Tuesday, April 16, 2019

"But our Medicare For All will be WONDERFUL!"

In a pigs ass it will.

While back had a piece about people not being able to get cataract surgery under the NHS.  Lots of other problems as well:
Last year, The New York Times reported some people in England were waiting for 12 hours to be seen in emergency rooms.

“Some doctors took to Twitter to vent their frustrations publicly. One complained of having to practice ‘battlefield medicine,’ while another apologized for the ‘3rd world conditions’ caused by overcrowding,” the newspaper reported.
Couple of years back, after they'd announced "It will not be allowed for anyone to sit in an ER for more than two hours(I think it was) without being seen", turned out they had people sitting in ambulances outside for hours, so they wouldn't be 'waiting in the ER' and it wouldn't count on the time.

In England, rationing is established by NHS clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), which determine which procedures have “value.” As an example, “Of the 195 NHS clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in England, 104 now include cataract removal on their list of ‘procedures of limited clinical value,’ according to research by the Medical Technology Group.”
It's not of 'limited value' if you're going blind, but hey, it's not happening to the CCG clowns, so it's limited.  Right?
Many CCGs have determined hernia repair is no longer something patients can automatically have, while dozens have declared knee and hip replacements as also not necessarily possible, the Guardian said.
Hey, if you're old and not properly contributing to the good of the collective anymore, who cares if you walk with pain?  Or can't walk at all.

The explanation is basically "We don't have enough money to take care of everyone."  Always the safe bureaucrat explanation, isn't it?  Especially when the politicians know that if they raise taxes more, they might have to answer some "What the hell is happening to all the money you're getting NOW?" questions.

One patient in England, a construction worker, complained to The New York Times of his daily fresh NHS hell: “Patients have accused hospitals of putting them at risk. ‘I learned about the new set of deferrals from the news, but if I receive a notification, it will be the third time my operation is postponed,’ Graham Groves, a construction worker, said as he sat in a cafe at St. Mary’s Hospital on Wednesday. ‘This is a disgrace. We injure ourselves while working to pay our taxes, and the government just leaves us to suffer.’ “
They've already got your money, and control of what care you're allowed to get, so what do they care? 

Of course, if you've got enough money, you don't have to wait in line for what you'll be allowed to have:
CNS News reported on comments made by Chris Jagger, the singer’s brother, “Speaking with Sunday People magazine, Chris Jagger, 71, said, ‘Mick is doing OK. I spoke to him — he’s good. It just showed up on a scan so it could happen to anybody, you know. … With Mick it came on a checkup. I’ve had a few health issues. At least he has not got to wait in line for the NHS.’ “
Yeah, he could just fly to New York and get it taken care of there.  The rich and connected will still be able to do something like that while the rest of us are told "This is what and when you can have, now shut up and stop causing problems."

5 comments:

Rob said...

It's hard to find a statistic on how many Americans die every year because they cannot afford what the health care industry sells. The number is out there... 40,000 every year rings a bell but I can't find it now...

We pay more and get less than any of the industrial nations. When people put up those fantastic numbers for what it would cost to put everyone on Medicare no one mentions we are already sending that!
17.8% of the GDP the last time I looked, in 2004 it was 4%...

You wrote a whole blog on how bad it is in England... when is the last time you made a same day appointment to see a doc or when into an ER?

I told my kids to join the military or marry a Canadian if they wanted affordable health care. At the Home Depot warehouse the people were giving 25% off the top so they could make an appointment to see a doc next week and then pay another $50 copay.

I know "socialism!" - Bad!
Hell let's privatize the roads, the police & the fire services too!

Firehand said...

A: Things are screwed largely because the .gov is hugely involved; them being more so doesn't sound like a fix.

B: Sander's estimate of his 'Medicare for all' was 32 trillion over ten years. That means basically DOUBLING the income to the treasury to pay for it. IF that's all it costs, and it won't be.

C: Getting to see my primary doc can take a few days; can usually see his PA that day. Or I can go to a doc-in-a-box and be seen quickly if need be. And yeah, it's covered.
Yes, I have been to an ER a few times. Worst I've had to wait was about three hours, holiday weekend. PITA, but more seriously injured people got priority.

D: Really? Canada? Where people have been crossing the border to get treatment quickly instead of being put on a list? Where a "Cancer, needs a CAT(or whichever) scan as soon as possible" diagnosis can get you a scan in a few weeks? Last I heard, the average wait was 8-10 weeks. Yeah, that's a great idea.

If you're going to start the 'Public cops and fire departments are socialism, it's good!' noise, stop it.

A Texan said...

"We pay more and get less than any of the industrial nations. When people put up those fantastic numbers for what it would cost to put everyone on Medicare no one mentions we are already sending that!
17.8% of the GDP the last time I looked, in 2004 it was 4%..."

But America does not have a truly free market in healthcare. I'm sure a thorough research effort would find that government is most of the problem whether through asinine regulations or lobbying by big insurance and pharma creating a rent seeking situation where the consumer pays for it. Obummercare was a money scam for big insurance and millions of Americans ended up paying more for less.

I wonder how many of the European countries have charitable hospitals on par with the Shriners and others in America?

Firehand said...

Throw in that in a lot of those countries- I know Britain and Sweden, I suspect others as well- it's very common for people to pay for private health insurance on top of being taxed out the ass for their 'free' health care. I remember the comment of a Swede, "It's expensive, but at least with this I can be seen right away when I'm sick, instead of getting on the waiting list."

Anonymous said...

Don't forget the other aspects of this.

When the government is counting how many pints of blood you get during surgery, what can a "free" man do but shut up and obey, lest he find the plug getting pulled halfway through? Of course, Shaneequa and Keywanda on the Death Panel Diversity Committee may decide to do that anyway, just for spite. Especially if they find out he registered as a Republican. Or he went on the Internet and said some hatey hatefacts that made Jussie Smollett cry.

They want to normalize being a ward of the state. It's so easy to make peasants happy--just promise them more free s#!+ (that other people pay for) and give them some crumbs. It's so easy to rule people who have no agency, no sense of responsibility for themselves, no shame.

And, of course, as in the UK and Canada, maybe 5% of the money will be used for actual medical expenses. The rest of the money will be whisked away by the all-too-visible hand of the State, skimmed off into the payrolls and pension plans of an endless army of GS13 Affirmative-Action "Assistant to the Diversity and Inclusion Outreach Coordinator" positions that will be created to decide whether Whitey deserves to gets a pint of blood during surgery after Dayshawn shoots him during a liquor store holdup, of course.

It's power over life and death, and they want it like Sauron wanted the One Ring.