Jun 9, 2019
Commissioner Johnston discusses the tragedy of socialized medicine and its failure wherever it has been employed. Brian relates personal stories of Canadian healthcare and the healthcare system of the NHS in the UK as well as the similar system in Ireland.
Professor David Warner, a dear friend and colleague with whom the Commissioner had worked, received an appointment to a professorship in Canada. While there, David Warner was diagnosed with multiple myeloma bone cancer. The Canadian health service did indeed treat him. It did indeed diagnose as well as treat the cancer.
But David suffered and ultimately succumbed under the extremely common phenomenon of “queuing.” Queuing refers to the wait time between diagnosis, treatment, ongoing tests, and ongoing treatments. The extreme lag time between each procedure increases the likelihood of ineffectual treatment and non-curative care.
The National Health Service in the UK has a very similar procedure. The government offers less medicine to more people. Recently, the physicians of the NHS protested the system, stating they were forced to offer third-world care to British patients.
In spite of the demonstrated failures of socialized medicine there is now a renewed push for “Medicare for all.” Starting with Bernie Sanders, each of the Democratic candidates for president has pledged to expand the Medicare system to just such a vast, sweeping, ineffective level. For the sake of egalitarianism such programs require that no individuals may avail of a private health insurance.
Brian includes an interview with the Heritage Foundation as they summarize the real physical problems of “Medicare for all.”
The reason you want to have insurance is not for the little things - aspirin, colds, flu shots. You want to be insured in case of the potentially catastrophic illness - cancer or other expensive treatments - cancer treatment or other interventions that would personally bankrupt you. The reason you have insurance on your home is not to protect you from a baseball through the window. That’s a relatively inexpensive event. Your house insurance is in case of a cataclysmic event that would otherwise impoverish you.
So the purpose of insurance is not to give you a little bit of coverage but instead give you necessary protection in the possibility you may need extraordinary interventions.