The highly praised British NHS is going to become more competitive and allow doctors to make more decisions to cut out bureaucrats. Yet the US wants MORE government control? Maybe we
should actually look across the pond and figure out big government DOES NOT WORK!
British Prime Minister David Cameron says he plans to open up the National Health Service to competition.
Cameron's plans to shake up Britain’s universal health care system-- known as NHS -- will transfer much decision making authority to general practitioners, and thus bypassing administrators to cut out bureaucracy.
“We need modernization on both sides of the equation," he said in a major speech defending public sector reforms. "Modernization to do something about the demand for public health service, and modernization to make the supply of health care more efficient, which is about opening up the system, making it more competitive, cutting out waste and bureaucracy.”
According to Cameron, it’s not, in these times of austerity, that “we can’t afford to modernize. It’s that we can’t afford not to modernize.”
Skeptics are already accusing him of taking a “wrecking ball” to one of the finest institutions in the country. Some doctors, nurses and union leaders wrote a letter to the editor of the London Times. Among the concerns expressed, was that bringing in competition could mean bringing down quality, because, doctors would, presumably, go for the cheapest service options in order to save money.
Gail Cartmail, assistant general secretary of Unite, Britain's largest union doesn't agree with the reform.
“A great number of people are telling us that they think these untested, expensive health care reforms are very unwise and very, very risky,” said Cartmail.
But in another editorial in the Times of London, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said that is "a myth that our plans have come out of the blue."
"They are in fact a logical evolution of tried and tested policies initiated by governments of all parties over the past two decades,” he wrote.
The NHS has set a target of cutting $31 billion from its budget over the next few years.
Already, certain types of operations—hernia, hip replacement, and tonsils, to name a few -- are being downgraded to “elective” surgeries.
John Black, the president of the Royal College of Surgeons cautioned that saving comes with costs.
"By reducing elective surgery, you can immediately save money, but at the cost of pain, reduced quality of life, and deterioration of health.”
Cameron said the centerpiece of his government’s policy is upgrading and modernizing all public services to keep Britain competitive.
He points to where it is falling behind.
“In Shanghai, the average child is two years ahead of a child here. In Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Austria, or, interestingly, Poland, you are les likely to die once admitted into hospital after a heart attack than you are in the U.K.”
The government’s flagship health and social care bill will be published Wednesday.
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http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2011 ... z1BLaAEi8tBy the way, notice how simple procedures in the US such as hernia, hip replacement, and tonsils are now elective surgeries in the UK? That's what we WILL get in the US when they have to cut expenses.
