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January 26, 2010
Exclusive: National Health Care Killed My Mum – A Tale of Two Cancer Victims
Dateline USA, five years ago, my father-in-law was diagnosed with liver cancer and given six months to live. But in upstate New York, he was seen by an oncologist the day after he saw his family physician and had a scan that same day. He then discussed his options with both of those doctors and a radiologist, and was able to make an informed choice, balancing risks and rewards along with quality of life. He fought a long and brave battle, underwent three rounds of chemotherapy and two rounds of radiation and continued to live a full and rewarding life, admittedly with a few bad patches along the way, until the week before his death four years later.
My father-in-law was brave, determined and lucky. He beat the odds a number of times and he had good insurance as a result of a lifetime of hard work. He had the great medical care that America has to offer. He made good treatment decisions, on a well-informed basis. As a result, he maintained a good quality of life to within a few days of the end. It was an inspiring time for all who knew him well enough to know what he faced. We were all privileged to know him and glad he had the extra time for which he fought so hard, and with an excellent medical team supporting and guiding him, he was able to make so much of that time.
Dateline UK, nearly seven years ago, my mother went to her local doctor with a throat problem. As a (retired) nurse, she knew it was serious, and so did her general practitioner (family doctor). However, due to her age (she was 75 at the time), the UK’s National Health System has such a backlog of need for specialist appointments that she could not get an appointment for six weeks. The ENT (ear, nose, throat) specialist said she needed an urgent scan as it looked like cancer. The “urgent” scan was fixed for the first available date – 17 weeks ahead. My mother died two weeks before she was due to go for her scan. The hospice care she had in her last few weeks was wonderful, but I wonder every day how well she might have done with rapid treatment.
Does the USA need health care reform? Yes. Does the USA need socialized medicine? NO!!!
Currently, health care costs the UK 18 percent of all government spending (more than four times they spend on defense). This has risen steadily over the years while the quality of care has declined. A major reason for this is that there are more non-medical administrators and “managers” employed by the National Health Service than there are nurses – typical of any government program and one certain consequence of government-run health care! Medical technology is extremely limited and patients often wait for weeks, months and even years for treatments which are regarded in the USA as commonplace. It is normal in the UK to be placed on a “waiting list” for treatment for a wide range of problems. It is also true, though not often admitted, that there is rationing of health care there based on age, severity, scarcity and cost.
The only upside of health care in the UK is that treatment is “free” (if you don’t count the 18 percent of all taxes required by this highly inefficient system). So, if you have an accident while visiting the UK, you will be treated without having to produce proof of insurance – but then, that is also true in the USA.
So, what reforms would actually make a difference to the system here?
Tort Reform
Competent doctors who give their honest, best efforts to help their patients deserve both reasonable remuneration and to live without the expense and constant threat of litigation. Remuneration is a matter for the individual or the team he chooses to join, although Medicare repayments are, unsurprisingly for this government administered system, often below minimum wage levels (see last paragraph for a true story about this). Litigation is a matter for legislators and judges at every level. The current system is weighted far too heavily in favor of the ambulance chasers. Judges could do much more to reduce this threat to doctors by ensuring that frivolous litigation is harshly punished by penalizing both claimants and their lawyers. Legislators could simplify current laws and produce a carefully crafted set of legal guidelines which would provide a fair process for victims of incompetence or carelessness, while ensuring that doctors who give an honest, best effort are not subjected to legal harassment. Such legal reform would reduce the overall cost of health care in this great country by very significant degree.
Insurance
The other area for true and significant health care reform is insurance practices. This is certainly an area for federal legislation as it we need insurance which is freely available on a national basis. Most other goods and services are nationally available, and the Internet has provided a boon to us all in raising competition and reducing prices for almost every commodity, with the notable exception of health care insurance. If I can buy car insurance from a national provider to cover me wherever I drive, why can’t I buy health insurance on the same basis? I already get a discount for using the same national company for my home insurance, and my life insurance. I would appreciate the option to get another discount for health insurance from the same provider with whom I already have experience.
Final Thoughts
I am bemused by the rush to “nationalize” health care here not only because of my own experience, but also because of the obvious comparisons with so many other systems. I do not see a system labeled as “in crisis” by the White House and its liberal supporters. I see a fine system which needs some reform to make it more affordable for the vast majority, who already pay for the emergency treatment available to those who cannot or do not buy their own health cover. Even if the system is “in crisis,” it is not so bad that any debate over change needs to be or should be conducted other than openly, transparently and with considered deliberation.
Moreover, I find the claim that unless the current system is fixed, healthcare here will bankrupt the country astonishing. Such a claim requires, to quote Hilary Clinton, a “willing suspension of disbelief.” Indeed, the experience of Britain and Canada is that their inferior healthcare systems have so grossly damaged their economies as to have driven them to the brink of bankruptcy – repeatedly! Any claims that the current liberal plans for healthcare “reform” will do other than raise spending, and hence taxes, are patently false. Indeed, it is certain that the current legislation will, no matter how amended, do nothing but cost us all a very great deal of money, some of which we will all pay as prices rise not just on healthcare but on all goods and services and may well cost our children much, much more when the debts currently being run up come due for payment.
Our government is not efficient, and making claims to reduce costs through efficiency savings are another fallacy (that’s a polite word for wrong or even a lie). There is no way government can reduce Medicare spending without reducing consumer services. Last night I was told of a general internist in New York who, working six hours “on call” one weekend, was paid the grand total of 51 cents (yes, cents) by Medicare for her efforts. No matter how dedicated and enthusiastic, no future doctor is going to go through years of arduous training to earn 8 cents an hour! New York City residents beware – you are not going to have any doctors left other than in private practice, and when that is nationalized you won’t have any at all. There is a lesson here for everyone.
Family Security Matters Contributing Editor Tim Wilson is a retired British Army officer who now works as an independent consultant. Feedback: editorialdirector@familysecuritymatters.org.
Reader Comments: Submit Your Comment (3) | Sign Up for FSM Updates!
...and we in the U.S. would trust our current government with out lives after they have shown nothing but disdain and disrespect for humanity, and specifically the most vulnerable?? Beware of those who constantly preach about "the planet" since they obviously are more concerned in political agendas than respecting human life.
posted by: M.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at 10:11 AM
There is no socializing medicine anywhere on the table. These are lies perpetrated by republicans.
... if, on the other hand your father in law would have lost his job a bit earlier, and respectively lost his insurance, despite lifetime saving and work, he would rhave died (or went bankrupt), much earlier.
I would like to see how your opinion have changed then.
posted by: mark
Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at 12:50 AM
For those of you who believe that we are not headed to socialized medicine I have a bridge that I would like to sell you.
Unfortunately the lies go on, not by the republicans, but by those who are so blind that they refuse to see what is being done to our great country.
posted by: concerned
Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at 09:01 PM
