Poll on Socialized Medicine

[Anachronous Rex]

I had a bit of an argument with someone who claimed that most people in countries that have socialized medicine (essentially) wish that they did not.

I know that this is bullshit, and was all set to bring up some actual polls and statistics, but apparently he also thinks that my sources are biased and manipulating data (this, without knowing what those sources even are, nonetheless.)


Anyway, I thought it might be fun just to see what the League thinks.

 

[theyounghistorian77]

Im assuming this debate isn't on some youtube comment thread, otherwise i think i'd seen your comments!

 

[australopithecus]

The NHS isn't perfect, but rather that than privatisation.

 

[Nom_de_Plume]

The NHS isn't perfect, but rather that than privatisation.

Same with MSP here, the number of times I've been thankful that I can just go to the doc or have to go to the hospital and no have to worry about it breaking me like some of my american friends is a huge piece of mind for the small monthly fee I have to pay.
Same with giving birth, I've heard that's really expensive if you have to pay for it.

 

[televator]

I have privatization...

 

[Laurens]

The NHS isn't perfect, but rather that than privatisation.

Agreed

 

[ImprobableJoe]

I have privatization...

Which is worse than nothing at all sometimes.

 

[Dogma's Demise]

Socialized Medicine - Well despite its flaws (at least in my country Romania: corruption, often inadequate care, underfunding, inability to treat certain diseases that ARE curable like leukemia etc.) I really don't see it any other way.

I mean the alternative is far worse: letting people die from conditions that are not fatal, or put them into so much debt they'll be slaves for life. Private healthcare insurance has all sorts of stupid conditions too, if they had their way, they'd only insure healthy people and let everyone with "preexisting conditions" die.

Now don't get me wrong, private healthcare should exist, but this option should also exist for people who can't afford the private one.

And this bullshit about "charities will fix", no, charities only fix WHAT THEY CAN.

 

[Asrahn]

I have privatization...

Which is worse than nothing at all sometimes.

Amen to this.

Got Socialized Medicine here. Loving it, particularly as it would cost me a small fortune otherwise with my psoriasis.

 

[Master_Ghost_Knight]

At least in my country (and I suspect in every other country with socialized medicine) besides the public service you can also opt for a private insurance as you see fit. Besides, this unfounded worry that "because it is funded by the state therefore is of worst quality, or that politicians will want to put their nose on your health" is unjustified, from my experience the quality is generally the other way around and either way medicine is done and run by medical professionals.

 

[KuroAkuma]

I'm from Australia, not sure what is exactly meant by socialised medicine. I will offer my opinion on the system we have in Australia.
There's both a public and a private system, I'm only providing a simplified explanation of the system so if you want any extra details/clarifications please ask.
The public system is funded by the government. The public hospitals get funding from the government to provide services, on top of that depending on the volume and type of services provided, the hospital can claim extra funding from the government. It is limited to certain services, procedures and operations.
Primary care (eg. GPs) is also funded by the government but through rebates for services (Medicare rebate). This means the patient is only charged a small fee for seeing the doctor (or maybe the full fee but gets the rebate from the government).
Medications similarly are also subsidised by the government which drastically reduces the price of certain medications which the government has deemed to be effective for a particular condition.

The private system is both government and user funded (typically through private health insurance, but can also just be out of the user's pocket), it covers private medical clinics, to private hospitals and operations. Of course the degree of government funding is drastically different to public hospitals. The degree of private health insurance cover determines how much of the fees of private health services are paid by the insurance company and how much is out of pocket.
Medications are also available under whats called a private script. They are offered typically because the drug is currently not approved to the government funded for the particular condition for which its been prescribed.

From my point of view, the goal of the private system is to complement the public system. The public system provides the essentials of health care available to all, the private system takes the burden those who want healthcare beyond the essentials (eg. cosmetic surgery) out of the public system so it can better service the main purpose.

There are problems with the system, here are just a few off the top of my head:
- Emergency department waiting times: in short the demand for doctors time exceeds the supply of it. The more urgent cases are seen earlier and the less urgent are seen later.
- Surgery waiting lists: see above. More urgent surgeries are done earlier than others, which may be less urgent but still very much necessary
- Access: outpatient clinics are booked out for weeks/months, as are many GP practices. Conversely in rural areas there is a distinct lack of easily available specialist services.

At the end of the day, I do support government funding for health care. It does help that the strong Australia economy makes it so that the public health is provided is well funded (though still lacking) very high quality, and actually an attractive option for many.

***This opinion may be coloured by the fact that I am graduating and start work as a doctor in 2013**

 

[nemesiss]

Nationilized heath care systems work better if the country is invested on making it better.
with this, i do not mean just the goverment, but also the people and companies within that country.

here a little news story about the dutch NHS, a dutch politician stated today that ANY medicine, no matter the costs, that works needs to be covered by insurance companies. this with regards with rare deceases.