Sick & Wrong
Michael Moore has got me thinking.
He compares the U.S. health system with those of Canada, Britain and France suggesting in the process that the American system falls well short of where it could/should be. No argument here.
The difference seems to be this:
In Britain and Canada particularly, there are hospital waiting lists, to be sure. Even after the huge monetary investment of Britain's Labour government over the last decade, an elderly person can still six months for a hip replacement - clearly one of the 'horrors of socialized medicine'. I'm sure most people would rather wait six months to have the op, than not have it at all.
But the point is that in these countries they have debates about the system, how to improve it, how make it more efficient, what services should be covered, etc. But in these debates, they are starting off from a shared consensus that universal coverage is a must. There are no pressure groups trying to elbow the poorer people aside. In the United States, we are still having debates about whether it's ok to allow a person to die early because he lacks proper health care. It's NOT OK!
In America there are vested interests (HMOs, Big Pharma, wealthy conservatives) who run well-funded, sophisticated campaigns to prevent any change to the status quo - a state of affairs in which they are all doing rather well. We can never get to the debate about means, because these selfish goups keep the debate focused on ends. In the meantime, millions suffer while the vested interests augment their already substantial incomes.
He compares the U.S. health system with those of Canada, Britain and France suggesting in the process that the American system falls well short of where it could/should be. No argument here.
The difference seems to be this:
In Britain and Canada particularly, there are hospital waiting lists, to be sure. Even after the huge monetary investment of Britain's Labour government over the last decade, an elderly person can still six months for a hip replacement - clearly one of the 'horrors of socialized medicine'. I'm sure most people would rather wait six months to have the op, than not have it at all.
But the point is that in these countries they have debates about the system, how to improve it, how make it more efficient, what services should be covered, etc. But in these debates, they are starting off from a shared consensus that universal coverage is a must. There are no pressure groups trying to elbow the poorer people aside. In the United States, we are still having debates about whether it's ok to allow a person to die early because he lacks proper health care. It's NOT OK!
In America there are vested interests (HMOs, Big Pharma, wealthy conservatives) who run well-funded, sophisticated campaigns to prevent any change to the status quo - a state of affairs in which they are all doing rather well. We can never get to the debate about means, because these selfish goups keep the debate focused on ends. In the meantime, millions suffer while the vested interests augment their already substantial incomes.
posted by Sparx at 07:14
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