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Bountiful -> General Political Discussions -> Why Socialized Health Care doesn't work.
Post Info TOPIC: Why Socialized Health Care doesn't work.
Pt314


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Why Socialized Health Care doesn't work.
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link

Here's a section of the article. I think it speaks for itself.

"

Although the government is reluctant to discuss the issue, hopscotching back and forth between private and public care has long been standard here for those who can afford it. But a few recent cases have exposed fundamental contradictions between policy and practice in the system, and tested its founding philosophy to its very limits.

One such case was Debbie Hirsts. Her breast cancer had metastasized, and the health service would not provide her with Avastin, a drug that is widely used in the United States and Europe to keep such cancers at bay. So, with her oncologists support, she decided last year to try to pay the $120,000 cost herself, while continuing with the rest of her publicly financed treatment.

By December, she had raised $20,000 and was preparing to sell her house to raise more. But then the government, which had tacitly allowed such arrangements before, put its foot down. Mrs. Hirst heard the news from her doctor.

He looked at me and said: Im so sorry, Debbie. Ive had my wrists slapped from the people upstairs, and I can no longer offer you that service,  Mrs. Hirst said in an interview.

I said, Where does that leave me? He said, If you pay for Avastin, youll have to pay for everything  in other words, for all her cancer treatment, far more than she could afford.

Officials said that allowing Mrs. Hirst and others like her to pay for extra drugs to supplement government care would violate the philosophy of the health service by giving richer patients an unfair advantage over poorer ones.

Patients cannot, in one episode of treatment, be treated on the N.H.S. and then allowed, as part of the same episode and the same treatment, to pay money for more drugs, the health secretary, Alan Johnson, told Parliament.

That way lies the end of the founding principles of the N.H.S., Mr. Johnson said.

But Mrs. Hirst, 57, whose cancer was diagnosed in 1999, went to the news media, and so did other patients in similar situations. And it became clear that theirs were not isolated cases.

In fact, patients, doctors and officials across the health care system widely acknowledge that patients suffering from every imaginable complaint regularly pay for some parts of their treatment while receiving the rest free.

"

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Duke of Mirth


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Glenn Beck was talking last night about how they leave people in the ambulances in the UK until they can get to them in the ER in less than four hours because they have set a target that all patients will be seen within four hours. So you can sit in an ambulance for a few hours and then wait four more. That's progress!

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Jason (Formerly salesortonscom)

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Organist


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Healthcare is expensive:

Drugs: These magic chemicals don't appear out of thin air. Even if the drug reps and drug companies didn't push their more expensive drugs, the price of drugs would still be very high.

Doctors: The amount of training they have to go through is amazing. Knowledge, skills, and the ability to find and use correct knowledge is at a premium. Regulation of the doctors adds on enormous costs, too. Continuing education is also expensive. Time demands are extreme.

Variety of services offered: Doctors, nurses, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, dieticians, social workers, nursing homes, skilled nursing centers, rehabilitation centers, hospitals.

Medical equiptment: Sterility adds on enormous costs. Producing thousands of different objects, each separately with not so high demand, but together with enormous demand, costs a lot of money.

Protocol: Everything must be documented in easy to find ways, easy to bill ways, and easy to conduct research ways. Add that up and nothing is easy. Rules for reducing the spread of infectious diseases between hospital rooms are very time consuming (gowning up) and expensive (doctors, nurses, janitors, food service must all gown up, which adds a ton of cost).

Self destructive behaviors: Alcohol, smoking, obesity, lack of exercise, poor diet, driving drunk, risky behaviors, not washing hands, not vaccinating all add enormous cost.

Sick people are expensive: Healthy people generallyl don't cost that much to treat. Sick people and those with genetic diseases need a lot of care.

Everyone wants the best care, which is much more expensive, and increases demand exponentially.

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