Nurse Practitioner Schools

Top 10 Myths about Socialized Medicine

The debate on healthcare reform has been a heated topic in Congress. We are being bombarded by politicians, the media, and anyone else who feels like giving their opinion, with contradictory facts and statistics. One side of this argument claims that American healthcare is far greater than any government-run system, while others preach that our healthcare is the World’s best. Here are look at some of the common myths Americans routinely tell each other about socialized medicine.

For

Here are some of the common myths from defenders of socialized medicine.

1. Healthcare costs will be reduced. The U.S. does spend more as a percentage of GDP on health care than in many countries with socialized medicine. The only thing is they bring down the individual patient’s out-of-pocket costs. The actual costs themselves are not reduced because additional money is collected in the form of taxes and insurance premiums.

2. Quality of care will increase. Advocates of a more government controlled health care systems say that socialized medicine abroad will result in higher quality of care and more access to new technologies. The U.S. actually compares very well with 11 other industrialized countries in the numbers of MRI and CT scans performed per one million people. We are also number one when surviving diseases such as heart disease, AIDS, and cancer. Approximately sixty percent of Americans diagnosed with cancer survive for at least five years. Countries with state-run national health care like Great Britain and Spain are much lower.

3. Equal accessibility to patients. It is true that healthcare is not easily accessible to all Americans but this is also true of such countries like Great Britain and Canada. In some instances, there were spending differences of 10 to 1 in services provided in one area compared to another. Racial and ethnic minorities may be underserved her in the U.S. but we are far from being the only ones. In Australia, the Aborigines are the underserved, in Canada, the minorities are the Cree and the Inuits, and in New Zealand, they are the Maoris.

4. 45.7 Americans do not have insurance. The U.S. Census Bureau provided this statistic at the end of 2008. However, this is more of a generalized number for the overall population. This statistic does not tell us the number of people that have been chronically uninsured for the year. Many people are in between jobs and are only temporarily uninsured. Other people have incomes high enough to purchase health insurance but choose to spend it on other things. Over 60 percent of Americans without insurance are under 35 years of age.

5. The mortality rate in the U.S is greater than those countries with government run healthcare. Criteria, such as life expectancy, are not taken into consideration. Factors resulting from behavior like violent crime, tobacco use, and obesity are individual choices and should not influence the functioning of the health care system.

Against

For those who claim socialized medicine will ruin our healthcare system, here are a few myths also.

6. Doctors will be hurt financially. Doctor’s in most countries with socialized medicine do make less than the one’s her in the U.S. but there are some benefits also. The average American doctor has student loans in excess of 140k. The others have less than half of that. Most of them pay lower malpractice insurance fees, have lower overhead, and better working conditions.

7. You will not be able to choose your physician. This is just untrue. You can definitely pick your own doctors and since the pay is equal, the poor have the exact same access to top specialists as the wealthy would.

8. Waiting times will be endless. If you really think about it, we have all been in a tizzy over having to wait hours at the doctor’s office or emergency room. I myself have had to wait 12 weeks to get into to see a specialist. Most countries that do have socialized medicine have federal guidelines to insure uniform care but each county/province run their own unique programs which can make wait times differ.

9. Socialized medicine will only cover the basics. There is some truth to this but not as big a deal as you might think. The “basics” covers all doctor’s fees, tests, ambulance fares, and everything that happens in a hospital. It does not include things like medical equipment, prescriptions, physical therapy or chiropractic care, dental and vision. These things can add up but drugs aren’t nearly as expensive and you can deduct any out-of-pocket health expenses you do have to pay off your income taxes.

10. Our healthcare system is in bad financial shape and we can’t afford the taxes. Most countries with socialized medicine’s taxes do run about 10% higher than the U.S. but their citizens are also not having to pay the amount of two mortgages to keep their families insured. When you balance out the differences, who is really ahead?

In the end, there are pros and cons to both systems. The purpose of this article is not to advocate one side from another, but to better inform you of the similarities and differences of socialized medicine first-hand.