Now, I am not writing this because I am telling a sob story so if it comes across as one, I apologise. This is about politics for me, and economics. There seem to be a lot of people in the USA who have been clammering for so-called 'universal healthcare' or 'free healthcare' (nothing is free) but I don't think they would be doing that if they actually had experienced so-called universal healthcare.
I've lived in the UK for a while and a while back (about 6 months ago) I noticed a lump on the right side of my throat. I went to the doctor and she told me it was just a swollen lymph node and nothing to worry about even though it did not fit the pattern either in size or consistency (rock hard) and she said to wait a couple of weeks to see what happens. I said, uhm, are you sure about that? So I followed her advice and I waited but the lump was still there so I went back and asked about it again. She agreed that it seemed abnormal and set me up for an ultrasound appointment and here is where it gets insane; I waited over 4 months just to have ultrasound imaging done and recently I finally got it done and it turns out I have what is called a pleaomorphic adenoma (salivary gland tumour). Now I need to urgently get a biopsy and I have been waiting weeks. A biopsy is necessary because without it they cannot tell conclusively whether it is benign or malignant and here I am waiting. The lesson to be learnt here is that "universal healthcare" is another way of saying inefficient healthcare, in fact the technician who did the ultrasound (herself South African) said it would take forever to get a biopsy. I recently got a new job offer at a translation company in Germany and was ready to move but now I might head back to the US and pay up front because I could get the biopsy and the removal surgery immediately.
This is living proof to me that 'universal healthcare' is a sham and even more proof that a market driven health care system can deliver services far more efficiently than government controlled healthcare and that the American system is much better because of this (though it really isn't true free market). If the government and insurance companies in bed with the government were completely out of it things would run even more smoothly. Take certain types of eye surgery, where over the last decade market competition has driven down prices so it is very affordable now compared to 15 years ago. If the government got its hands out of medicine and health and insurance did not cover everything, we would see a similar effect in all medical areas.
People only think they want universal healthcare without experiencing it. Once you experience its ponderous slowness and inefficiency they won't want it. I could have nipped this tumour in the bud months ago if there had been a pay up fron market driven system. Healthcare like anything else is a service and because of this the market is best at delivering it. What everyone needs is competitive market driven medicine to drive down prices, all the while increasing efficiency. No government healthcare programme can compete with that.
In conclusion, to those who yearn for 'free healthcare', be careful what you wish for!
