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Saturday, August 8, 2009

Socialized medicine - there's no going back


CEDIA 09 press releaseUPDATE: The facts and figures in this blog were presented by Daniel Hannan, a member of the European Parliament

In the U.S., the five-year relative survival rate for prostate cancer is 100%. In the U.K. it's 77%. That's what happens when you have to ration "free" health care.

There's no going back. Britain's National Health Service came out of WWII when everything was being rationed.

"I find it incredible that a free people living in a country dedicated and founded in the cause of independence and freedom can seriously be thinking about adopting such a system in peace time, and massively expanding the role of the state when there's no need," said Daniel Hannan, a member of European Parliament, on the Glenn Beck show yesterday.

The NHS is the single largest part of Britain's budget, "and the state doesn't generally do things as efficiently as the market, of course," Hannan reminded us.

England has 1.4 million people employed by the NHS – the third biggest employer in the world next to the Red Army and the Indian National Railways. The majority of NHS employees are administrators, outnumbering doctors and nurses.

"And that is the electoral bloc that makes it almost impossible to get rid of," Hannan noted. "If you do it [government-run health care], don't imagine that you can change your mind a couple of years from now."

11 comments:

Unknown said...

To quote Richard "The Dick" Cheney, "So what?"

There are no proposals for "a British type" of delivery system in congress. It's a "straw-man" fallacy.

If we did want to imitate a good euro system, the French get much better results for alot less money than the U.S. And it has public & private components put to 'best use'.

Julie Jacobson said...

Still, I fear it could come to this. The road towards socialization started with Bush, but the subsequent bailouts, government ownership of private enterprises, enormous spending sprees (Cash for clunkers - are you kidding me?), flawed energy mandates, etc. have me very worried.

Greg C said...

The UK numbers are from a study more than 10 yrs old. Medicine has advanced a hell of alot in the last 10 yrs, especially in Prostate Cancer.

39 Cent Stamp said...

The sad part is that our government cant regulate simple programs to shore up the weak points on the health care idustry. Its always ALL OR NOTHING. So we either let the government regulate everything or nothing changes.

The older i get the more depressing the news becomes. It was much easier when i assumed grown ups on TV wearing suits were intelligent and not petty, greedy, ignorant banana stealing monkeys. We should change the 'United States' to 'Gimme Gimme'.

Cash for clunkers is as big of a joke as Bush handing out the budget surplus. And yes.. i am going to the dealership today to see if i can unload my minivan :D. Might as well get some of my money back from the car makers that are being bailed out by my tax dollars.

Julie Jacobson said...

39,regarding Cash for clunkers.

It made my Haiku this week:

Off topic: Clunkers
Other people buy new cars
I help pay for them

Julie Jacobson said...

Thanks, Greg -- I amended posting to indicate that the facts and figures came from the member of parliament who was interviewed.

Dennis said...
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Dennis said...
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Dennis said...

With the cash for clunkers, not only does it involve taking money from you at gunpoint -- but it also:
1) Helps artificially inflate the price of new cars, creating a bit of an auto bubble
2) destroys material assets (the used cars, which are often late 90's vehicles) and decreases their supply (increasing the prices of used cars as well.)
3) encourages people to go deeper into debt -- and purchase more credit.
They are like demented children experimenting with an ant farm. "Hey let's try this and see what happens."

David said...

Julie,

Two Questions:

1. Are you opposed to Medicare?

2. This post referencing someone from the Glen Beck show as a source of information was like a trick question, right? Well I'm on to you! I know you had to be joking :p. What's my prize?

David said...

Here is an article and video on Dutch system, which is one I have had the pleasure of personally experiencing. It's a universal system which is actually private.

http://scienceblogs.com/denialism/2009/05/what_is_healthcare_like_Neth.php

And here is info about the French system:
http://scienceblogs.com/denialism/2009/05/what_is_health_care_like_france.php