Britain’s health care amounts to malpractice - BostonHerald.com

Britain’s health care amounts to malpractice - BostonHerald.com

I don't know of a person who advocates for universal health care in the US who advocates for a nationalized system such as Britain's that the author holds up as his bogeyman. The discussion is about which type of single payer system or universal insurance coverage scheme we should adapt to the US. As Michael Moore has stated, we aren't talking about blindly adopting another contry's system wholesale, we are talking about having a policy discussion and creating a uniquely American system, emphasizing our strengths and remedying our weaknesses.

But what really prompted me to write this were a couple of absurd statements by the author.

First, "No one can complain that the NHS is underfinanced. This year’s budget is $210 billion - about $1.05 trillion if adjusted to match America’s population." Really, no one? The Internets have this thing called "Google" and if you search for "NHS underfunded" you might find out that at least a few people (Tony Blair, for one) who believe it is underfunded. But more importantly, is there anyone who doesn't get that we spend roughly twice as much per person on healthcare and get terribly shaky outcomes for it? Specifically, is there anyone writing a piece for a major newspaper who doesn't know this?

And this: "A September 2007 Lancet Oncology article found 66.3 percent of American men alive five years after cancer diagnosis. Only 44.8 percent of Englishmen survived after five years. Across the European Union, 20.1 females per 100,000 under 65 died prematurely of circulatory disease. Among British women, that number was 23.6."

Here's an interesting table from that study, showing the UK NHS as the worst, except for Slovenia, Iceland, Poland and the Czech Republic. And I'll say it again, nobody wants to replicate the British system here. And for more comparisons on US versus other countries healthcare outcomes, go here.

And, finally, my favorite, "Within this maze, patient needs often yield to the wants of pols and medicrats." Go see Sicko, man! Are you kidding? You think we don't have pols in the hands of Pharma and the health insurance and health care industries and "medicrats" at our insurers? Who do you think draws those multi-million dollar salaries at the Blues and Aetna and the rest?
Aren't these people getting tired of flogging this dead dog? Probably not, because apparently that dog still hunts in the imaginations of some.

Cheers,

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