Socialized health care would have made coronavirus worse, not better

[Right_in_Virginia]

Socialized health care would have made coronavirus worse, not better
Washington Times, Apr 25, 2020, Kelli Ward

The vast majority of Americans would immediately object to a government official having the power to take an elderly person off of a ventilator to make room for somebody else. As a physician and a human being, I find even the thought to be both ethically and morally reprehensible, but under a government-run, socialized health care system that would become the new normal in America.

During the current COVID-19 crisis, we are seeing the importance of building up overcapacity in our health care system. This is wise in case of local or regional crises such as major storms, earthquakes, accidents or terror attacks, and likewise, the current pandemic proves it must also take place at the national level.

Government-run systems simply do not produce overcapacity. In fact, they are incapable of producing it. At his April 14 White House press briefing, President Trump pointed out the facts to prove it. Italy has 12.5 ICU beds per 100,000 people in their population; France has 11.6; Spain has 9.7; and the United Kingdom has 6.6. For years, advocates of moving our country toward socialized medicine have pointed to these countries as models to emulate.

However, contrast that with the United States’ still largely private health care system where we have 34.7 ICU beds per 100,000 people. Moreover, hospital systems were on a building boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s, as they scaled up capacity in anticipation of the baby boomer generation reaching retirement age.

Then Americans were force-fed Obamacare.

Government officials, in all their wisdom, decided that people would get a card saying they had insurance but would no longer use hospital emergency rooms for primary care. The hospital systems did what the government mandated and moved away from the hospital model to an urgent care model, where patients are less likely to see a doctor. As a result, they began building urgent care centers instead of hospitals.



More:  https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/apr/25/socialized-health-care-would-have-made-coronavirus/

[EdinVA]

The problem I have with this conversation is it fails to recognize the prevention part of the process.
The medical community, including the NIH, has been aware of these "bat" viruses for years and there have been conversation about bat to human transmissions.
Why were there NO investigations into an understanding of these viruses, potential vaccines, treatments, etc.
We are beating up the issue of socialized medicine, which is hate, but our acceptance of our current Anything For Money approach is not working either.

[Right_in_Virginia]

The problem I have with this conversation is it fails to recognize the prevention part of the process.
The medical community, including the NIH, has been aware of these "bat" viruses for years and there have been conversation about bat to human transmissions.
Why were there NO investigations into an understanding of these viruses, potential vaccines, treatments, etc.
We are beating up the issue of socialized medicine, which is hate, but our acceptance of our current Anything For Money approach is not working either.

I think you're mixing apples and oranges.  This article is about the delivery of health care, its costs and its overlords -- not monitoring the medical threats coming from around the globe.

[EdinVA]

I think you're mixing apples and oranges.  This article is about the delivery of health care, its costs and its overlords -- not monitoring the medical threats coming from around the globe.

Isn't one dependent upon the other?
How do you deliver a "cure" if you don't have it?

[EdinVA]

We spend millions on such important things as studying the sex life of shrimp so it just seems to me that we should spend money on potential health threats just like we do the military...

[Right_in_Virginia]

Isn't one dependent upon the other?  How do you deliver a "cure" if you don't have it?

The NIH is responsible for biomedical and public health research. 

The FDA is responsible for ensuring the safety, efficacy and security of drugs, biological products and medical devices.

Health insurance (including socialized health insurance) is not about delivering a cure; it's about setting the parameters and cost for dispensing approved medical care. 

@EdinVA

[EdinVA]

The NIH is responsible for biomedical and public health research. 

The FDA is responsible for ensuring the safety, efficacy and security of drugs, biological products and medical devices.

Health insurance (including socialized health insurance) is not about delivering a cure; it's about setting the parameters and cost for dispensing approved medical care. 

@EdinVA

So, the left hand does not care what the right hand is doing?  I agree.
Consider this......
China never gave anyone a heads up that the virus got away from them.
China never disseminated ANY information on the virus.
China blocked any scientists from any other country to help.
China purposely withheld potential cures.
China has engaged in a world wide campaign to  place blame for the virus on the USA.

IMHO, this was a deliberate biological attack by china on the world.
We have spent billions on NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) warfare.... where were they?   What did we get for our money?

[PeteS in CA]

Depending on the degree of socialized/socialism, such "healthcare" systems have two major effects:

* Key resources are kept scarce by political decisions; IOW, a scant reserve reservoir for pandemics such as this;

* Innovation is hindered by being kept un-remunerative by political decisions (= why do risky expensive research when that $$ cannot be recovered ... and available for further risky expensive research?). As for government-run research ... Lysenko.