Sole Morality

What's good for the goose...

A prime example comes out of England with their National Health Service (NHS) that "provides healthcare to all UK permanent residents that is free at the point of need and paid for from general taxation" (Wikipedia on Healthcare in England). One would think that after 60 years of providing the bulk of healthcare for the nation that the NHS would have all the kinks worked out and the system would be running smoothly. That's not what the Telegraph has to say though.

An October 14 article on Telegraph.co.uk reports that many NHS employees have been receiving "physiotherapy" appointments through private insurance paid for by NHS in order to help them "return to work more quickly." Apparently the services offered by NHS aren't quick enough. That should tell you something.

The article doesn't say how slow was too slow for NHS, but to get an idea, let's check with the BBC. In a 2005 article, they note that waiting times were on average 95 days. That's right, over three months to see a specialist. How did they remedy the long wait times? By contracting out to the private sector. Hardly a triumph for socialized medicine.

What about in the states though. We shook off British despite inferior tactics and numbers, surely we can triumph again the health care arena, right?

Well, let's take a look at Massachusetts. Massachusetts has state funded healthcare for those who cannot afford private insurance. In fact, it is state mandated, meaning if you don't have private health care, you are required to get the state healthcare or pay a penalty. Recently the Boston Globe ran an article about health care waiting times with the new health care system in place. Can you guess what things look like?

The article notes doctors working 60 hour work weeks handling increased patient loads. One new practitioner had to stop accepting new patients after only six weeks. Many internists have stopped accepting new patients altogether. And waiting times? The standard wait for a standard appointment with your physician is between 2-4 months.

If England is running anything like that, no wonder NHS is sending their own staff to private physicians.

One wonders though, if even England's NHS admits that socialized medicine takes so long, why is it still being pushed? If private physicians are good enough for NHS, shouldn't they be good enough for the rest of England to use? And if we see that England is having these kinds of problems, why are we pushing that way and being pushed that direction by some prominent political hopefuls?

I'm not saying the current system is perfect, but it seems a shame to address a problem by making it worse.