Our Healthcare System Sucks, Part II

I posted on our messed up healthcare system and the total lack of leadership to do anything about it and got a lot of responses reaffirming how pissed off people are about this country. A lot of you said that Bush and the Republicans were to blame and I couldn't agree more. I mean, Bush has got a pretty good insurance plan. In fact he has his own personal doctor. Is this an ENTITLEMENT? And for the Republicans, getting sick has become equivalent to moral weakness or lack of patriotism. How messed up is that?

You have may have seen Michael More's film Sicko and remember the guy doing handstands in England who dislocated his shoulder and got free and excellent healthcare in England. Well his name is Eric Turnbow and I actually went to High School with him in Olympia, Washington. And amazingly enough I had an almost identical experience in Denmark.

You see after giving a lecture in Aarhus, Denmark, I was walking down one of the streets of the city and my attention was caught by a pretty Danish girl across the street (thank goodness my wife doesn't read this blog, please don't tell) and tripped over a scaffolding on the sidewalk. After getting back to my hotel room I pulled up my pant leg and was freaked out when I saw a huge gash cutting through to the bone. What was my first thought? You guessed it: how much is this going to cost me in a country that doesn't take Blue Cross/Blue Shield?

Well I dragged my sorry ass over to the medical school where I was to attend a dinner in my honor and there was an ER conveniently located across the street. There I was attended by an attractive and very professional Danish doctor who neatly sewed me up. Afterward I stood up and asked the inevitable question.

"How much do I owe?"

"Nothing," she said. "We have National Healthcare here."

"Even if I am a foreigner?" I asked, incredulous.

"Nothing at all," she said.

Well I couldn't believe it, I didn't even have to fill out any paperwork.

Afterward as I limped across the street I wondered, do we really have the best healthcare in the country?

Hmmm. Probably not. And definitely not the prettiest doctors.

Comments

[hootie1fan]

A few years ago, my sister & I took a trip to London and Paris.

On the way to our hotel in Knightsbridge, the van driver told us that if we got injured or sick to go see a doctor immediately and to not worry about the cost. Everybody was covered. We hadn't been in the country 2 hours.

On our day trip to Paris, the tour guide told us the same thing. A few hours into the trip, someone in the tour bus was injured. The ambulance came, treated the woman who was hurt, and before taking her off to the hospital she and her family we told not to worry about the money.

[SamThornton]

Common sense and popular political stances seem to seldom intersect in American society. One example is the demonization of public spending on any socially beneficial project as "socialism­."

Common sense and practical experience tells us that, in some cases, it is more efficient and fair to finance some activities from public sources, and in some cases private financing works best.

The well-documented benefits of state-financed health care in economies most like our own are incontrovertible.

Someday, perhaps, our political IQ will be sufficient to recognize such essentially simple truths and act on them.

[Ravenlea]

I don't understand the resistance in this country to socialized medicine (national health care). Too much power in the hands of too few greedy people? Too many politicians owing pharmaceutical and Insurance companies for campaign donations? Fear among the rich of having to wait a week for elective surgery while those troublesome poor people get medical attention? We are a crazy country.

[Oldchef]

I'm afraid we won't get anything truly sensible done in the congress on healthcare. They are almost all beholden in some way to insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies or others who are all making millions by denying care to patients and delaying payments to doctors and hospitals. The majority of people in this country in every poll I've seen are ready and willing to pay higher taxes for truly universal health care. Legislators didn't seem to care when whole industries collapsed due to outsourcing, but god forbid the insurance and pharmaceuticals should have their profits pared back. Without them between the doctors and patients, the costs of care should go down considerably and care be cheaper in a single payer system.

[Joe23]

And add to the list of Danish delights, free university education. The right wing knuckle draggers in this country will constantly scream "socialism sooialism!!!!" Nothing will happen for another 30 years unless we get a lot more Dems in office and if enough people scream for universal one payer health care.

[kasjuh]

The solution is so simple. Medicare for all. It works extremely well, can be expanded to serve everyone and will save money. Install paybacks for not using benefits. This will encourage good health practices. Everyone wins.

[ScooterLiddy]

Denmark has got it all. Good health care, pretty women... all you need is a $10,000 bond and a wifely sponsor and you are in... The country will even teach you the Danish language gratis... Just find a 28-year-old (or older) danish damsel who loves your sorry ass and you in like flynn...