A post by Maynard
(Disclaimer: I haven’t seen “Sicko”, so I’m only assuming it’s as deceptive and ridiculous as his “Roger and Me”, which I have seen. Normally I prefer to come to my own judgments, but there’s a limit to how much brain rot I’m willing to endure.)
This TimesOnline article is interesting in that it conveys a Brit’s impression of Moore’s latest opus. It’s a perspective worth understanding, since Moore tells us everything is peachy in Europe.
Sicko is a dishonest film. That is not only my opinion. It is the opinion of Professor Lord Robert Winston, the consultant and advocate of the NHS. When asked on BBC Radio 4 whether he recognized the NHS as portrayed in this film, Winston replied: “No, I didn’t. Most of it was filmed at my hospital [the Hammersmith in west London], which is a very good hospital but doesn’t represent what the NHS is like.”
I didn’t recognize it either, from years of visiting NHS hospitals. Moore painted a rose-tinted vision of spotless wards, impeccable treatment, happy patients who laugh away any suggestion of waiting in casualty, and a glamorous young GP who combines his devotion to his patients with a salary of £100,000, a house worth £1m and two cars. All this, and for free.
This, along with an even rosier portrait of the French welfare system, is what Moore says the state can and should provide. You would never guess from Sicko that the NHS is in deep trouble, mired in scandal and incompetence, despite the injection of billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money.
Click to the article for more details. But you get the general point: There is no free lunch, and governments are lousy at managing resources.
On a related note…“Dead Meat” is a 25-minute film about the shortcomings of socialized medicine in Canada, which is so often held up as a shining beacon to us primitive Americans. It offers some interesting comments about the long delays and rationing of human health care, as contrasted against the ready availability of affordable veterinary medicine. Yes, the items being compared aren’t exactly the same, but the observation is certainly fair: Government tampering ultimately squanders resources. And it’s a fundamental economic law that when you give a valuable resource away for “free”, you’re going to have to ration it if you don’t want to run out.
If ANY of the totalitarian Democrat candidates for President make it to the White House in 2008, we will get a health care system as bad as, or worse than Canada’s.
Whenever I hear about the “great” service in places with government healthcare, I remember the conversations I’ve had with my cousin’s wife who has family in Cuba. One of her relatives had to wait for hours in the hospital with a bleeding cut from his head because there weren’t any stitches.
Of course, the Left says that’s our fault because of the embargo.
What still sums it up best:
“If people think health care’s expensive now, just wait until they see how much it costs when it’s free.”
–P.J. O’Rourke
Can anyone think of a well run, efficient, smart U.S. government agency???? Government jobs are socialized and unionized – hiring is based on political correctness, promotions and raises automatic and not based on merit. A non-competitive, don’t-work-hard-and-make-me-look bad understanding pervades. This, and a leaden bureaucracy kills any young ambitious spirit wanting to shake things up and get things done. Apathy takes over. Employees learn there is no real consequences or accountability to poor performance, poor attendance, poor attitude, etc. So they come in late, leave early, take long lunches and breaks, get countless govt. holidays.
Government run health care would be a catastrophe.
I am an American who moved to a small town in Finland. Guess what, the city laid off the drs months ago with no date given when they will be back. AND, they laid off the city manager, social officies are on rotation lay offs. Wonder if there will be any snow removal money this winter??
we pay these astronomical high prices for things in the form of taxes on everything. 2 euros 50 cents for a can of tomato soup??? and we are not getting services that that money is supposedly going towards.
When I moved here all I heard from my reps in USA how Finland is the model for what health care should be and how great social services were.
I would like to write a letter to my reps and give them the truth!
when hubby graduates, hope he can get a job in USA.
Thanks so much for the link to ‘Dead Meat’! My brother is a sucker for Michael Moore, and has bought his lies hook, line and sinker. Perhaps Dead Meat can open his eyes a little.
Universal healthcare (socialized medicine) eventually becomes heathcare rationing. The rich who are villified for thier privalege (hard work in most cases) and looked at as big fat sheep to be fleeced, can escape the system they have to pay for while the middle class gets poor care with long waits, and true rationing of service. Over 60 and need a liver? Sorry, not in Briton. Got prostate cancer?, we have to wait ’till it spreads to operate. Has everyone seen the news items that Brits can’t find national plan dentists so they are pulling their own teeth, rather than pay a private care dentist for root canals, or crowns? All this while pay for service veternary services are unregulated, inexpensive and easy to access. According to the Democrats, we can have better healthcare than we have now, at lower costs with virtually everyone covered. Any guesses how they will pull it off? Hold onto your wallet, crank up the printing presses to spew out more of those greenbacks, and pray a lot.
Health care worse than Canada’s? I had a major bunch of hearing tests AND a flu shot (given randomly to absolutely everyone, dispensed in literally 2 minutes flat) at one of Toronto’s top hospital’s the day before yesterday. Prior to that I had a nuclear medicine thing done about a week before, and I have minor surgery scheduled for a completely other thing on Friday. How much have I paid? NOTHING, like everyone in the country, whether bag person or billionaire. I’m happy to pay more in taxes. I want all my fellow citizens to get the best possible health care, and I truly believe that the weakest among us need health care with no restrictions the most badly.
As I Canadian, I am very proud of our values.
dalcassian,
Ooooh!
“A bunch of tests and a flu shot” in “2 minutes flat”. A hearing test done in “2 minutes flat” must have been a very comprehensive one. As to the flu shot I get those at work for free, I don’t have to go to a “top hospital” to get them.
As to the rest of your “Canadian helth care is wonderful” rant how long did you spend on waiting lists for those? For those who might be tempted to buy into dalcassian’s shite but still have a firing synapse or two (BDS addled need not apply) here is a handy little tool for you provided by the province of Ontario’s Ministry of Health. http://www.waittimes.net/en/default.aspx?adv=1 Go have fun looking at just how wonderful health care in Canada is. No wonder Canadians who can afford it come to the US and pay cash for treatment-guess they want to live. For example, the time you have to wait for a simple MRI is anywhere from 66-127 DAYS in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). How many of you would be willing to wait 2 months for a simple MRI and then wait up to 2 years for surgery or treatment? It is ok, though-they will send you a letter reminding you of when you are scheduled for surgery/treatment, complete with a disclaimer to notify them if the person has died waiting so they can free that slot up. THAT is Canadian Health Care for you.
Nahanni–
I meant that the flu shot was administered in 2 mins flat. The audiology tests took quite a bit longer.
I waited for three specialist appointments in nuclear medicine, audiology and surgery for approximately 3-4 weeks for each. None of the procedures were, for me, an emergency of any kind, and I was therefore not at the front of the list.
It is true that in some cases where wealthy patients fear diagnosis of a time-sensitive illness (such as cancer), they will go to USA to pay for MRIs and so on in cash. I’ve had an MRI here in Toronto and, again, waited something like a month for results, but there was no expectation by anyone that the results would be life-threatening, and they were not.
At the end of the day, the difference between the health care systems of USA and Canada is primarily a philosophical one. Personally, I am glad to function within a system that arranges appointments according to the principles of triage and not of financial worth. To each his own, I guess.
The more I learn about other countries–from their own citizens no less–the happier and more proud I am to be a U.S. citizen.
Now, if we can just legalize the Constitution…