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Hi Harry,
I've written a lot to you tonight but you wrote a
lot yourself. We seem to be talking to ourselves.
Your question about the elderly is a good one. I can tell you that I
am grateful to the VA for my health care at this time in my
life. As for the explanation about political issues you made a
good point up to the end. I was waiting for some kind of
answer and what I got was a judgment about the politician's
incompetence. However, my experience with both
politicians and civil servants has been quite good. I know
that what you say about not fixing the upkeep on streets and bridges is
true and we are experiencing some of the same thing here with our new mayor
drawn from the private sector. Mayor Bloomberg is a
self made Billionaire who immediately instituted cut backs from the
moment he entered the office. I suspect that it is a strategy
to lower expectations and then to build once he doesn't have to compete with
Giuliani. But either way, what do you think they should have
done rather than ignore the bridges and roads? It is a tough
life having 10 million people looking over your shoulder with
complaints. The NYCity Schools alone are bigger than most cities in
America. You could put the population of
most American cities in the subway and still have seats left.
What do you think is the answer? What other choices should
they have made instead of the ones that they usually make. I
like, however that you cared for the seventy year olds. I just
passed sixty.
Regards,
Ray
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, February 01, 2002 12:52
PM
Subject: Re: Basket case
Keith,
I've often referred to my Ontario
experience with PSI (Physicians, Surgeons, Incorporated). It was an insurance
system run by the Ontario doctors. That combined with Blue Cross insurance to
take care of hospital needs was absolutely excellent.
The last house
call I experienced was with a Canadian doctor. But, then, they ran the system
- not the government. I remember my wife telling me that in hospital she was
operated on by an English doctor who was surrounded by other observing
doctors, eliciting the comment from the surgeon: "God, it's just like Clapham
Junction in here."
As you can gather, I was pleased with the private
system they had set up. However. I don't know how the system handled older
people which is where most of the cost is.
We were in the 30's. Could
the system have handled us well in our 70's?
In my High School Courses,
the kids learn that both business and government, when they find themselves in
financial trouble, have to cut back. They can't cut back on mortgage payments
or they'll be foreclosed (LAND). They can't drop wages, or the union will
strike (LABOR). They can't ask the bank to forgo it's interest (CAPITAL).
However, they can economize by not replacing capital. That's why
factories use old (and perhaps more hazardous) machines. It's why potholes
aren't repaired by our local governments. This takes them off the hook
for a while, but it inevitably catches up with them. The old machines cost
more and more to patch up. More vehicles break their axles - and so
on.
I've used machines and potholes to stand in for all the
deficiencies. In the States - the richest country in the world - apparently
there are thousands of bridges which are getting unsafe. Driving across an
American bridge doesn't expose you to terrorist action, but does expose you to
the incompetence of American politicians.
All this Keith, to analogize
to the problems of the NHS. I don't know the situation at first hand, but I
would expect that a major problem is spotty replacement of old equipment,
hospitals with leaky roofs and suchlike.
I am surprised that,
apparently, the Canadian system has so quickly found itself in trouble.
Perhaps others on FW can offer some
suggestions.
Harry
___________________________________________________
Keith
wrote:
(Just in case the metaphor, "basket
case", doesn't translate across the
pond, over here it means someone or
something that's in the last stages of
decrepitude.)
But here's a
real -- and tragic -- basket case, making the news headlines
in England
this morning. The body of a dead premature baby, James
Fernandez,
couldn't be found when the parents asked for it at the Queen
Mary's
Hospital, Sidcup, Kent. It was later found in a basket at an
industrial
laundry after having been boiled with the dirty linen. Yet
another
example of the demoralisation of NHS staff over here.
I know that
some of you (at least Mike Gurstein), are proud of your health
service in
Canada. And, because I know nothing about it, I've never made a
single
comment about your health service in the several years I've been
writing
on FW. All I've done is to agree with Harry's recent comment
that,
because of the dire shortage of nurses, doctors and other
health
professionals in Canada that Sally drew our attention to, it seems
to have
some similarities with the National Helath Service in
England.
I only write about the NHS over here because it's an
excellent, though sad,
example, of what happens when a public service is
led from the top by
non-medical government officials and politicians
who've appropriated the
power and responsibility all the way down the
line.
The NHS is such a basket case that Tony Blair has given a
hostage to
fortune by saying that he wants to be judged at the next
General Election
by his success at reforming the hospitals. The rumours
that are emanating
from the press about the reforms that are coming do
indeed suggest
revolutionary changes. Even allowing hospitals to manage
themselves! But it
is doubtful that almost 50 years of arrogant and
detailed control from
London can be repaired all that quickly.
(In
the meantime, 25,000 patients needing operations are going to be sent
to
Greece [that is, besides France, Germany, etc] -- according to some
press
reports. If this is being seriously negotiated, this shows just
how
disastrous the NHS has been in this country and how desperate Blair
is to
reduce the waiting lists before the next Election.)
Keith
Hudson
******************************
Harry Pollard
Henry George School of LA
Box 655
Tujunga CA 91042
Tel: (818) 352-4141
Fax: (818) 353-2242
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