Watched a very interesting program last night, Sick Around the World, where a reporter tried to discover the reason why other developed countries were doing so well with their universal healthcare systems. The man visited England, Japan, Germany, Switzerland and Taiwan and found that while public opinion was very high, and everyone felt that they were getting excellent care, there are a few peppercorns in the soup.
Of course the citizens were happy: Costs were either paid by the government or were affordable by those who were working or had company-paid insurance. What’s not to be happy about when you can get just about all the care you need without fear of going broke or losing your home or the life of a loved one. The minor inconveniences of waiting time (and this was minimal) were completely acceptable. The downside? Well, doctors were being paid as little as $4.50 (U.S.) to sew and dress a wound of a particular size (every procedure in Japan was completely regulated by the government) and hospitals were going broke at stays of $10/per night in a 4-bed room or $90/night for a private single.
Insurance companies (and while I hate the idea of insurance at all and prefer to go straight to medical care as in a pool, I understand that it really works the same way) were not allowed by law to make a profit.
Not allowed by law to make a profit.
That sounds good to me, except that why in the world would anyone want to be in business not to make a profit? When you go to work every day, don’t you expect to make a profit? Something that will enable you to buy what you need to live on and maybe a bit more to save or blow on a vacation? Would you like to be told you couldn’t make more than you require to survive? If healthcare is so important that it’s nearly morally wrong to make a profit at it, how about food? Should farmers and cattlemen and grocers make a profit? Can’t even worry about health or unhealth if you ain’t got food.
And how about shelter? No one should really make a profit on something as essential as a roof over your head. Specially in the north where it’s cold. Like in Alaska. Or Russia.
The doctors seemed to be doing all right even with a third to a quarter of the salaries of their American counterparts, but hey, if they are restricted so severely in how much they can charge and need to see patients every 3 to 5 minutes to make that salary; and, if we’re saying that healthcare is so goshdarned important as to be vital, then don’t you think that maybe movie stars and ball-kickers (any sport) should have restrictions on their salaries too?
So there’s the underlying pea beneath the twenty mattresses and twenty quilts: somebody’s going to be unhappy. If it’s the public, well, we’re screwed and have to find some way to cope. But if it’s the providers, well, they just find themselves another place to do business or find another business to do. Manufacturing has already been moving out of the country. Our doctors don’t make house calls at all and we’ve come to accept going to their office. But what about when it’s not in the country; or not available at all.
Each of the countries involved did a very careful study and Taiwan really tried to put the best parts of each system to work for the good of everyone. Unfortunately, what they’ve come up with works only too well for the people. Healthcare is so cheap that people use the doctor’s offices to visit or have a place to stay. It cannot go on and the government has been borrowing from the banks to cover expenses owed to providers.
Sound familiar? No matter what the deal, there are bad guys on either side ready to take advantage of a screwed up system. Greed isn’t exclusive to the provider; it’s as inborn and active in the recipient.
Yes, the U.S. needs to take care of its citizens in a way that eliminates personal disasters and overpaying for both medical expenses and insurance premiums. We’ve got a problem here. But you know, you can’t point to other developed countries as the perfect examples without realizing that the systems at face value may look terrific, but that they are in great danger of failing big time. If the healthcare providers go under, so goes the healthcare. We need to remanage what we’ve got; get rid of waste and fraud and overcharging. But we need to take the time and do it right or else we’ll find ourselves in deeper doo-doo than what the other countries are beginning to face or what we’ve got ourselves involved in now.
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