we have long waits for healthcare. we are limited in our ability to choose our own doctor (haven't they ever heard of the concept of in-network and out-network?). our doctor's healthcare decisions are effected by the bureaucracy (a for-profit insurance company bureaucracy) which has resulted in worse treatment. we are limited by what medications we can get (ever heard of a "drug formulary"?). in fact, i don't think i've ever encountered a single objection to a single payer system that isn't already rampant in our own system.
the absurdity of all of this came to the fore when i read this post this morning. it mentions the insurance industry's anti-sicko advertising campaign which features the tag-line:
In America you wait in line to see a movie. In government-run healthcare systems, you wait to see a doctor.pithy aint it? but it reminded me of something that happened just a couple of days ago. a secretary in my office had extremely strong stomach pains. it got to the point that it completely debilitated her and so she went to the emergency room. she checked in, was told not to eat or drink anything, was given morphine and was asked to wait to see a gastrointestinal specialist. and so sat down in the waiting room and waited. then waited and waited and waited. she sat there for over 24 hours, unable to eat or drink, so doped up on morphine that she couldn't complain about it. the only reason she got to see a doctor after only 24 hours is because a lawyer in our office (who was also the secretary's sister), walked into the office of a GI doctor she knew personally in the hospital and told him about her sister's plight. oh, and the secretary in question had health insurance. as michael moore says, she is "one of the lucky ones."
stories like this happen all the time. the idea that our privately-run system has eliminated waits is patently absurd and contrary to the experience of just about anyone who has dealt with the system first hand. are they really unaware that every doctor's office and hospital has something called "waiting room"? the counter-examples are so glaringly obvious, they're literally right before our eyes. it's strange just how effective the campaign is despite that. i hear people parroting the insurance industries' arguments all the time. are they really that unfamiliar with the system we already got?
