1/17/2024 0 Comments Psu white out forcast 2018![]() Those GoFundMe campaigns for medical costs you see all over the U.S., well, they happen here, too, now as well. hospitals, including this one right here, have whole floors reserved for private patients. Now, we’re not anywhere near the two-tier U.S. of its own doctors and nurses and burdening it with debt, all the while skimming what should be public money into the pockets of American health care corporations. But here, it’s had a destabilizing effect, draining the N.H.S. ![]() It encourages innovation and efficiency, perhaps. And look, privatization isn’t necessarily bad. Brick by brick, parts of this public institution are being handed over to the private sector. And then 2022: Yet another bill gives corporations more control of N.H.S. 2012: David Cameron gives private contractors access to even more of the N.H.S. to take expensive loans to build new hospitals. 1990: Margaret Thatcher passes legislation requiring hospitals to compete against each other for patients. To show you what I mean, I need to tell you a different story, one that begins more than 30 years ago. It’s part of a pattern that’s done a lot of damage to the N.H.S. This kind of short-term thinking and incompetence, frankly, isn’t isolated. The British government finally put together a long-term plan to train new staff, but it takes 15 years to train a doctor, by which point our needs will have changed again. We used to fill them by hiring medics from other countries, but Brexit put a squeeze on all that. You need enough of the right kinds of doctors and nurses, right? You need to plan ahead, forecast your medical needs and replenish the pipeline accordingly. If you want to run a health service, you need doctors, nurses, paramedics - Well, not only that. All right, let’s start with something really basic. So my colleagues and I spoke with doctors and health experts around the U.K., and they told us a different story, one that should worry all of us, really, of a long, slow undermining of a public institution by the governments who are supposed to be protecting it. So what’s really going on? There’s clearly more to this. It’s not perfect, but universal health care works just fine, thank you very much. Its efficiency makes it one of the best-value health care systems in the developed world. That’s less than almost all other European countries and way less than the U.S. And as for the cost, well, Britain spends just one, two, three, four, five and a half thousand dollars a year per person on health care. Until recently, it frequently ranked as one of the best health care systems in the developed world. has largely grown to meet the nation’s needs. Throughout most of its history, the N.H.S. was built for a 1950s world, and a lot’s changed since then. How has such an incredible institution been brought so close to the edge of ruin? Now, talk to some politicians and pundits around here, and they’ll give you two explanations, firstly, that universal health care just no longer works and, secondly, that it’s too expensive. ![]() doctors, in this hospital right here, and I’ve grown up, like many Brits, kind of taking the service for granted, so this whole situation is really confusing. It all feels like we’re at the end of a badly played game of Jenga, and we’re all anxiously wondering: Is the best thing we’ve ever created about to collapse? I was brought into the world by N.H.S. ![]() People are pulling out their own teeth - all of it compounded by wave after wave of strikes. Millions are waiting months to get treatment. trusts have canceled half of their elective surgeries.” “We don’t have enough beds.” “Staff are striking.” “Up to 500 people are dying each week because of delays.” It’s an absolute mess. “The worst crisis ever to face the NHS -” “- departments are described as war zones.” “N.H.S. We Brits haven’t had much to brag about of late, but the N.H.S. I mean, even ISIS thought it was worth copying. We love it more than the royal family and football. It’s this towering monument to social generosity, rooted in the belief that health care is a human right, not a luxury. Here in Britain, we are fiercely proud of the N.H.S. The National Health Service was born, and overnight, every medical treatment, from blood tests to brain surgery, became available to millions who could previously never afford it - no deductibles, no co-pays. But with courage and vision, these politicians pulled it off. It had never been done on this scale under capitalism before, and Britain was broke. is one of Britain’s proudest achievements, and it’s unraveling.ĭecades ago, the leaders of Britain launched a, frankly, incredible plan, to provide every kind of medical treatment to everyone free of charge. Transcript How Britain Put One of the World’s Best Health Care Systems on Life Support The N.H.S.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |