Correspondent of the Day, June 3
Actually, British System Works Quite Well
Editor, Times-Dispatch: I am tired of the United Kingdom's National Health Service being used as a political Aunt Sally, as Ross Mackenzie did recently. Doesn't he think that, after 60 years of experience, if the NHS was and is so awful, the British public and politicians would have used their very flexible government system to throw overboard such a supposed albatross? Rather, the Brits are proud of the principle of the NHS (care free at point of delivery) whilst very critical of poor performance here and there.
I write as a former member of a local U.K. NHS Board for a town of 330,000 people. Yes, the NHS is managed locally, not from the center. And the medical professionals are not salaried but self-employed. They work in a mixed private/public health system and many move daily and easily between both sectors. They are well paid, too.
Yes, there are budgets -- and if you have pressures the NHS center may be asked to find more resources. And if treatments don't work, they will be discouraged. And elective surgery gets less priority. Also, I chaired the local NHS Complaints body, where we could review cases and give patients and relatives a chance to see that many perceived problems were the result of poor communication and so assuaged any push to legal remedies. Yet we the NHS could penalize doctors and dentists but not by way of the courts.
Unlike most of your columnists, I can speak from personal experience as a contented NHS patient for 50 years. Also, two family members had serious cancers. I checked over here and was advised that the treatments being given by the NHS were world-class, one in a small hospital 230 miles from London. And in both cases the primary-care doctor came to the family homes daily, as did the district nurses. And only this month my 96-year-old mother had a heart monitor implanted; thanks so much to the NHS.
No, the Brits would not trade their NHS for our hodgepodge. We here have on one hand the well-insured ("so this a great system") and on the other the uninsured and the seriously ill who, lacking the resources of the insurance industry and drug manufacturers, can only with little political clout decry our lack of reforming resolve and generally indifferent quality health outcomes.
And leaving employers to carry much of the burden we all should share is no consolation to those in our automotive industry who are losing their jobs. How stupid and self-flagellating can we get?
Tony Pelling.
Richmond.
Reader Reactions
“Do we, so rich a nation, favor a high for-profit system over a less-costly universal system ALL others have, all for profit and greed, as would the auto industry, we now find need to support?“
How long would this system stay “less-costly” and you need to define less costly. Are you only looking at the cost to the individual or are you looking at the total cost including the rise in taxes that will be needed for the government to pay for this system?
This nation prides itself on the rights of the individual and the fact that the citizens supposedly control the actions of their gevernment. In the other countries this is not so. Looking at your cited article,thetruth, it shows every one of the top five countries having major concerns and problems with their socialized health care the main concern being current and future costs. Do you honestly think a government run socialized, all inclusive system will work for this country. You still haven’t answered the questiona bout the $750.00 cost to the out of work families. Why because you have no good rational answer for that one do you? You just like to rant about how this country doesn’t care for what you want. GDP isn’t the only factor in this discussion despite your need to keep bringing it up. What about all other factors? Still no answers for those?
“social solidarity, the individual be insured for a “basic package” of health care benefits.”…Sounds like a civilized society.
“Many Americans oppose such a mandate as an infringement of their personal rights”?…Just let others suffer & die?
“Germany and many of the other European countries are on the brink of collapse and all of their entitlement programs are a huge contributor to that implosion…They were in trouble even before the current global recession”…May or may not be, but one thing is for sure, is not because of less-costly per GDP system than ours. Ours cost 60% more in GDP than #’s 2 & 3, Switzerland & Germany, and 100% more than Canada’s. Not valid to blame any unlikely failures on their health care systems.
Why have a civilized society, if we all do not share in the basic need of all helping all in sickness, as Jesus Christ and others taught? Where is our decency? Do we, so rich a nation, favor a high for-profit system over a less-costly universal system ALL others have, all for profit and greed, as would the auto industry, we now find need to support? My God, what have we become? Do we next not share water with the thirsty? What other major decent nation on earth has purely a for-profit system of health care? All others are wrong? We are only one right?
I would like to quote a few paragraphs from a post in the NYT which I believe illustrates very clearly why the UHC system that they employ in Germany and several other countries in Europe would not work for Americans.
“In Europe as in Canada, that social ethic is based on the principle of socal solidarity. It means that health care should be financed by individuals on the basis of their ability to pay, but should be available to all who need it on roughly equal terms. The regulations imposed on health care in these countries are rooted in this overarching principle.
First these countries all MANDATE the individual tyo be insured for a basic package of health care benefits.
Many Americans oppose such a mandate as an infringement of their personal rights, all the while believing that they have a perfect right to highly expensive, critically needed health care, even when they cannot pay for it.
This immature, asocial mentality is rare in the rest of the world. An insurance sector that must insure all comers at premiums that are not contingent on the insured’s health status-a feature that President Obama has promised-cannot function for long if people can go without insurance when they are healthy, but are entitled to premiums unrelated to their health status when they fall ill.“
Uwe E. Rheinhart-NYT-April 17,2009.
I did not like the crack about American’s “immaturity.“ I believe it is the American insistence on personal rights and individual responsibility that has made this country the greatest in the world.
That is why, even though at the moment in this time of economic crisis socialist democratic programs look like a safety net, in the long run Americans will say a collective no to all of them…
Also Germany and many of the other European countries are on the brink of collapse and all of their entitlement programs are a huge contributor to that implosion…They were in trouble even before the current global recession…
Based on Jer’s compassion for America’s working poor and health care system that is at least 60% higher than it should be vs other nations of wealth, surely Jer believes in a national single-payor system, reducing costs and covering all, including the working poor who would receive lower premiums than the middle & high income workers. If not, his solution? We appreciate his empathy for all.
How many of the millions without health care can afford $750.00 a month for health care here in the United States?...A lot more can afford $750.00 a month for a FAMILY in America than $750+ per month for one person. Earlier noted $750 was for a German family.
So you think all of the out of work and workers on minmum wages can afford $750.00 a month when they can’t even feed their families or put a roof over their heads. Glad you think money can stretch that far. But apparently tah is another persons problem because they can afford it in Germany.
How many of the millions without health care can afford $750.00 a month for health care here in the United States?...A lot more can afford $750.00 a month for a FAMILY in America than $750+ per month for one person. Earlier noted $750 was for a German family.
As to“You know ME FIRST”, it can be phrased as “WE ALL”, like we all in Virginia who today opened our mail from an insurer, as I did moments ago, and found July 1 increase in premium for ONE adult from $755 to $864 per month. Yeah, I feel the financial pain, some of your neighbors feel it, some of our extended families feel it. Seems some care but for ME ONLY.
Noted 14.4% premium increase on a policy just over six months old that has paid out but $429 in 6 mos is bit more than inflation rate. If that is indicative of current increase in health care costs, system is worse than thought….but ME ONLY people don’t care. Perhaps ME ONLY sells health insurance.
“The single-payment system leaves some German doctors feeling underpaid. A family doctor in Germany makes about two-thirds as much as he or she would in America. (Then again, German doctors pay much less for malpractice insurance, and many attend medical school for free.) Germany also lets the richest 10 percent opt out of the sickness funds in favor of U.S.-style for-profit insurance. These patients are generally seen more quickly by doctors, because the for-profit insurers pay doctors more than the sickness funds.“
ARepeat question for thetruth: How many of the millions without health care can afford $750.00 a month for health care here in the United States? I was not asking about you but that seems to be your only concern not the rest of the country. You know ME FIRST. Also if you read the same article about the other countries it states that most of them ahve underfunded their programs and can not pay for the demand. I too read the article and hate Fox and don’t listen to Rush. I just read your article from your reference so could you please answer the question.
Germany’s family premium of $750/mo. Size of average family about 4 members? That = $187.50 per person per month, and even includes coverage for dental, optical care, hearing aids. Heck, I pay over $750/mo just for my wife to only insurer who will accept her, due to prior condition, although she’s not been in hospital in 8+ yrs. (Lesson: Never get sick.); plus, $5,000 annual deductible, meaning $0.00 coverage for visits to doctor’s office. Germany’s plan has no deductible and MAX of $60/year in copays. Meds? Germany has copay of 10% with 10 euros max. My wife‘s copy this year = 54% of med costs so far, while insurer paid 46%. Two of my wife’s meds I buy at regular list price from Costco pharmacy cause insurer’s mail order program is higher. The thieves screw us on premiums double normal and charge more on some meds than non-insured prices. Germans are free to buy their insurance from one of more than 200 private, nonprofit “sickness funds”. Heck. Qualified German students can attend medical school without tuition costs. All this for national cost of 10.7% of GDP. Our sick cost is 60% higher.
And we have world’s best system? Well (no pun intended), appears some have been tuned to Fox-only and Limbaugh too much.
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