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A Canadian Doctor Describes How Socialized Medicine Doesn't Work

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ugly_ducky On September 30, 2008




Jurassic Pond,
#1New Post! Jul 29, 2007 @ 06:31:47
I was once a believer in socialized medicine. As a Canadian, I had soaked up the belief that government-run health care was truly compassionate. What I knew about American health care was unappealing: high expenses and lots of uninsured people.

Government researchers now note that more than 1.5 million Ontarians (or 12% of that province's population) can't find family physicians. Health officials in one Nova Scotia community actually resorted to a lottery to determine who'd get a doctor's appointment.

These problems are not unique to Canada ? they characterize all government-run health care systems.

Consider the recent British controversy over a cancer patient who tried to get an appointment with a specialist, only to have it canceled ? 48 times. More than 1 million Britons must wait for some type of care, with 200,000 in line for longer than six months. In France, the supply of doctors is so limited that during an August 2003 heat wave ? when many doctors were on vacation and hospitals were stretched beyond capacity ? 15,000 elderly citizens died. Across Europe, state-of-the-art drugs aren't available. And so on.

https://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=270338135202343
raditz8526 On July 02, 2009

Deleted



, Minnesota
#2New Post! Jul 29, 2007 @ 06:39:55
From the article - "And if we measure a health care system by how well it serves its sick citizens, American medicine excels. Five-year cancer survival rates bear this out. For leukemia, the American survival rate is almost 50%; the European rate is just 35%. Esophageal carcinoma: 12% in the U.S., 6% in Europe. The survival rate for prostate cancer is 81.2% here, yet 61.7% in France and down to 44.3% in England ? a striking variation."
MICK_SKINS On September 26, 2009




medway, United Kingdom
#3New Post! Jul 29, 2007 @ 06:41:49
Consider the British cancer patient who got turned down for her op 600 times, so her family chipped in for a private op which was performed by the same surgeon who continuously turned her down.
raditz8526 On July 02, 2009

Deleted



, Minnesota
#4New Post! Jul 29, 2007 @ 06:47:40
We could never have socialized medicine here. It would destroy our economy and bankrupt the country within about 5 years. In the US, medical care accounts for about 15% of our economy. That would be about $1.8 trillion per year. This will go up as demand goes up, of course. How long til our national debt is up to $20 trillion? Ten years maybe?

$10/gal gas anyone?
Danger_Mouse On June 29, 2017




Christchurch, New Zealand
#5New Post! Jul 29, 2007 @ 07:09:02
My aunties sister was suffering with horrendously sore throats. In 18 months she saw 27 different specialists and doctors and they all said there was nothing wrong. The 28th found out she had throat cancer, she died just under a week later. The NHS over here is an absolute joke.. I have personal health cover so I can go private if I have to have anything done!
alexkidd On February 07, 2012
Captain Awesome!


Deleted



in a bog, Ireland
#6New Post! Jul 29, 2007 @ 11:31:00
we have huge inadequacies in our health service.
i still see the answers to that being improving the system we already have.
not privatising the health industry,
i see that as completly immoral.
everyone is entitled to it.
treebee On April 13, 2015
Government Hooker

Moderator




London, United Kingdom
#7New Post! Jul 29, 2007 @ 11:38:42
It would help a great deal if the NHS wasnt exploited by so many people. The resources are limited and when you have people stealing from the NHS and people who routinely make an appointment with thier doctor every single week of the year because they have nothing better to do, and people who phone an ambulance or insist on a house call for a blister on thier foot, then perhaps we would be able to deal better with real cases.

People are happy to slag off the health service and its workers. Unfortunately its human nature for people to take the piss out of any benefit. Take more than thier fair share leaving less for the others.

In a perfect world it would run wonderfully, unfortunately people are not perfect and now a doctor cannot say to a patient "bugger off, stop wasting valuable time" any more, or he/she would face a complaint against them. And trust me, there are plenty of people out there with no work who have all day to sit and dream up new diseases.
amber On August 01, 2007




, United Kingdom
#8New Post! Jul 29, 2007 @ 12:02:58
My partner had a heart attack 2 years ago, within a year he had had a triple by-pass and was back at work, i could fault the NHS care he got.The NHS system is abused, and only ever gets bad publicity. As a worker in the NHS i feel disapointed more people do not give it the support it deserves, at least we dont have to worry about health insurance we we need to go int hospital.
alexkidd On February 07, 2012
Captain Awesome!


Deleted



in a bog, Ireland
#9New Post! Jul 29, 2007 @ 12:15:40
i know people who work in the health service and they have my full respect for what they do, and they do it as well as possible under the circumstances.
we should be pressing our governments to provide better
facilities and more staff to the industry and start setting some proper goals as to what the health service should be,
rather than thinking businesses will suddenly start having our best interests at heart.
a private health service works wonders for people who can afford it, it avoids being abused in the same way NHS is but still no matter what benefits it can give its not worth it for the people who can't afford its help.
raditz8526 On July 02, 2009

Deleted



, Minnesota
#10New Post! Jul 30, 2007 @ 04:11:01
@alexkidd Said
we have huge inadequacies in our health service.
i still see the answers to that being improving the system we already have.
not privatising the health industry,
i see that as completly immoral.
everyone is entitled to it.


I assume you will pay for this "entitlement?"
amber On August 01, 2007




, United Kingdom
#11New Post! Aug 01, 2007 @ 21:36:05
In England we do pay for this service via our National Insurance payments, it's when people do not pay this and then use the NHS the problems start.
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