Monday, September 3, 2007

Great idea, Silky!

I keep thinking of more and more reasons why John Edwards' plan for mandatory doctor visits--when nothing is wrong--is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard, but I think I only need one succinct point...

Out-patients in Britain wait between 4 and 13 weeks to see a "consultant." In-patients wait longer; almost 25% wait more than 26 weeks. And these are people with an actual problem they would like fixed, if the government will allow it! After the initial appointment, expect to wait a year for knee or shoulder surgery, 15-18 months for a new hearing aid, EIGHT MONTHS FOR CHEMOTHERAPY, twelve months for a referral to a urologist, three weeks to have a complex fracture surgically set...ok, I have to stop with the Google now.

I think I've made my point.

Now, imagine how long your wait for that first appointment is going to be when you have to wait in line behind the hundreds of thousands of perfectly healthy people in your area...

*shudder*

I'm sure there's a big tax increase to build new mega-clinics and hire foreign nationals to staff them (which just introduces new problems), and I'm also sure it won't be enough.


OK, two points. The "mandatory mental illness screening"--aren't totalitarians (Hitler, Stalin, etc) famous for having dissidents declared insane and incarcerated somewhere? Well, the ones they don't shoot...

Why, yes.

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