit rationing.
New inequalities. Beyond favoritism in the provision of care for the politically well-connected, single-payer health care systems often restrain costs by limiting surgeries for the elderly, restricting dialysis, withholding care from very premature infants, reducing the number of intensive care beds, limiting MRI availability, and restricting access to specialists.
Labor strikes and personnel shortages. In 2004, in British Columbia, Canada, a health worker strike resulted in the cancellation of 5,300 surgeries and numerous MRI examinations, CT scans, and lab tests. Canadians have a shortage of physicians, and the recruitment and retention of doctors in Britain has become a chronic problem.
Outdated facilities and medical equipment. Advances in medical technology are often seen in terms of their costs rather than their benefits, and investment is slower. For example, an estimated 60 percent of radiological equipment in Canada is technically outdated.
Politicization and lost liberty. Patient autonomy is curtailed in favor of the judgment of an elite few, who dictate what health care needs and desires ought to be while imposing social controls over activities deemed undesirable or at odds with an expanding definition of “public health.” Over time, government officials will claim a compelling interest in many areas now considered private"
Someone want to remind me again why "universal health care" is a good thing?
Labels: Universal Health Care
posted by The Lady Logician at
6:55 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home