Wanna Die? Try Government-Run Healthcare in the United Kingdom

Townhall.com ^ | October 21, 2012 | Daniel J. Mitchell

[Kaslin]

I’m not a fan of the American healthcare system. It suffers from huge inefficiencies because of problems such as third-party payer, which is caused by government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid along with a system of tax code-driven over-insurance in the supposedly private sector.

But regardless of how much I grouse about the damage government causes in the United States, I can say with considerable confidence that the government-run system in the United Kingdom has even larger problems.

Here are some of the shocking details from a report in the UK-based Daily Mail.

Patients having major surgery in NHS hospitals face a much higher risk of dying than those in America, research has revealed. Doctors found that people who have treatment here are four times more likely to die than US citizens undergoing similar operations. The most seriously ill NHS patients were seven times more likely to die than their American counterparts. Experts blame the British fatality figures on a shortage of specialists and lack of intensive care beds for post-operative recovery. They also suggest that long waiting lists mean diseases are more advanced before they are treated. Researchers from University College London and Columbia University, in New York, studied 1,000 surgery patients at the Mount Sinai Hospital, Manhattan, and compared them to nearly 1,100 people who had similar operations at the Queen Alexandra Hospital, in Portsmouth. The results showed that just under ten per cent of British patients died in hospital afterwards compared to 2.5 per cent in America. Among the most seriously ill cases there was a seven-fold difference in the death rates.

Here are some additional findings.

Professor Monty Mythen, head of anaesthesia at University College London and Great Ormond Street Hospital, said: “In America, after surgery, everyone would go into a critical care bed in a highly-monitored environment. That doesn’t happen routinely in the UK. …Prof Mythen said waiting lists in the NHS would “put patients at greater risk”. He added: “We would be suspicious that the diseases would be more advanced simply because the waiting lists (in the UK) are longer.”

Since I’m in London right now, I guess the moral of the story is to stay healthy.

On a slightly more serious note, I wish I had this story in front of me when I was guest-hosting Larry Kudow’s show a couple of years ago and my lefty British co-host got all agitated when I said the British system was worse for patients.

I think I saw this guy at the Paddington tube station this morning

And on a completely serious note, the point of this post is not to say the United States has a perfect system. I hope that’s obvious from my opening paragraph. And nor am I asserting that the UK system is universally bad. In my limited understanding, British doctors and nurses do a fairly good job with basic medicine and emergency medicine.

But any system is likely to deteriorate and suffer adverse effects as government takes a larger role. I’ve had fun over the past few years with anecdotal horror stories about government-run healthcare in the United Kingdom. But as you can see from all the links in this post, I sometimes share those just for the enjoyment of mocking Paul Krugman.

The academic study linked above is far more important if you want to assess the damage of giving politicians and bureaucrats even more control over healthcare.

That’s actually a good rule for just about everything. As shown in this poster, if you ever think the answer is more government, you’ve asked the wrong question.

[SandRat]

Wanna Die? Try Government-Run Healthcare under O-BOZO care.

[originalbuckeye]

Tort reform would have helped rein in health care costs. But the Trial Lawyers give waaaaay too much money to the Dem Party for Obama to slash one of their most revenue producing specialties. There were all sorts of avenues to travel to reduce health care costs. But that's not what the Dems really wanted. They wanted (and still want) health care costs to skyrocket so the people would cry ‘Uncle Sam’ for the Government to cover their medical needs. Americans have NO IDEA what is really coming down the pike with the single payer system. I hope it's not too late to change course.

[Jonty30]

Reducing the number of people between the producers and users would also lower costs. There are too many people in the middle, between producers and users, and that raises costs unnnecessarily.

[originalbuckeye]

When I was working toward my degree in Health Sciences, I had a class that was touting the benefits of HMOs. I had no idea what an HMO was. The lecturer said ‘Health care is like a three-legged stool. The Doctor, the patient and the Health Maintenance Organization’. I said at the time, ‘who thinks that bringing in a third party will reduce health care costs?’. The Dem Party has been working for a long time raising health care costs. They have always wanted single payer and it is now on the horizon. Obamacare raises health care costs exponentially. I hope the Republicans have a plan that will put the individual back in control of their health care.

[ExTexasRedhead]

In my opinion, ObamaCare is the next Holocaust designed by RAT Liberals and shoved down our throats by Bammy, Pelosi and Reid, ya think? Thinning the Social Security herd ya think? Or, just hacks who want the ultimate power over life and death?

[Jonty30]

Common sense to me.

[lowbridge]

Bump

[T-Bird45]

A FaceBook friend (from high school) is such a flaming liberal with his FB postings on healthcare, quite often lists proclaiming all these countries with socialized medicine as being superior to the US, that I think if I posted this article as a response, his head would explode. This comment is a bookmark to be ready for his next post.

[Hardraade]

Or gov run healthcare in Norway.

It’s like a deathlist, with political criteria baked in.

[doc11355]

Don't wait for him to make the first move; go ahead and post the article on your own.

It's therapeutic for Liberals to have their head [illusions] explode as often as possible. He won't thank you, but you're helping him nonetheless.

[Terry Mross]

We won’t have to worry about a “specialists” shortage. We’ll just bring in more Pakistani and Indian doctors.

[gonzo]

"...Or, just hacks who want the ultimate power over life and death?..."

With prostiticions, it's usually about power. 'Power over Life and Death' just goes with the territory.

It's not personal - just business (unless you happen to piss-off a demoncRAT).

............................................... FRegards