Blue Crab Boulevard

National Health Death Service Strikes Again

Britain, routinely held out as a role model for what socialized medicine can do shows just how well it can do in a new study. Folks like Michael Moore want the US to emulate the British National Health Service. A comprehensive new study shows just how grand the NHS is.

Britain has one of the lowest rates of cancer survival in all of Europe. And that rate is positively dismal compared to survival rates in the US with its "broken health care system.

Cancer survival rates in Britain are among the lowest in Europe, according to the most comprehensive analysis of the issue yet produced.

England is on a par with Poland despite the NHS spending three times more on health care.

Survival rates are based on the number of patients who are alive five years after diagnosis and researchers found that, for women, England was the fifth worst in a league of 22 countries. Scotland came bottom. Cancer experts blamed late diagnosis and long waiting lists.

In total, 52.7pc of women survived for five years after being diagnosed between 2000 and 2002. Only Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, the Czech Republic and Poland did worse. Just 44.8pc of men survived, putting England in the bottom seven countries.

The team, writing in The Lancet Oncology, found that Britain's survival rates for the most common cancers - colorectal, lung, breast and prostate - were substantially behind those in Western Europe. In England, the proportion of women with breast cancer who were alive five years after diagnosis was 77.8pc. Scotland (77.3pc) and Ireland (76.2pc) had a lower rate.

Rates for lung cancer in England were poor, with only 8.4pc of patients surviving - half the rate for Iceland (16.8pc). Only Scotland (8.2pc) and Malta (4.6pc) did worse.

Why so bad? Extremely long waiting times for radiation treatments is specifically cited. And you really have to go look at the tables they have. The US survival rates for all cancers are 10% better for women and 20% better for men. And US survival rates lead all of Europe. Every. Single. Country. Male of Female. For men the rates are 6% higher than the nearest country.

Got that? Highest cancer survival rates - much, much higher than the NHS has. Still think socialized medicine is a good idea? Really? How's that lobotomy working out for you?

UPDATE: Others who noticed this one (Technorati is having problems at the moment, so I can't get many): Reason Magazine, Bookworm Room, Tim Worstall, The Astute Bloggers,

Medicine, World news | Gaius Tuesday, 21 August , 2007

By Axinar, Tuesday, 21 August , 2007 @ 8:18 pm

Yes, but if you don’t have insurance (or you have inadequate insurance) in the U.S., isn’t the wait time pretty much INFINITY??
By Gaius, Tuesday, 21 August , 2007 @ 9:43 pm

Funny thing. My brother-in-law needed a very expensive operation (brain surgery), but my sister had just lost her job - and the family’s insurance.

And he got the operation anyway and they are working out how to pay for it. (And they will not pay the full amount due, everyone knows that going in to it.) Isn’t that interesting?

And there are legal requirements for hospitals about treatment. (I am not expert in those and frankly don’t want to get into an argument over them.)

There are always improvements that can make sense.

Socialized medicine is not one of them.
By feeblemind, Wednesday, 22 August , 2007 @ 12:03 am

The system will never be perfect. The problem with leftists is they want perfection. Unfortunately their solutions ALWAYS makes things worse. No exceptions.
By Sylvia, Wednesday, 22 August , 2007 @ 12:57 am

I had my first cancer surgery without insurance — the doctor took payments and gave me a cut rate. It’s actually pretty standard. Hospitals will work with patients to set up reasonable payment plans, too. I have friends who are retired and on minimal pensions and my current oncologist is making sure they get the treatment they need. There *are* excellent physicians in the US, and some of them are kind and considerate and effective, too.

As for timing, I’ve never had to wait more than a week for a cricital surgery, and I only waited when there was no danger, else it was immediate, even when I had no insurance. I have a friend who was diagnosed with breast cancer two weeks ago, had her surgery exactly one week later, and starts radiation in a few days.

One of the MANY things I adore about our fine country is the availability of excellent health care. [And yes, I admit you have to look for it -- I've also met charlatans.]