Posted on 10/15/2007 7:06:37 AM PDT by RKV
Falling numbers of NHS dentists are forcing many patients to go without treatment or even try pulling out their own teeth, a study has revealed.
Almost a fifth (19%) of those questioned said they had missed out on dental work because of the cost. The research found 6% had even resorted to treating themselves because they could not find a dentist. The 5,000-plus patients who were interviewed also spoke of taking out their own teeth or fixing broken crowns with glue. One person in Lancashire said he had carried out 14 separate extractions with a pair of pliers.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.sky.com ...
This news really bites.
*groan*
This post is gonna get some GREAT pix!
Lazy journalism at its best. Americans can't speak other languages and neither can their reporters, so they only report on the world's 2 worst systems which just so happen to be the UK and Canada.
Germany, France, Japan all have far superior systems which require no waiting, cost less and provide choice to patients in the same manner as the over-expensive bloated American system. All that, plus better results in terms of life expectancy and for a minimum 3% less of GDP (that's Germany).
The one major element that is different and would require that Pubbies compromise with RATS to actually benefit the country is tort reform. None of these countries with superior systems allow patients to sue doctors for ridiculous sums for what are generally acts of God.
Freepers are keen on not being fooled by the media, but the media only reports what happens in English-speaking universal health-care systems.
Want to talk about the pinnacle of medicine in the US as the reason for calling it the best system - bull. The US research is the best because it universities are the best and the R&D money won't dry up because of it. Universal health care won't change that at all.
I don't know enough about Hillarycare2.0 to really comment, but I do know the German system is superior and it may not be the best one out there.
I agree with your assessment.
Socialized medicine is groovy man!
I knew a guy that pulled his own teeth in the Dentist’s chair while waiting for the dentist to come in............
The UK has dentists?
Actually I am an American who speaks two languages other than English and I have experience with the French healthcare system and follow the new in France in French. So...your remember when multiple thousands of aged French citizens died in a heatwave in Europe in 2003? In the French case it was due to lack of air conditioning in their health care facilities. Rarely or never see this in the US do you? As for paying less as a % of GDP, you get what you pay for. And yes, there is waiting in the German and French systems. At least that’s what my French friends tell me. Nice, but failed, attempt to defend socialism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_European_heat_wave
YOU ONLY NEED TO FLOSS THE TEETH YOU WANT TO KEEP.
It may be a weeeeeee bit too late for the owner of the teeth in that picture.
Actually, the Republicans have pushed hard for tort reform but have always been blocked by the Democrats.
I know. I believe that this is my point . America’s health care system does not function anywhere close to optimally - to the contrary it is the world’s most expensive, least effective system.
In order for it to be fixed and not create a disaster, both sides have to compromise and hurt their special interests. Both gain, both lose, but the country i.e. American citizens can actually benefit from better care at a lower cost - see my tag line.
On the left, it is the trial lawyers like John Edwards. On the right it will be Big Pharma and HMOs - whose profits will be mildly disturbed.
But, what is going to happen is that the left is going to shove this down America’s throat without water (tort reform) and the country is going to choke.
You live in California right? Do you have snow tires? Assuming you don't live in the North, I will assume the answer is no. Why not? Oh, it doesn't snow there.
If you lived in France, you would know that it rarely, if ever, gets hot enough in Paris to justify turning on the air conditioning leave along the capital expenditure for purchasing the equipment and installing it in centuries old buildings.
Your argument is so naive and weak as to be laughable.
The funny thing, is that you commented on air conditioning and not the actual state of care. Either you are a fully fooled fool, or you work for an HMO.
PS
If one of the other languages you speak is French, I wouldn’t brag about it here.
Speaking French is liking speaking Latin. An interesting thing to have learned, but otherwise useless.
Remarkably, the UK still achieves longer life expectancy and universal coverage for lower cost.
Your teeth are not neither necessary for survivial, nor is dental coverage exactly universal in the US.
Don’t you think if I went to places like West Virginia, I could find similar stories? (Sorry to those of you from WV - just playing on a stereotype)
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