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FIRM Debates Universal Healthcare on Opposing Views


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 Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Government "Guaranteed" Care -- Unless It's Too Expensive
By Paul Hsieh, MD @ 12:05 AM PermaLink

Supporters of "universal health care" like to argue that under a government-run system, health care will be "guaranteed".

Unfortunately, the facts of reality show the exact opposite. Recently, the British government has ruled that its National Health Service should deny medical care if the cost is too high:

Patients 'should not expect NHS to save their life if it costs too much'

The NHS should not always attempt to save someone's life if the cost is too much, the medical regulator has ruled...

[T]he regulator says: "There is a powerful human impulse, known as the 'rule of rescue', to attempt to help an identifiable person whose life is in danger, no matter how much it costs. When there are limited resources for healthcare, applying the 'rule of rescue' may mean that other people will not be able to have the care or treatment they need...
This is of course, classic rationing.

In reality, government "guaranteed" health care means that health care is dispensed at the government's discretion, rather than on the basis of what a patient and his physician decide is best.

Do we really want that kind of system for America?

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