The smart people at Smart Christian are expressing doubts about universal healthcare, with the simple equation, UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE = WAITCARE & UNDERTHETABLECARE
During my approximately 4 months in Turkey, it was interesting how often the horror stories I heard from people about their universal healthcare system. They complained about having to wait a long time to get care (WaitCare), and their requirement to pay the doctors under the table to get any sense of quality care (UnderTheTableCare).
While flying back to the America, I sat by a young Polish businessman. Surprisingly, he brought up the same experiences he had with the universal healthcare system. He told me some scary personal stories, including the birth of his son.
Would universal healthcare be any different in America? I am not sure, but I have my doubts.
There will always be people who don’t get care, at least in a timely way, in any system. It’s just basic economics. The only question is, will we retain enough choice in our healthcare system so that people can change what isn’t working for them, or will we be trapped with government mandated systems from which there is no escape? In many cases, people without health insurance in the USA actually get care faster than people in Canada who have the government run system.
I’ve discussed this previously here.
August 1st, 2008 11:30 am
[…] More here: Universal Healthcare in Turkey and Poland […]
August 5th, 2008 3:50 am
Did you see the Bunk study stating 2/3 of doctors in America want National Health Care. The doctors who did this study also conducted one in 2002 and found that the majority of doctors did not want national health care, the problem with this is that the 2 question surveys drastically differ in there 2nd question. I found this article, 60% of Physicians Surveyed Oppose Switching to a National Health Care Plan, It’s worth a read.