The Horrors of Free Health Care

by publius

It's heartening to see Britain rallying around its health care system in the face of egregiously dishonest attacks and accusations.  Of course, as this NYT essay explains, the British system has its problems.  But the general British complaints about their health care system are being misinterpreted on this side of the pond.

It's basically a question of baseline assumptions.  Think about our free education system.  We complain about it a lot.  It has its problems for sure.  But discussions of those problems take place within a widely (almost universally) shared consensus that free primary education is a good thing.  To criticize education policy isn't to call for its abolition -- just like criticizing your family doesn't mean you want your family to be disbanded.

That's why the American attacks have been dishonest.  They've been citing complaints from people who fundamentally believe in the system to justify attacking the very premise of the system.  It's like citing complaints about teacher pay to justify abolishing public education.

The new British enthusiasm to defend its system stems from the recognition that the American attacks are aimed at the foundation of the system, and that Americans are trying to exploit everyday criticisms in a fundamentally dishonest way.

And just on an aside, is free health care really so terrible?  I mean, American seniors don't seem to mind their free, socialized, single payer system that much.

Comments

[CharlesWT]

"Since you posted without adding any comment, perhaps you could expand on the purpose of drawing our attention to the article?"

Canadian health care is referenced a number of times on this thread. Mostly positive. On other threads some have suggested that anyone outside the Canadian system are probably not in a good position to criticize it. So I thought that an article about people inside the system who are critical of it might be of interest.

[Gary Farber]

"Canadian Health Officials: Our Universal Health Care Is 'Sick,' Private Insurance Should Be Welcomed"

In the real world:

[...] About 30% of Canadians' health care is paid for through the private sector. This mostly goes towards services not covered or only partially covered by Medicare, such as prescription drugs, dentistry and optometry. Some 65% of Canadians have some form of supplementary private health insurance; many of them receive it through their employers.[15] There are also large private entities that can buy priority access to medical services in Canada, such as WCB in BC.

[Carleton Wu]

is Carleteon Wu one and the same person as Carleton Wu?

They are very similar, but Carleteon is naut as gud a spellar.

[Carleton Wu]

Canadian health care is referenced a number of times on this thread. Mostly positive. On other threads some have suggested that anyone outside the Canadian system are probably not in a good position to criticize it. So I thought that an article about people inside the system who are critical of it might be of interest.

Id be more interested in why they were critical and what they wanted to change, rather than just the fact that some Canadians have complaints about their health care system. That is, if we're trying to use the Canadian example to inform out decisions about health care, we need to know more than just 'the Canadian system is not perfect'. Interesting point- one of the first reforms they want to implement is electronic medical records, IT upgrades, and information sharing, which is also something advocated for here.
Speaking for myself, it's perfectly reasonable for people outside of the Canadian system to criticise it, but they should be careful about their sources. Likewise, several people commenting on this thread aren't in the American system, but no one seems to be complaining that they lack standing.