Standing in Line
Think Progress had this on their site, noting that it was an ad that ran atop The Drudge Report. The thing that caught my eye was the “standing in line” part. Maybe I am mistaken, but is there somehow the belief that Americans don’t “stand in line” to see doctors in the U.S.? As I recall, that’s pretty much the biggest part of seeing a doctor–anywhere, including the good ol’, non-government-run health care system of the U.S. of A. Maybe for elective surgery, with an appointment in advance, you might get to see the doctor without waiting, maybe. Or if you just have gobs of cash.
The whole “standing in line” bugaboo has been used to frighten Americans away from nationalized health care for quite some time, but it simply isn’t a valid criticism. Not because people in other countries don’t wait for medical care, but because people in America do. In fact, wait times in the U.S. are just as long as they are in countries with nationalized health care, and are sometimes longer. This BusinessWeek article lays out some of the basics, and they’re not exactly as left-wing bastion.
As a side note, you gotta love the claims made by these organizations. “Health Care America” claims, on its front page, to be a “nonpartisan advocacy organization,” despite the fact that they advertise on Drudge, and one of their main links on their Resources page is Michelle Malkin. Yeah, that’s really nonpartisan!
They also make a deal out of how people-oriented they are, how they want to stick up for the little guy–when really this is little more than a front for HMOs and Big Pharma so they can stick it to the little guy. But the site eventually has to (by law, I believe) admit to who is funding it:
Health Care America is supported by a broad spectrum of consumer choice advocates, including employers, individuals, hospitals, pharmaceutical manufacturers, pharmacy benefit managers, health care professionals and others.
Of course, I’m sure that most of the money comes from the “individuals” and from serious, professional doctors with stethoscopes and everything.
I have pretty decent insurance as a state employee, yet I usually have to wait 3 weeks to see my Doctor for a non-emergency visit, around 1 month to see my dentist.
And when I broke my neck I waited much of the day to see a special ist. Despite being paralyzed I had to sign a about 12 forms throughout the day. Followup visits had to be scheduled 2 weeks in advance.
During visits to my doctor after he often complained about how little he was paid by my HMO, that he gets a monthly payment to have me as a customer and it is his best interest to see me as little as possible. Now thats what I call people-oriented!