When I lived in Norway I experienced the deplorable state of the government run health system there. I watched as the system literally killed a woman due to its inefficiencies and antiquated state. Of course, there are plenty of horror stories about the U.S. health care system as well, but the general state of the whole system in Norway could aptly be described as decrepit.
Norwegians recoiled with horror at the thought of a medical system (in the U.S.) that would fail to offer equal coverage to everyone, but I could never understand how they rationalized away the lousy level of care they received. Sure, they could go to the doctor anytime they wanted, but the care they got was like going to a military field hospital in a war zone. Norwegians are not alone. Government run health care systems worldwide are in the same class as Norway’s.
Fox News anchor David Asman has published an insightful WSJ article that discusses the faults and advantages of both the British and U.S. health care systems from a very interesting point of view. His wife, though relatively young, had a stroke while they were in London. Over the next two months they experienced three health care systems: the British public system, the British private system, and the U.S. system.
Asman paraphrases Thomas Sowell in saying, “there are no solutions to modern health care problems, only trade-offs.” He makes a strong point that there are some things that are definitely out of whack with the U.S. system. But I think he also leaves you with the feeling that the general state of the U.S. system is far superior. I wholeheartedly concur.
No comments:
Post a Comment