In The Waiting Room

Something to comtemplate while HF 3391 is winding its way through the House.

The Democratic candidates tell us they can provide healthcare for all either mandated or not. It sounds utopian except they don't say how we will pay for it or that the quality and quantity of care will go down as costs go up.

If we think we want universal healthcare first we need to make a few reality checks. It hasn't worked in Britain, Canada, France, Germany, and Russia.

There are some alarming health abuses going on in the United Kingdom recently noted by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons and others.

To meet U.K. government targets, which require emergency department patients to be treated within four hours, thousands of patients are kept in ambulances outside the department for hours. Last year, more than 43,000 patients waited for more than an hour before being allowed into the emergency room.

Ambulances that are being used as "mobile waiting rooms" are unavailable to take fresh calls. The Labour government brought in the four-hour standard in an effort to end the scandal of patients waiting in casualty for days (Daily Mail 2/20/08).

Is this the kind of care we want for our families?