EU Leaders Advise US Against State-run Healthcare
Here's a nice AP article, "Europe's free, state-run health care has drawbacks". Perhaps that's an understatement. From the advice of those who have experienced state-run healthcare for the past couple decades, it doesn't sound like a road worth trying. I feel like that as a matter of principle and also because of observable facts: facts of history -- history that doesn't have to be experienced here.
"Wise people learn from experience. Super-wise people learn from others' experience," I remember listening to on a talk on tape years ago.
Below are some excerpts from this article...
"In Britain, France, Switzerland and elsewhere, public health systems have become political punching bags for opposition parties, costs have skyrocketed and in some cases, patients have needlessly suffered and died."
"Critics say the policies are often driven more by politics than science." Such as Prime Minister Brown's new gimmick policies of handing out cash to cancer patients who are unable to see experts within a certain amount of time.
"More serious problems in Britain's health care were reported last month, when cancer researchers announced that as many as 15,000 people over age 75 were dying prematurely from cancer every year. Experts said those deaths could have been avoided if those patients had been diagnosed and treated earlier."
"'There is nothing inherently different about cancer in the U.S. and Britain to explain why more people are dying here,' said Dr. Karol Sikora, of Cancer Partners UK."
"[France] health budgets have been in the red since 1988."
"a decade later, the deficit had doubled to 49 billion euros ($69 billion)."
"'I would warn Americans that once the government gets its nose into health care, it's hard to stop the dangerous effects later,' said Valentin Petkantchin, of the Institut Economique Molinari in France."
"'The minute you make health insurance mandatory, people start overusing it,' said Dr. Alphonse Crespo, an orthopedic surgeon and research director at Switzerland's Institut Constant de Rebecque. 'If I have a cold, I might go see a doctor because I am already paying a health insurance premium.'"
"Government influence in health care may also stifle innovation, other experts warn. Bureaucracies are slow to adopt new medical technologies."
"'Government control of health care is not a panacea,' said Philip Stevens, of International Policy Network, a London think-tank. 'The U.S. health system is a bit of a mess, but based on what's happened in some countries in Europe, I'd be nervous about recommending more government involvement.'"
Wow.
As we've seen in the latest housing bubble, what happens in the US can have a poignant effect on the world. No wonder folks in the EU have found ample motivation to speak out against policies being experimented with here in the US.