Public Option: Great Britain's Warning to America

The American Thinker ^ | December 03, 2009 | Linda Halderman, MD

[Scanian]

Perhaps the most publicized, least understood aspect of the over 2,000 page, $850 billion health care reform bill being debated now in the U.S. Senate is the "public option."

Former Governor Howard Dean asserted last week at Yale University that without the public option, "this bill is worthless and should be defeated." Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is pushing for a Senate vote by Christmas.

In arguing the merits and failings of a nationalized, government-sponsored health coverage program, there is an example of such a system Americans may wish to examine.

[Winniesboy]

Without the devolved system, those in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland willing to pay for faster care (such as cataract and hip replacement surgery as allowed in England using "Independent Sector Treatment Centres") are prevented from doing so by law.

Whatever the merits of the rest of the article, that sentence is nonsense. Throughout the 60-year history of the NHS, anybody throughout the UK has been free to purchase alternative private healthcare if they so chose and could afford it. There has never been any legal inhibition from doing so. Private health insurance and healthcare in Britain is flourishing.

[RoadTest]

“As many as 100,000 operations are canceled annually by the NHS due to shortages of facilities, doctors and resources.”

That’s enough fpr me to hear to reject the whole idea of government health insurance.