National Healthscare

It is not uncommon for Americans to be dissatisfied with their healthcare system and there are many improvements which need to be implemented. One of the proposals has been to create a national healthcare system or some other plan to nationalize the healthcare industry. With Hillary's impending White House bid, such a proposal is worth revisiting.

The United Kingdom created such a system following WWII. Proponents of nationalization cite universal access to care as one of the chief benefits of government-run healthcare. The problem is that patients often have merely universal access to a waiting list. A couple months ago I registered with the local GP. As part of the application process and examination, I mentioned that my knees had been giving me some problems from jogging. The doctor offered to refer me to a specialist, stating that I needed to get on the list now because it would take a while. I consented, and it wasn't until about a week ago that I finally got this letter:

Dear Mr. Renfro

We have received a letter from your GP requesting an outpatient appointment for you to see ____ in Orthopaedic Surgery.

A consultant has reviewed your referral letter and we have been asked to make you a non-urgent appointment. The current waiting time for this kind of appointment is approximately 7 months from the date of this letter. To ensure that outpatient waiting times are kept to a minimum and clinics are used effectively we now book patient appointments by phone no more than 5 weeks prior to the clinic.

We will write to you again 5 weeks before your appointment is due, asking you to phone us. We can then arrange a convenient date for you to see the consultant, or a member of their team. As we will need to write to you again about your appointment, please remember to phone us if your address or phone number change.

Should your condition worsen while you are waiting for you appointment, please inform you GP.

Also, if you no longer wish to attend this hospital appointment, please phone us. We will then remove your name from the waiting list....

Yours Sincerely,

Patient Appointment Centre Officer

Seven months to have a specialist take a look at my knee?! I could have gotten a new liver in that time in the US!

While it is true that the NHS probably offers better coverage for the poorest in Society who would have no coverage except for State programs for kids and guaranteed emergency room care, it is decidedly worse for the middle and upper classes. The rich must first pay more than their share of the NHS cost, and once they have finished paying that they get to pay for their own private insurance so they can actually get efficient healthcare when they need it. As for the middle class, most of them can't afford private insurance so they are stuck on a waiting list somewhere. It is not uncommon for patients needing surgery to either go private or pay for it themselves or to go to the continent for care. Even with that said, people have become dependent upon the NHS as is always the case with government programs. One of the principal fears Brits have when they consider relocating to the United States is the lack of nationalized healthcare. Who will look after them? How would they cope with independence? How will I cope with dependence?