British Statesman Warns America of Government Healthcare Horrors
Member of European Parliament Daniel Hannan warned Americans of the dangers of government-run healthcare on the Friday edition of the “Glenn Beck Program.”
Hannan, a Conservative who represents Southeast England in the European Parliament, said of the British National Health Service (NHS), “The most striking thing about it is that you are very often sent to the back of the queue.”
Beck noted the lengthy waiting times for care under Britain’s socialist National Health Service (NHS). These figures were provided by the BBC on May 27, 2009:
*cataract surgery – 8 months
*hip replacement – 11 months
*knee replacement – 12 months
*slipped disc – 5 months
*hernia repair – 5 months
Although to be fair, Hannan said, the NHS provides “not so bad” care with children but “the worst thing to be is elderly under a system like ours.” Said Hannan:
I could tell you horror stories about elderly people left starving in wards, and the amazing thing is, why do we put up with it? The reason we put up with it for so long is because it has become such a huge system. It’s got such an enormous bureaucracy based around it. We have 1.4 million people employed by the National Health Service.
The NHSÂ is the third largest employer on the planet after the Red Army in Communist China and the Indian national railways. “Most of those 1.4 million people are administrators,” Hannan said.
And the existence of that huge electoral bloc makes it impossible to get rid of the system, Hannan said.
If Americans bring in universal healthcare, they should disabuse themselves of the notion that they can somehow come back and change the system a few years from now, Hannan said.
Facing the camera, Beck said, “America, you cannot let this thing pass. You cannot let any of this structure in…now you understand why this is going to change the face of America and it’ll do it forever.”
Hannan also spoke in Washington, D.C. last week. The title of his speech at the Heritage Foundation was “Putting the Government in Charge: Why America Should Avoid Europe’s Mistakes.”
As a practicing physician who completed an MBA in’04 with a course in comparative medicine taken in France/England, I concur with Mr. Hannan and am very fearful and scared of the proposed health plan. It must not pass.
For about a hundred years, America has been a nation of accumulating medical controls. Each new regulation was passed with the same justification made for the previous one: This measure will sufficiently correct the failings of the free market and thus save the free-market system. And the result? Today’s “crisis in health care” — as the welfare statists themselves call this iatrogenic disease. The more band-aids are applied, the more wounds appear! And with nothing but band-aids in their bags, these “liberals” (often the same aging advocates of past regulation) can now prescribe only covering the patient head to toe — i.e., the final move to the outright socialization of all medicine. What this says about the microcosm of medicine is obvious; what it means for our mixed economy is ominous.
FROM HERE
IT DOES NOT MATTER HOW GOOD THE BILL MIGHT LOOK. THE FACT IS THAT NOWHERE IN OUR CONSTITUTION IS THERE ALLOWANCE FOR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WELFARE. APPROXIMATELY 90% OF THE GOVERNMENT IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
Daniel Hannan should really know better. The NHS has many weaknesses and bad points, but these are largely down to the politicians, including his own Conservative Party. His comments were not accurate. Regarding emergencies, children, routine medical needs the NHS works very well. Regarding things like cancer and treatment of the elderly the NHS is a disgrace. But like too many administrators and other problems, these are political choices by politicians for which the public will not hold them accountable. Frankly, in some ways the NHS is superior to what purports to be medicine in America. A truly honest debate on the issue would look at both the strengths and weaknesses of the NHS. Put it this way, if your child has an accident or needs surgery, it will happen and as soon as they can fit it in and no one will ask you for money or tailor the treatment according to how much you can pay.
To Whom it May Concern,
Advice from the well meaning, experienced British deserves consideration in reference to a national health care plan!
People that are in favor of government health care should
be advised of the problems occuring in the UK and also in
Canada involved in their health programs. Personal health
care and governmental controls in such maters have been a
major in those countries. We have had enough to address on
health care from insurance companies and drug companies more aggrevation is not acceptable.