Today's counterexample comes from friends of my wife from Regent College, the Barretts, Americans who live and theologize in merry old England:
Ellie [the Barretts' older daughter] made us a bit nervous by complaining about her knee hurting for a couple of days and then starting to limp around at playgroup today. Crystal rang the doctor at 10:40am and was given an appointment for 11:45am (socialized medicine is terrible for its long waiting lists, isn't it?). The doctor poked and prodded a little bit, took her temperature, and declared her fine. Ellie, always susceptible to the placebo effect, thinks this doctor is a miracle worker! [Rob Barrett, "Non-English Tea," Coffee with Barretts, 2008.07.08]
65 minutes from phone call to appointment: not bad. Of course, the capitalist curmudgeons clinging to their free market fundamentalism will surely decry the gross overutilization of health resources displayed in this example. "The Barretts' little girl didn't need to see a doctor! Hypochondria run rampant! They should have waited until the little girl had open running sores or collapsed on the playground." Ellie is just one of those illegitimate people in the system, who doesn't deserve to see a doctor at our expense. (And she's a child of immigrants to boot.)
Right.
But the main point: if socialized medicine (or whatever you want to call the UK's National Health Service) doesn't work, how can the Barretts get an appointment for their daughter in the UK as fast as we can here in America, if not faster?
Cory I thoght that you had posted about this Wallis post before, but I couldn't find it when I searched your site. I suppose it's possible that the British do only foot and knee injuries well. I seem to remember a M*A*S*H episode where the British were concerned about ingrown toe nails
ReplyDeleteThanks, Leo!
ReplyDeleteIndeed, I think I did post about that Jim Wallis article on his firsthand positive experience with the U.K.'s National Health Service. Darned if I can find that post—maybe it's tucked away in comments somewhere. But it's definitely worth reading again!
Nice - almost the same can be applicable to Canada. I am selling health insurance in Toronto term life so I am a bit "insider" and I believe our health care system is working very well. "And what about delayed caaaaaare?" Yes, it can happen, but definitely not very often.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I heard, that UK system works just because of big help of immigrant doctors, nurses and other medical staff - is it true?
Lorne
I'll bet Ellie's parents are LEGAL immigrants, right? There is a difference between legal and illegal.
ReplyDeleteInteresting point about immigrant doctors, friend from Canada -- I have heard some criticism of the UK and other Western countries for causing a brain drain of doctors from Africa and other developing areas. The Economist reports ("Shock of the Old," 2008.07.03) that one third of the doctors and nurses in the UK National Health Service are foreign, but they are still quite well paid. I don't see evidence that cheap foreign labor is somehow keeping NHS-UK afloat... anyone have an article on that?
ReplyDelete