Facts paint true picture of socialized health care
Jul 9, 2009
Socialized health care is the only solution to the crisis in the United States. In a recent letter to the editor, a writer called our health care system the best in the world. This writer makes a common mistake - generalizing from an isolated incident - that results in myths and gossip. The facts paint a different picture.
I agree that the highest technology is more readily available in this country - if you are wealthy or a member of a union with exceptional benefits. If you are not in one of these two minorities, then the health care delivered in this country is inferior and less available than in any other developed, industrial country in the world.
Waiting times for health care here are longer than in any industrialized country, according to a conservative Fox News survey - with longer waits to see doctors and less availability of doctors on the weekends. This comparison was made to health care in England, Canada, New Zealand and Australia - all countries with "socialized health care."
Our health care also costs 50 percent more than in those countries as a percentage of gross national product. The result: many simply forego health care because even if they have insurance, the deductibles are too high to pay.
The writer suggests that government can never deliver any product efficiently.
Clearly on the issue of health care, he is uninformed. Our private system costs 50 percent more and delivers less effectively than all these countries with government-run health care systems. Change is essential and a government controlled program is a model that works.
For the very wealthy, the U.S. is now the first choice for health care. The richest people from other countries come here for cutting edge technology. If you are not one of the 1 percent of the richest people in the world, then the opposite is true and our system is not the best for you.
The bureaucracy involved in the system now would actually be reduced by employing a one-payer system. Restrictions on who to see and where to go for health care could be relaxed in a one-payer system.
Instead of being required to select a doctor or hospital based on who has contracted with a specific insurance company, one could select any doctor or hospital based on the best care for oneself.
In this scenario, competition and efficiency are increased by eliminating private control of health care.
The letter writer also says pharmaceutical innovations produced by our system will be decreased. There is no basis for such a conclusion.
Pharmaceutical costs are a major part of our problem. We often pay 50 to 100 percent more for the same medications in the U.S. compared to Canada.
These drugs are made by the same company in most cases. The difference is the negotiating power of the government in controlling the markup. There is no doubt that a profit is made in both cases. Companies will not provide a product at a loss.
Change will not be easy, but the results will be worth it.
Studies show that worker productivity is improved with adequate health care. A socialized approach to health care would actually improve our competitive status in the world of commerce.
In his book "The Future of Freedom," Fareed Zakaria makes the point this way:
"Supporters of free markets often make the mistake of thinking of capitalism as something that exists in opposition to the state ... but the reality is more complex ... only a legitimate, well-functioning state can create the rules and laws that make capitalism work. At the very least, without a government capable of protecting property rights and human rights, press freedoms and business contracts, antitrust laws and consumer demands, a country gets not the rule of law but the rule of the strong."
Absence of government control created the economic mess the world is in now. The same lack of control has allowed a health care system that is too expensive and inefficient.
It is time to correct this failure of oversight. It is time to deliver the quality of life that is really possible in our great country.
Dr. John Quick has owned and operated the Animal Care Center in Morgan Hill for 28 years. He is a founder of W.E.R.C. and Furry Friends Foundation and was Morgan Hill Male Citizen of the Year in 2003. He is also a member of the Morgan Hill Times Editorial Board.
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