• AUGUST 2007 FEATURE ARTICLES •
From the Editor
Hurry Up and Wait
By Mike McBride
I’m not a fan of large-scale government programs, especially when applied to healthcare. For my money, the best approach will always be allowing market forces to work their magic and give us the best system we can afford. Those advocating the use of federal power to control industries often reference socialist and communist systems as proof that adopting similar policies here would improve America. However, they close their eyes to the obvious failures of those systems
of government.
Cuban healthcare, for example, is in the news thanks to Michael Moore, whose indictment of U.S. healthcare is contentious and inflammatory. Under Castro, the island nation has made great strides in vaccines and biotechnology, and the World Health Organization gives Cuba’s single-payer healthcare system high marks in areas such as infant mortality. However, Cuba’s abortion rate is much higher than other Latin American countries, Western Europe and the U.S., which contributes to the low infant mortality rate. Cuba’s economy is rife with corruption as its citizens attempt to offset meager state wages by stealing state property, such as biotechnology, and selling it on the black market. Their economy also is largely dependent on imported Venezuelan oil, for which Cuba exports its doctors back to Venezuela. In fact, Cuba’s policy of exporting so many of its doctors throughout the world, in order to earn money back for the state, has increased wait times so dramatically it has caused a near collapse of their system. Additionally, the state denies doctors the right to take their children with them on these state imposed 3-year stints abroad. Is this the system America should emulate?
Canadian healthcare, also elevated by Moore over U.S. healthcare, has its own issues, not the least of which is long wait times to see a physician. Which brings me to my larger point—the primary reason neither of these systems would succeed in this country—Americans don’t like to wait.
Think about it. When was the last time you heard, “We have an opening in the fall,” when calling for an appointment in the spring? Four to six month wait times are not uncommon under those systems of healthcare. That’s an inconvenient truth worth bringing to the foreground in this discussion. What chance does a system like that truly have in a nation where “Gotta have it now” is a mantra, where folks become irate when their McBreakfast takes a few seconds longer than expected, or, where citizens can choose a doctor based on the driving distance to the office?
Not to mention the fact that the health insurance industry, one of the largest and most powerful in the nation employing thousands of citizens, simply wouldn’t exist under those healthcare systems.
Cuba’s medical achievements should not be minimized, however, they must be taken in context. When comparing all aspects of that nation’s economy to ours, it’s a no-brainer. Neither the Cuban, nor the Canadian, nor any other system of medicine in the world will work in America better than our own.
Can U.S. healthcare be improved? Of course it can. The AMA’s plan to leverage that which works well in America and extend coverage to all citizens through education and reform is a good start.
It will, however, take time, which is becoming increasingly less palatable to
many Americans.