So apparently, according a recent Facebook meme, I’m not a “decent fucking human being” because I’m not “on board with free health care.”
I’m also not on board with unicorns. There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch, and there’s no such thing as “free health care.”
Socialized medicine “works” by underpaying doctors and rationing care. A private health care provider or insurance company that continually under performs loses customers to competitors. Of course private providers try to cut costs, but it’s a balancing act — performing too poorly loses as much money as not controlling costs. When government is the payer, priority shifts to maintaining costs, not providing care, and fraud is inevitable: “An array of outside contractors used by the government is poorly managed, rife with conflicts of interest and vulnerable to political winds, according to interviews with current and former government officials, contractors and experts inside and outside of the administration.” (NY Times)
Canada:
- “Socialized medicine has meant rationed care and lack of innovation. Small wonder Canadians are looking to the market.”
- “Canada’s health-care wait times get failing grade in survey of 11 industrialized countries.”
- “However, Zelt does concede that in Canada’s system, where every Canadian citizen is covered, there are limited resources, shortages and often delays.”
California:
- “According to the Medi-Cal Managed Care Dashboard briefing released by the California HealthCare Foundation in December, thousands of Medi-Cal patients are struggling to get access to specialists.”
VA:
United Kingdom:
“NHS delays leave thousands facing long wait for wheelchairs”