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Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: gg cox who wrote (17494)	4/30/2010 6:06:16 PM
From: Lane3	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42652

no need to label it ""intentionally or by default,"" Huh? Why would you say that? Are there any other options? Either you chose queues intentionally or you chose other priorities, "money, man power and infrastructure," so timeliness was what got left out. Like playing musical chairs. You can't optimize everything concurrently so something gets left out. So I don't know what you are getting at with that comment. What is it with this arrogance that each individual thinks he should always be first in line in a moments notice for an advanced procedure that is in great demand? Have we become that spoiled? A few weeks ago I had a blocked salivary gland. It swelled during lunch on the weekend and didn't go back down. So I called my PCP on Monday morning, saw her on Monday morning, she called the hospital and scheduled my ultrasound for two hours later where I got the results. By COB she had called me at home and we had a game plan. Bear in mind that a blocked salivary gland is not a life threatening condition nor is it particularly painful or frightening. But it is disconcerting and it's a whole lot easier on the patient to have a diagnosis and plan expeditiously. With that in mind, let me address the points in that last segment I clipped. I agree with you that it's arrogant as well as selfish and some other disreputable things to expect to be first in line. That suggests elbowing others out of the way. But I don't understand why you insist on framing it that way. No one else got elbowed out of the way if I get my ultrasound right away. The facility simply fit me in. I think you're giving those of us who don't look forward to queuing as arrogant. Maybe spoiled. Interesting word, that, because it's a relative word. It means excessively indulged, coddled. It goes back to the point I was making with you earlier about expectations. If your reference is that lunch is a slice of processed cheese on two slices of discount bread, then a chicken salad and asparagus spear plate seems spoiled. If your frame of reference is that plate, then sashimi seems spoiled. So "spoiled" is what you perceive from your perspective to be overly indulgent. The guy eating the chicken salad and asparagus doesn't feel spoiled. The guy eating the sashimi probably doesn't, either, because it seems normal, even necessary, to him. So if you're facing queues for sonograms, can see why you might think that those who get them timely are spoiled. You've persuaded yourself that waits are normal, that greater responsiveness isn't necessary, and maybe you're right. It's a matter of perspective. Just like it's a matter of perspective that universal coverage is normal because that's what you are used to so you look down on having to go to a cut-rate clinic as a cheese sandwich and we look down on queues as a cheese sandwich. Your guys have to suffer the discomfort of things being up in the air while you wait for months to be seen. Our guys have to suffer the discomfort of sitting in a room full of sick people and squalling kids for hours while they wait to be seen. But, in fact, each, like the cheese sandwich, gets the job done, just not with as much comfort and style. So is it spoiled to expect a knee replacement? Until a few years ago, most Americans didn't expect one, maybe still don't. People just got old and crippled. Dunno about how many of them are done in Canada and what folks' expectations are there. Maybe the expectation is that you get one but you have to wait years. So is getting one timely spoiled? Is getting one eventually spoiled? From the perspective of my grandmother, each would have been considered spoiled. The number left uninsured for at least part of the year... One of the mistakes oft made by the single-payer crowd is to confuse insurance with health care. Just because you don't have insurance doesn't mean you don't have health care. What insurance gives you is a certain amount of comfort. You don't have to stress over finding someplace to service you or deal with that waiting room with the squalling kids and all the coughing. But the health care is, for the most part, there, at least in cities. Remember that twelve million of those US "uninsured" were eligible for Medicaid but just hadn't signed up. So pick your poison. Queues or waiting rooms from hell. Six of one, half dozen... With health care, some really smart, prosperous, free market countries have studied the health care issues and unanimously concluded that single payer systems are the way to go for their populations... Some have, some haven't. The returns are not yet in on how smart any of them may have been in their choices or how prosperous they will be as things play out. The most command and control of the lot is GB, and their system is the worst. You are judging decisions smart before they've been tested. The game's not over until the fat lady sings.