Other Countries Healthcare Systems
The Republicans have told the American public that if we have a public insurance option or any variation on the theme, the country will suddenly turn into a socialist health system with long lines and waits. No one will know their doctors and people will die waiting for care. The American public has fallen for it because the fear of anything that smells like socialism is greater than the facts. This fear will allow the insurance companies to maintain control of cost and reimbursements. It will not ease the access of healthcare or provide quality care for all. The naysayers to healthcare change also point their fingers at other countries like Canada and England as the example of what we don't want. Canada is a truly single payer system but England does have a private option. There are countries like France, Switzerland and the Netherlands with public and private insurance options where people both doctors and patients seem happy with the system. Jonathan Cohn of The New Republic has an informative article about different healthcare systems in today's Boston Globe.
This article offers evidence based information about the different systems and research on the attitudes of providers and patients. My fear is the facts don't seem to matter. Let's take a moment and breath. Regulating insurance premiums does not a socialist country make.
Posted by HealthCare Whisperer at 7/5/2009 7:05 PM 
Categories: cost healthcare reform act foreign countries republicans, insurance, healthcare reform, Obama
Tags: doctors grievance hospitals international republicans socialism insurance health reform single pay plan providers
Categories: cost healthcare reform act foreign countries republicans, insurance, healthcare reform, Obama
Tags: doctors grievance hospitals international republicans socialism insurance health reform single pay plan providers
I'm a Canadian heart attack survivor who spent five days at Mayo Clinic last year attending the 'WomenHeart Science & Leadership Symposium for Women with Heart Disease' - with about 45 other women, all U.S. heart attack survivors. The stories about American health care I learned there were horrifying - including insurance claims denied, women afraid to go to their local ER because their previous cardiac care bills had been sent to a collection agency, families who had lost their homes and businesses trying to pay for astronomical medical care bills following their first heart attack - and living in terror that they had no more resources to pay for future care in case of another cardiac event.
THIS in the wealthiest country on earth? It's shameful and appalling.
You wrote:
"....the country will suddenly turn into a socialist health system with long lines and waits. No one will know their doctors and people will die waiting for care. The American public has fallen for it because the fear of anything that smells like socialism is greater than the facts...."
I did have American women at Mayo come up to me (I was the first Canadian ever invited to attend this Symposium) and ask in hushed tones what it's like living with "socialized medicine" - as you say, even the word 'socialism' frightens Americans!
It is NOT true that Canadians covered by universal health care do not know their doctors! I've had the same family doc for 33+ years, and the same cardiologist since my heart attack. When diagnosed with a possible heart attack in the ER, I was assessed quickly and taken immediately upstairs to the OR.
When I was admitted, I paid nothing/zero/zilch for my ER visit, all drugs, all tests (bloodwork, EKG, chest x-rays), my angioplasty and implantation of a stainless steel stent, my hospital stay in the Coronary Care Unit, and all cardiololist's office visits ever since. This is standard practice for all Canadians.
Compare that with the American women I met at Mayo Clinic who believed they could no longer go to their own ER because they had no more money!
Ours is not a perfect system - there can be delays in treatment but mostly for elective procedures. Our triage system treats those in immediate need quickly and effectively, while allowing waits for those who clog up the ER with minor complaints (like the common cold!)
We do have the beginning of privately run, for-profit medical clinics here (mostly for electives like plastic surgery, facelifts, eye lifts, etc) and this is an area of great concern for most Canadians. The Canada Health Act forbids charging patients for medical care - these plastic surgeons are essentially using a loophole to charge cash for treatment and bypassing our health care system.
The worst insult Canadians can use in this debate is to say "American-style health care".
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Thank you Carolyn! I was so grateful for what you wrote. It is sad people are so snowed by the word socialism. I have been listening to conservative talk radio and am appalled at the rhetoric from accusing Obama of being a socialist or even worse a communist. Never do I hear any facts of what it will mean to have accessible healthcare and better off people will be. The anti healthcare ads and talk are growing and I fear change my not happen. Thank you again for sharing your story! Hari
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