U.K.'s Healthcare Horror Stories Ought To Curb Dems' Enthusiasm for
Single-Payer, by Sally Pipes, 10/1/18, Pacific Research Institute.
The United Kingdom's National Health Service, which celebrated
its 70th anniversary on July 5, is imploding.
Vacancies for doctor and nurse positions have reached all-time
highs. Patients are facing interminable
waits for
care as a result. This August, a record number of Britons languished more
than 12 hours in emergency rooms.
In July, the share of cancer patients who waited more than
two months to
receive treatment soared.
Yet enthusiasm for government-run, single-payer health care
continues to build in the United States. The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll shows
that 70
percent of
Americans now support Medicare for All. Virtually all the major candidates for
the Democratic nomination for president in 2020 have come out in favor of
banning private insurance coverage and implementing a single-payer system
instead.
One look across the Atlantic, to the disaster unfolding in the
United Kingdom's government-run healthcare system, ought to curb that
enthusiasm.
The NHS has struggled to fully staff its hospitals and clinics
since its inception in 1948. But today, the shortages are growing worse. Nine
percent of physician posts are vacant. That's a shortfall of nearly 11,500 doctors.
The NHS is also short 42,000 nurses. In the second quarter
alone, nurse vacancies increased by 17 percent. Meanwhile, in the United
States, nearly all states will have a surplus
of nurses by 2030.
It's unsurprising that people don't want to work as nurses in
Great Britain; it's a stressful job, with long hours and terrible working
conditions. Some NHS nurses are taking
positions at supermarkets because stacking shelves comes with better hours,
benefits, and pay, according to a report in the London Economic.
Comments
We got Medicare in
1965, because companies didn’t want to fund “retiree medical” to cover the cost
explosion planned for “end of life” expenses. The perpetrators were medical
equipment companies, There was no plan to cure cancer. The plan was to make as
much money as possible by “treating” it.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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