Where VA has taken veterans, Obamacare is leading all Americans: Kevin O’Brien | cleveland.com.
Another conclusion is probably just dawning on those Americans with the wit to see it, because so very few of us have had a brush with a medical system of which government is the sole proprietor: Putting a government bureaucracy in charge of one’s health is a gamble likely to end badly.
And yet, if Obamacare stands, that is precisely the gamble each and every American eventually will take.
There is no better predictor of the course of a single-payer medical system in the United States than the VA system, because it is a single-payer system. (emphasis added)
If an enrolled patient needs something done, he or she applies to the government-run system for approval; waits until the government-run system is ready to act; accepts the government-run system’s solution or, if dissatisfied, appeals to that same government-run system for relief. Because the bureaucracy pays the bill, the bureaucracy makes the decisions — when or if treatment will be given, and whether or not the patient has been well enough served.
For some icing on the cake, read the prior post: Is Medicaid really such a good thing? which is another window into single payer.
Across the pond, you don’t want to have Asthma and be a participant in the UK NHS single payer system. RCP: More staff and training need to reduce asthma deaths.
