NHS Meltdown: "Record Number Go Abroad for Health"
The UK's NHS is in a meltdown. I didn't blog it due to traveling, but did you see the story that people are pulling their own teeth because they can't get good dental care through the NHS? And now, apparently record numbers of Brits are traveling abroad for health care because they can't get it at home. From the Telegraph story:
Thousands of "health tourists" are going as far as India, Malaysia and South Africa for major operations – such is their despair over the quality of health services.We need to reform our system, to be sure. But not in that direction. We need a private sector health care system supplemented by a federal safety net. In this regard, although I haven't read it closely yet, that seems to be the approach taken by Hillary Clinton.The first survey of Britons opting for treatment overseas shows that fears of hospital infections and frustration with NHS waiting lists are fuelling the increasing trend.
More than 70,000 Britons will have treatment abroad this year--a figure that is forecast to rise to almost 200,000 by the end of the decade. Patients needing major heart surgery, hip operations and cataracts are using the internet to book operations to be carried out thousands of miles away.
Labels: NHS Meltdown
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 6:35 PM
12 Comments
12 Comments:
The dental service, however, is the most privatized sector the NHS.
If we want to use anecdotes, I quote someone from the IIDB forum:
"too bloody true. there are some really scummy people out there.
countjulian: the problem here is not the national healthcare, it's the private healthcare. In my hometown there are lots of dentists, but they are all private. In fact a friend of mine who was pregnant and had full NHS allowances have to travel about 70 miles (that's a long way in the UK) to an NHS dentist which was 2 cities away. Doctors (GPs) are allowed to have private patients, but they must also take NHS patients as well (I think they are allowed something like 20% private) but that limitation was removed from dentists, many of whom decided to go totally private so they could rip people off. we know there is a big problem with NHS dentists here in the UK, but it is totally different to the criticisms leveled at the US system."
and
"DENTISTRY IS THE ONE PART OF THE UK HEALTH SYSTEM THAT IS ALMOST ENTIRELY PRIVATE DUE TO GOVERNMENT COCK UPS.
Ahem. Pointing to the MOST privatised part of the UK system and saying 'See? I told you universal health care doesn't work' is so fucking dumb its beyond belief. But I forgive you, because we all are a little ignorant of other's political systems now and again
PS - do you have an equivalent study showing the number of teeth pulled in the USA? Or, which is probably equivalent, the number of people without dental insurance? Is that usually provided on the medical insurance? If so the massive number of uninsured means that really you have nothing to be proud of!"
HKR: Boy, that was fast off the dime. Chill, dude.
I am not proud of what we have now. The NHS dental sounds like our Medicare.
What I am saying is that I don't believe that single payer or a socialized system will work. As I noted, it seems Hillary of all people, seems to agree. Her plan seems based on requiring us all to buy private health care or requiring companies to supply it or pay a fee. I am impressed with the Medicare prescription plan that is entirely private, permits a variety of coverates, and is supplemented by federal dollars.
What about human exceptionalism? What about our obligation not to kill people by committing sins of omission?
“The financial resources are not limitless," he said. "There are tremendous pressures on the cost of cancer therapies today."
The high prices are especially discouraging for patients who have been told that the new drugs may have only marginal benefits for them.
Ellis Minrath, who has pancreatic cancer, said he had chosen not to take Tarceva, a drug from Genentech that is approved for lung cancer and has shown promise in pancreatic cancer. He did so after learning that it would cost him about $1,000 a month in co-payments, even though he is covered by Medicare.
"If anybody came out and said, 'By God, this is the stuff. You want to get well, find a way to buy it,' that would be one thing," said Mr. Minrath, who is 87. "But that isn't the case. The forecast of how much it's going to do is not that wonderful."
But Dr. Desmond-Hellmann, the Genentech product development chief, said she would recommend that Mr. Minrath be treated with Tarceva. "I don't think any patient should go without a Genentech drug for an inability to pay," she said. "If this is about money, that would disturb me."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/15/bu...land&e mc=rss”
I don’t think culturally conservative Catholics would get upset about that, but if Genentech uses embryonic stem cells, it would invoke the wrath of God. (see 7:40 – 8:25)
Blame Medicare or Genentech? Too bad that Medicare Part D precludes negotiation with drug companies. At least Genentech doesn’t have to tolerate “price-cap bulls—t.”
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/...in620626.shtml
A reference to an Enron stock trader: "When this election comes Bush will f------g whack this s--t, man. He won't play this price-cap b------t."
However, I do have to admit that the NHS doesn’t give erlotinib (marked as Tarceva by Roche/Genentech) to everyone, but according to an thread IIDB Sweden and France alleged have access to it.
Also I do not see how the “free-market” (ostensibly called “free” when there is inelasticity of demand) would prevent hospital infection. We need to use bleach, but I do not see how that is beyond the means of the NHS. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4871840.stm) Bypass surgeries and the hip replacement I cannot address yet.
But, NOW I renounce eugenics, at least. Why should I expect a eugenics program (or “free-market” libertarian eugenics) to be “egalitarian” when medicine is used for profit?
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/15/business/15drug.html?ex=1297659600&en=62aabaec5acffa8c&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/01/eveningnews/main620626.shtml
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Also, this is the youtube video with the cool scene:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=B7GBpclih-c
"I don’t think culturally conservative Catholics would get upset about that, but if Genentech uses embryonic stem cells, it would invoke the wrath of God. (see 7:40 – 8:25)"
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actually:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1o1kMxmtGJo
I copy and pasted the wrong video.
I will eat my hat if Hillary Clinton has proposed a good health care system. Be very, very cautious of endorsing any version of HillaryCare, Wesley.
I didn't endorse it. I wrote that it appeared she was promoting a mandatory private insurance approach rather than a NHS type system. Which kind of tells us that the single payer concept doesn't have legs here in the USA.
Wesley, again, don't worry about the bacterial infections. The free-market will provide. I'm sure some will find a way to profit from this.
Wesley, again, don't worry about the bacterial infections. The free-market will provide. I'm sure some will find a way to profit from this.
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