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Originally Posted by ah802
. A government run system allows for centralization of certain categories (cancer, aids or mental) and brings economies of scale, along with more productive uses of specialized equipment and manpower.
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Specialized equipment? Sorry, but countries with socialized medicine do NOT have more specialized equipment. The competition in the US is what keeps our medical equipment cutting edge. In fact I have been doing a lot of reading about the european countries with socialized medicine. One of the problems, especially in the UK, is that the government doesn't update the equipment as often as they should. Often times, patients get diagnostic tests on outdated imaging machines. Also, if you look at those countries, two groupings of patients get the shaft. Cancer patients and heart patients. I apologize for not providing links, but I read stats on probably 40 different sites. When a woman gets breast cancer in the US, there is a 25% mortality rate. In the UK gets breast cancer, there is a 48% mortality rate. That is about double the death rate in the UK. The same goes with heart disease. In the UK mortality from heart attacks is 35% higher. You know why? They do far less angiograms to screen for coronary artery disease. Thats great you say, they saved a lot of money by doing less procedures right? Well sure, at the expense of many lives. Bottom line, they don't screen half as well, because the GOVERNMENT decides if you get a certain test or not. Moore talks about CEO's of health agencies here deciding people's fate. Well folks how would you like to put your life in the hands of the buracratic US government. One more point. My friends grandfather went to see Sicko. He is an immigrant from Cuba. He said it was laughable to see how they portrayed Cuban hospitals. He said the hospital the showed in Cuba was one for the government aristocrats and normal hospitals are a disgrace where patients get pathetic care. So go ahead, believe Mr. Hollywood Michael Moore and put your life in the hands of the US government.