Annals of Government Medicine
December 21, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Under socialized medicine, costs can’t be controlled through competition, so they are controlled by simply denying people care. This is why in the U.K., people will tell you the National Health Service is relatively inexpensive, but no one will tell you it is good. The London Times reports on an investigation that finds a shocking absence of primary care physicians: A national shortage of GPs has left some surgeries with
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December 7, 2019 — John Hinderaker
The London Times headlines: “Cancer patients face record wait.” Cancer patients are being forced to endure the worst waiting times since records began, official figures reveal. *** In total, 168,390 patients were not seen or treated within the specified times. The figure is up 24% on the same period in 2018-19. Staff shortages, lack of equipment and beds filled by patients needing social care were to blame. *** In September,
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April 7, 2019 — John Hinderaker
The Rolling Stones are still touring after all these years. But a week ago, they announced a postponement of their upcoming North American concert series because of a heart condition suffered by Mick Jagger. Then, only days later, it was announced that Jagger had undergone a successful transcatheter aortic valve replacement procedure. Jagger tweeted his thanks to hospital personnel: Thank you everyone for all your messages of support, I’m feeling
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September 6, 2017 — John Hinderaker
From the BBC, an account of 21st Century British dentistry: “We couldn’t see an NHS dentist so we pulled out our own teeth.” The NHS carried out 39 million dental treatments in England last year, but Rebecca Brearey and Nick Oldroyd, who live in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, said no local NHS dentists would treat them. “We’ve been trying for four years but no dentist will take us on. Every time
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August 28, 2016 — John Hinderaker
At the Telegraph, Simon Heffer reviews the condition of Britain’s National Health Service after 68 years and finds: “The NHS will simply collapse unless politicians have the courage to reform it.” According to Government figures, the £437 million spent in the first year of the NHS’s existence in 1948-49 is equivalent to £15 billion today. Yet the UK total spent on the NHS is now £116.4 billion, £101.3 billion of which is spent
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December 12, 2014 — Steven Hayward
I think “Grubered” should enter the modern political vocabulary along side “Borked.” If “Borked” has come to mean “obstruct (someone, especially a candidate for public office) through systematic defamation or vilification,” then “Grubered” will mean “systematic defamation or vilification of oneself through one’s own words.” Over on TownHall Katie Pavlich has rounded several more videos where Gruber contradicts what he told the House committee earlier this week, namely, his disclaiming
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August 22, 2014 — Steven Hayward
Liberals who defend Obamacare used to point to the VA as an example of how the government could provide universal health coverage just dandy. Well, that talking point has rather disappeared down an Orwellian memory hole. Another favorite talking point was that the government’s low administrative costs for Medicare proved that private insurance, with their higher overhead, were inefficient profiteering price gougers, etc. That was one reason for Obamacare’s mandate
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May 29, 2014 — John Hinderaker
A point that we and other conservatives have made repeatedly about the VA scandal is that no one should have been surprised. The problem with the VA isn’t the person appointed to head the organization, and it can’t be solved by a few tweaks to the statute. The fundamental problem with the VA is that it is government medicine. When health care is uncoupled from the competitive market, what happens?
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May 21, 2014 — Steven Hayward
Really, who could have seen this coming? From today’s Wall Street Journal: ER Visits Rise Despite Health Law Health Act Isn’t Cutting Emergency Volume So Far; Government Says It’s Too Early to Draw Conclusions The only thing wrong with the main headline is its accuracy; it should of course read “ER Visits Rise Because of Health Law.” Anyway: Early evidence suggests that emergency rooms have become busier since the Affordable
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February 12, 2014 — Steven Hayward
Thought experiment: What would the media and the Left (but I repeat. . .) be saying if President Romney was rewriting Obamacare on his own executive authority, delaying the business mandate, etc.? My guess is they’d be screaming for Romney’s impeachment. Turns out National Review‘s Charles Cooke was way ahead of me—well, at least a day ahead of me—with this same inquiry. Only he fleshes it out in more detail:
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February 3, 2014 — Steven Hayward
John wrote here a few weeks ago about the fiasco of Oregon’s state-designed Obamacare exchange, and especially how his old college classmate, the current governor John Kitzhaber, walked out of a TV interview when pressed on the issue. Maybe he walked out to avoid having to admit that the whole situation is worse than had been disclosed–that Oregon may in fact face federal fraud charges. That’s the allegation reported today
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January 21, 2014 — Steven Hayward
Another update: my story last week about how the federal government funds penis pumps for elderly gentlemen brought this wonderful note: I teach high school government, and every single year during my unit on bureaucracy and health care policy I have my students use the following prompt as an in class discussion starter: “According to data collected by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Medicare has spent more
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January 14, 2014 — John Hinderaker
If you want your health care to be run like the post office, government medicine is for you. Otherwise, not so much. From the U.K., another in a long series of sad stories about government malfeasance, arising out of an inquest into the death of a four-year-old boy: A four-year-old boy who died on a “shambolic” hospital ward was so neglected that he resorted to sucking moisture out of wet
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January 5, 2014 — Steven Hayward
At some point this is going to stop being news (like the latest alarmist global warming study): California extends payment deadline for Obamacare policies to Jan. 15 Amid deepening consumer frustration, California’s health exchange extended the payment deadline to Jan. 15 for insurance coverage starting Jan. 1 under the federal healthcare law. The state’s move late Saturday comes as many enrollees continue to report problems getting an invoice from their
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January 3, 2014 — Steven Hayward
Turns out the genius designers of the Obamacare website forgot to include a protocol for updating your coverage to reflect basic life changes like, for example, having a baby. Maybe they figured after taking in Pajamaboy, no one would ever want to have kids again, or, equally likely given liberal ideology today, they think everyone will choose the contraception and abortion options from their menu. From the AP: WASHINGTON (AP)
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January 2, 2014 — Steven Hayward
Remember how Obamacare was supposed to result in fewer wasteful visits to emergency rooms? Yeah, yeah, I know: only a liberal wonk detached from reality—their natural habitat—could think that. Well guess what? Looks like it’s already failing. From the New York Times today: Access to Health Care May Increase ER Visits, Study Suggests Supporters of President Obama’s health care law had predicted that expanding insurance coverage for the poor would
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November 7, 2013 — Steven Hayward
So the “Navigator” geniuses running Obamacare have been referring people in New York to call . . . a cupcake shop: Thanks to ObamaCare, New Yorkers can now get health insurance with rainbow sprinkles. In yet another bungle for the botched government insurance rollout, the state Health Department has mistakenly listed numerous non-health-related business as enrollment sites — including a Brooklyn cupcake shop that has been besieged by callers. “I
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