Health/Medical
See other Health/Medical Articles
Title: European Health Care: Economic Malpractice
Source:
AT.com
URL Source: http://www.americanthinker.com/2011 ... care_economic_malpractice.html
Published: Jan 1, 2012
Author: Hugh de Payns
Post Date: 2012-01-01 10:26:02 by CZ82
Keywords: None
Views: 40025
Comments: 79
European Health Care: Economic Malpractice By Hugh de Payns Any reasonable person does not take satisfaction in the failure and destruction of another. This is especially true when the other is innocent of any wrongdoing or lack of judgment. Yet sometimes, epic failure can constructively serve as an example of what not to do. If the individual states of our nation are a laboratory of democracy, then the states of Europe are the laboratory of socialism. What we are witness to in Greece, and eventually in Spain, Italy, and possibly France, is the painful death of the welfare state. Credit markets are locking up all over the continent; meanwhile, trillions have been pumped into their banks in an effort to keep them afloat. But their situation is so bad that they cannot even take the risk of making business loans. Employment is shrinking, and tax revenues are falling. Internally, the socialist cash-machine is running empty as other people's money dries up. It is all happening just as reader of American Thinker foresaw. The welfare state's demise, long inevitable, will be painful and ugly, and it will harshly impact the weakest and the most innocent of the population. After all, the welfare state defies the laws of economics and the laws of mathematics. Take notice as the liberal and socialist agitators and pundits shake their collectivized fists at the sky and curse the gods without any noticeable change. The facts on the ground will do what they will, despite rhetoric or political pontifications coming from any quarter. One of the first organs to fail is the socialized health care program. No matter its stated merits, a serious and impactful socialized medicine program is simply too expensive for any state to long sustain. For months prior to the passing of ObamaCare, we were told -- repeatedly -- how it would "bend the cost curve downward" and open up better health care for millions of Americans...all at the same time! The problem is that the pundits on the left at the time and still today don't even believe their own rhetoric. In fact, they are either living in a fantasy land that never existed or simply lying. Back in May 2010, bluegrasspundit made mention of the total hypocrisy of the left with regard to ObamaCare. After shilling for ObamaCare for months, the New York Times is now telling Greece getting out of the health care marketplace would allow health care costs to come down. The hypocrisy of the left is simple astounding. The NY Times also made mention of the total impossibility of it all. Another reform high on the list is removing the state from the marketplace in crucial sectors like health care, transportation and energy and allowing private investment. What is also important to make note of is that these socialized countries do not have the traditional bogeyman that leftists point their finger at: a revenue-hungry military. The Greek military is small to the point of insignificance. The same is true with Spain, Italy, and most others on the continent. Their defensive needs were being functionally met and subsidized by the United States. A recent article by the NY Times makes for overwhelming evidence of the disruption and pain this transformation causes to the innocent and the disadvantaged. While the article is slanted politically, it is worth reading in its entirety; the reader must realize that this will happen in other European nations, and eventually here in the U.S. should we be so foolish as to follow their example. At public hospitals, doctors report shortages of all kinds of supplies, from toilet paper to catheters to syringes. Computerized equipment has gone unrepaired and is no longer in use. Nurses are handling four times the patients they should, and wait times for operations -- even cancer surgeries -- have grown longer. Access to drugs has also been affected, as some drug manufacturers, owed tens of millions of dollars, are no longer willing to supply Greek hospitals. At the same time pharmacists, afraid that the government might not reimburse them, are asking for cash payments, even from those with insurance. Brick by brick, the edifice of socialized medicine is ruthlessly and forcefully being taken apart. The lesson here is for our nation to rid ourselves of ObamaCare entirely before it becomes embedded into the fabric of society, because it too will be rooted out by the forces of economics. It is easier to throw out the seed than uproot the plant, so the sooner this is done, the better. Anything less is a form a gross medical malpractice. "There are two places only where socialism will work; In Heaven, where it is not needed, and in Hell, where they already have it." -Winston Churchill
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 51.
#1. To: CZ82 (#0)
Except that the countries with the strongest economies in the world right now spend more on social welfare services than Greece, Italy, and Ireland (and even the U.S.) For example, Sweden, which has the largest social welfare structure as a percentage of GDP, has a GDP higher now than before the crisis began. Meanwhile, Ireland, which has cut spending by 14% in the last 2 years, still pays around 8% interest on its bonds.
Nice graph, what does it mean?
It shows how much per capita certain countries around the world are spending on healthcare for their citizens......
How is the graph a response to go65's statement: Except that the countries with the strongest economies in the world right now spend more on social welfare services than Greece, Italy, and Ireland (and even the U.S.) All your graph shows is the US spends more money per capita on health care than other countries (Stone is right, we spend more [and get less] making us #1 in cost). That, however, has nothing to do with government spending on social welfare.
Well in a way it shows you get what you pay for.... Mandatory mediocre Socialist healthcare for "everyone" (except the "Elitists") that makes you wait weeks, months, years or maybe never for getting some procedures done.... (and you die in the meantime).... Versus free market healthcare that you can get just about thing done done, anytime and anywhere..... Healthcare that can save your life instead of waiting for some bureaucrat to decide if your ass is worth saving or not... As far as I'm concerned it's up to me, not some douchebag!!!! The only reason ours costs so much is meddling by the government in the healthcare system.... (Trying to force us into Socialist Healthcare)!!!! Did you know that we've had a Socialist type Healthcare system in this country for quite sometime????? Ask any current or prior military member, they can fill you in.....
Statistics just don't bear that out
theincidentaleconomist.co...h-the-wait-times-already/ Why is then that I can get right in and be seen downtown in the free market system and the chart shows 6 days????
The abswer is in the title.
The abswer is in the title. That still doesn't explain why they have to wait and I can be seen right away!!!! Do they live in areas where doctors are a rare commodity because they can't make any money because of government intervention or because of the court system and all the frivolous lawsuits they allow???? I think you also shot GO65 in the foot with that graph too!!! He/she was just so enamoured with Swedens Healthcare system.....
#52. To: CZ82 (#51)
First, the ability to sue is a free market remedy for a wrong done. Why would you wish the state to regulate and put limits on the amount of awards. BTW, California did tort reform in the 70s, and we're socialist - right? Second, your assumptions are just plain wrong.
As the chart shows, even in the worst countries, a six-day wait time is the exception rather than the rule. It could be as simple as the way an individual practice is managed. At Kaiser, a private HMO, one has to get past a series of gate keepers before one can see a doctor - that tends to delay things.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestYet sometimes, epic failure can constructively serve as an example of what not to do. If the individual states of our nation are a laboratory of democracy, then the states of Europe are the laboratory of socialism. What we are witness to in Greece, and eventually in Spain, Italy, and possibly France, is the painful death of the welfare state.
#39. To: go65 (#1)
Except that the countries with the strongest economies in the world right now spend more on social welfare services than Greece, Italy, and Ireland (and even the U.S.)
#42. To: CZ82 (#39)
#45. To: lucysmom (#42)
Nice graph, what does it mean?
#46. To: CZ82 (#45)
It shows how much per capita certain countries around the world are spending on healthcare for their citizens......
#47. To: lucysmom (#46)
All your graph shows is the US spends more money per capita on health care than other countries (Stone is right, we spend more [and get less] making us #1 in cost). That, however, has nothing to do with government spending on social welfare.
#48. To: CZ82 (#47)
Well in a way it shows you get what you pay for.... Mandatory mediocre Socialist healthcare for "everyone" (except the "Elitists") that makes you wait weeks, months, years or maybe never for getting some procedures done.... (and you die in the meantime).... Versus free market healthcare that you can get just about thing done done, anytime and anywhere..... Healthcare that can save your life instead of waiting for some bureaucrat to decide if your ass is worth saving or not... As far as I'm concerned it's up to me, not some douchebag!!!!
#49. To: lucysmom (#48)
Statistics just don't bear that out
#50. To: CZ82 (#49)
Why is then that I can get right in and be seen downtown in the free market system and the chart shows 6 days????
#51. To: lucysmom (#50)
Why is then that I can get right in and be seen downtown in the free market system and the chart shows 6 days????
Replies to Comment # 51. That still doesn't explain why they have to wait and I can be seen right away!!!! Do they live in areas where doctors are a rare commodity because they can't make any money because of government intervention or because of the court system and all the frivolous lawsuits they allow????
#53. To: CZ82 (#51)
(Edited)
That still doesn't explain why they have to wait and I can be seen right away!!!!
End Trace Mode for Comment # 51.
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]