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Discussion

The UK path to Universal Coverage

Emphasis added:

From American Prospect:

http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewPrint&articleId=12683

Great Britain not because its health system is very good but because its health system is very cheap. Per capita spending in Great Britain hovers around 40 percent what it is in the United States, and outcomes aren't noticeably worse. The absolute disparity between what we pay and what they get illuminates a troublesome finding in the health-care literature: Much of the health care we receive appears to do very little good, but we don't yet know how to separate the wheat from the chaff. Purchasing less of it, however, doesn't appear to do much damage.

...

This sort of national prioritizing is made easier because Great Britain has a socialized system, wherein the government directly employs most of the providers. Great Britain contains costs in part by paying doctors through capitation, which gives doctors a flat monthly sum for every patient in their practice. Since most patients don't need care in a given month, the payments for the healthy subsidize the needs of the sick. Crucially, though, the fixed pool of monthly money means doctors make more for offering less treatment. With traditional fee-for-service arrangements, like ours, doctors gain by treating more. The British system, by contrast, lowers total costs by lowering the quantity of prescribed care.

...

That may sound strange, but it also means that society pays for fewer of those surgeries, fewer of those medications, and fewer of those X-rays -- and as far as we can tell, the English aren't suffering for it. Indeed, a 2006 study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association found that, on average, English people are much healthier than Americans are; they suffer from lower rates of diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, heart attack, stroke, lung disease, and cancer. According to the study's press release, the differences are vast enough that "those in the top education and income level in the U.S. had similar rates of diabetes and heart disease as those in the bottom education and income level in Great Britain." Great Britain's example proves that it is possible to make economy a guiding virtue of a health system. We could do that on the supply side, through policies like capitation that would change the incentives for doctors, or on the demand side, by making patients pay more up front -- or both, or neither.

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indeed, a 2006 study published in the journal of the american medical association found that, on average, english people are much healthier than americans are; they suffer from lower rates of diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, heart attack, stroke, lung disease, and cancer.

this is not from the health care provided, rather from lifestyle. the lifestyle is now changing and all the above problems are getting worse.

outcomes aren't noticeably worse

tell this to anyone in england that is over 60-65 and is put on the back of any surgery list.

go view the uk boards to see how health care in england is now, find out why so many nurses want to leave. americans would never put up with the standards that are requires to keep cost down, that the english have been bought up to believe in.

indeed, a 2006 study published in the journal of the american medical association found that, on average, english people are much healthier than americans are; they suffer from lower rates of diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, heart attack, stroke, lung disease, and cancer.

this is not from the health care provided, rather from lifestyle. the lifestyle is now changing and all the above problems are getting worse.

outcomes aren't noticeably worse

tell this to anyone in england that is over 60-65 and is put on the back of any surgery list.

go view the uk boards to see how health care in england is now, find out why so many nurses want to leave. americans would never put up with the standards that are requires to keep cost down, that the english have been bought up to believe in.

ukstudent - it is forbidden to speak out against universal healthcare on this forum - you may be banned or your posts may require moderator approval before being posted. its kind of like cnn, you only get one side of the story, its similiar to watching two democrats debating with each other, you dont really see the other side.

i can understand where you are coming from, i mean you live in the united kingdom, you know what the heck is going on in your own country....meanwhile you have mrviking over here posting something from a left wing magazine like "the nation" discussing how people in the uk live longer because they have "universal healthcare", which as you pointed out has nothing to do with the fact why people are living longer....like you said, its hte lifestyle...you know it, i know it...but others cant and wont debate the issue, they will only post articles from leftist/socialist magazines on this website and pass it along as fact.

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