The Nordic countries are actually a great example of socialized medicine. Norway actually develops some cancer treatments. But those are not actually used to treat patients here because of the expense. The rationing of health services mean that cancer death rates are higher than in the US. One generally has to wait weeks for a doctor’s appointment and if one needs to see a specialist after that it will take another few weeks. Then if you need to be examined in an MRI or something it will take another couple of weeks. If a tumor is found you need to wait in line for treatment and so on.
When funding is provided through the government hospitals and doctors seek to keep the buraucracy happy rather than the patients. Rationing is the inevitable result. In addition treatment for any condition is decided by a cost/benefit analysis. If you’re old it will reduce your chance of getting treatment. If you’re dying the bureaucracy will not care to pay to extend your life for a year. Palin’s death panel statement is actually pretty accurate except it is all decided by a faceless paper-pushing bureaucracy.
Another factor I never see mentioned is how the cost-cutting bureaucracy substitutes one medication for another. If your doctor writes you a prescription for a medicine, the local pharmacy will generally hand out an entirely different medicine that the paper-pushers deem to be equal to what the doctor ordered. The genuine article is only handed out if it turns out you have a bad reaction to the replacement drug. Of course, if you have a truly bad reaction it may well be too late for that...
And their taxes? Over 50%
You are so wrong. When the doctor thought I had cancer, I had an MRI the following day. I saw him the same day I called. I don’t know where you get your information.
Sorry, I re-read your post. You are right about Norway.