Healthcare

I was reading an American Blog the other day and the subject of Obamas free healthcare scheme came up. This was a medical site. The general concensus was something along the lines of, why should they give away their services for free? If they did so, then they wouldn't be appreciated etc. Funny, I thought that the subject of worrying about payment before treating a person was covered in the hypocratic oath.

Apart from feeling that I was reading the posts of Victorian sergions who viewed that the poor were poor by choice, because they were lazy or lacked some spark that seperated them from the hard working middle classes, it got me thinking. America can not afford to build a national health system. The money to do so is currently floating around the Gulf ensuring that America has a viable foreign policy.

But what is a governments actual responsibility for it's people? Especially if that government represents the West? Also, what should our government do to ensure that a general level of healthcare is open to all. The privatisation of the medical system is not viable. Many Americans, even those who are earning enough money to have a comfortable life are under insured. Those who do not have medical insurance are treated in mercy hospitals. This may mean that they are not taken to the nearest hospital, but the nearest hospital that deals with the poor.

On the other side of the coin, there is a lot of waste and mismanagement in the NHS. A national provision is still viable. However, throwing money at the problem is not an answer, nor is bringing in more office workers. Unfortunately, the NHS has become like many other public services where it is staffed by many people who have attained rank through long service, or who are earning high wages through the same long service. This is not a bad thing. But when you have people promoted into a middle management area, but no line responsibility, then it gets a bit murky. Many people in the NHS, a recent study found, could not name their line manage. They did not know who they reported to.

So some trimming is in order. However, the purely private system is not viable without some form of provision for everybody. A happy ballance may be achieved, but finding that happy balance is going to prove tricky.

As for the Americans. They have great health provision, as long as it is covered by insurance. Everybody else is in trouble. It is an area that can be made fair and open, but only with direction from the government. There is an old army idea that there are no wrong decisions, as long as the officer in question makes a decision and acts on it. Obama has an idea of updating the US medical establishment. This may prove as difficult as updating the NHS. However, just like Peter the Great, he needs to drag the US medical establishment into the 21st C, kicking and screaming if necessary.

(Waits for backlash from US medical establishment)

Luck