On Thu, Apr 17, 2008 at 8:48 AM, Stuart Jansen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Yeah, the American healthcare system is so much better than Canada and > western Europe.
Probably not the best example to trot out in defense of governmental competence. America's healthcare system (as flawed as it is) *is* so much better than Canada and western Europe (despite what Michael Moore would have you believe). Personally, I think you get more mileage out of the public transportation comparison. --- 'In France in 2003, 15,000 mostly elderly hospital patients died in an August heat wave--because hospitals lack air conditioning and doctors were on vacation. The French parliament blamed the health care system. That's five times 9/11's toll, all of it preventable.' --- 'The Canadian Supreme Court struck down a law forbidding private insurance in a 2005 decision, ruling that "Access to a waiting list is not access to health care" The decision resulted from a Canadian case in which a man waited a year for hip-replacement surgery, and Canada has started down the road of privatization.' --- 'In his EW interview, Moore tacitly admitted that "Sicko" lies about wait times, saying, "Well, okay, let's set up a system where we don't have the Canadian wait. Let's set up a system where we take what they do right and don't do the things that we do wrong." Yes, and let's also make sure that every girl gets to be the prettiest girl in town. Those who have mastered basic economics can skip this paragraph. Not everyone can have everything they want because there is not an unlimited supply of anything (except maybe air); that's why Canada and Britain have lotteries to determine who gets treatment.' --- 'There isn't enough money in the U.S. to pay for free, wait-free top-quality universal health care. The law of supply and demand can no more be repealed than the law that all documentary films must be left-wing. Gratzer's book suggests a real-world solution: decentralization that gives patients more choice: "both failed options [HMOs and Medicare/Medicaid] share one fatal feature. They remove choices from patients and give them to government or corporate bureaucrats. Restricting patient choices in this way, flouting the laws of basic economics, has been a mistake. It's the reason why, while pocket calculators have declined in price from $500 to $5, the price of pacemakers keeps rising."' --- -Bryan /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
