Liz Mair, writing in the San Diego Union-Tribune, takes apart socialized medicine as depicted in Michael Moore's Sicko in an op-ed today. She knows what she is talking about – she lived in Britain under the National Health Service. And she is merciless in hammering Moore's distortions.
“Sicko” depicts a perfect NHS, the answer to all of our prayers, equipped with pristine and beautiful hospitals, friendly doctors, helpful pharmacists and happy patients, all getting the care they need in a timely manner – and all for free. But the image is inaccurate and Americans should be careful not to fall for it when determining our own priorities when it comes to fixing health care in this country.
In creating “Sicko,” Moore must have overlooked some of the major news stories about the NHS from recent years. Stories such as one from the BBC stating that in September 2006 more than 6,000 patients in eastern England had to wait more than 20 weeks to begin treatment already prescribed by their doctors. Or a BBC story, also from 2006, noting that over 40,000 patients in Wales had to wait more than six months between being referred for, and actually having, an outpatient appointment. Or the recent London Times story regarding an admission, by Britain's Department of Health, that some patients will have to wait more than a year for treatment, and that 52 percent of hospital inpatients are currently waiting more than 18 weeks to receive treatment.
Or stories such as those widely publicized in 2006 and 2007 about cancer patients who were denied access to life-saving cancer drugs by the NHS, which had refused to make them available because they were not “cost-effective” (i.e., cheap).
Mair also points to a 2005 study that concluded that 20% of all hospital deaths in Britain resulted from antibiotic-resistant MRSA infections. That is a shockingly high percentage. I have posted a lot about failures in the National Health Service – stories that pop up almost daily in the British press. But I haven't had to survive the system, Mair has. She has personal stories to tell, I'd urge you to read the whole thing.
The socialized medicine schemes are being touted as "free" health care. This is, of course, a flat lie. Wisconsin showed that – their proposed "free" care will more than double the state tax burden on individuals. And the overall quality will decline because cost saving will be realized through rationing of health care, that is by making patients wait long periods of time to get any care. So the choices, despite what the propagandists like Moore say, boil down to a) poor quality "free" care for everyone financed by massive tax increases or b) high quality care for the vast majority with some problems that could be addressed without throwing everyone into low quality care.
A couple of months back, I was watching the CBC “news” show The National. They spent some time gushing about how one province (Alberta, I think) had reduced the wait for hip replacements from five months to five weeks. Both numbers are appalling. One factor they did not mention was how this was accomplished. Their silence means that they did it by robbing other programs.
By the way, is there anyone anywhere willing and able to analyze the official Canadian statistics? They do not pass the smell test, being compiled by those responsible for what appears to be a disaster.
My friends in the UK echo the sentiments described here. What Michael Moonbat fails to mention, is the reason health care is ‘free’ is that the populace is taxed out of their minds to pay for it – and they get precious little in return. I can’t believe that our narcissistic society (read Hollywood and politicans) would be willing to get in line for treatment of their real and imagined ills. Let him move to Canada or the UK… or Cuba!