Alright, so last week I had an interesting experience. First, a little background. In Greece they have universal health care. Hooray for the practice of enlightened ideals! Obviously this means that there are public and private hospitals and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out which is nicer of the two. Since Obama leads a health care reform in the US and the public cry for universal healthcare has grown louder in the past few years, this experience gave me a small taste of what to expect.
*Disclaimer* I understand that a trip to a Greek public hospital and American public hospital (in the event of universal health care) are significantly different due to technological differences with the equipment, but the jist of the situations would be similar enough to warrant a comparison.
Upon arriving at the hospital, our study abroad advisor asked us for 10 Euros each so he could go pay at the front desk. He waited in line for 45 minutes simply to pay basically a cover charge so that we could enter in the hospital. As he led us to the room to get tested for TB, the scene there could be described as hectic. Significantly more people wandering around the hallways and seemingly fewer doctors present than my experience in the US. We waited another half an hour and then we were shown to our room. Three minutes for the three of us to get a TB shot and then we were led to get an X-ray of our chests. The hallway outside the X-ray rooms were PACKED. Many people were wearing makeshift casts and there were a few pretty gruesome looking breaks. Did I enter a time machine and land back in a WWI hospital? Every time a door opened and a doctor emerged, he was swarmed by a group of people trying to get in next, despite the fact that the doctors had a list of names for the order. Another half an hour passed by and we get our thirty second X-ray. We exited the hospital a different way than we entered and still more and more people walked around the hallways. The doctor to patient ratio must have been exponentially higher than it should've been. Roughly two hours or so later, and we were on our way out.
This was not exactly a bastion of efficiency. And it made me wonder: if we had universal health care in the US, would we expect a similar result? How much of it is the country, the technology, the day we went, the setup of health care? One must incorporate an endless number of variables into the argument for or against universal health care. Just a little food for thought considering how relevant this actually is to Americans.
And hey, if you enjoy reading my thoughts even a little bit, subscribe to my blog! Show your friends, your family, your pets! The more the merrier!
peter please dont insult universal healthcare! in any capacity! the last thing the ignorant people who are pro-private care need is more fuel for their campaign. i feel like if this story was told from the point of view of a father barely above the poverty line, it would be a much more appreciative and awe-struck portrayal of a public hostpical. for what may be important to you about your healthcare, such as a short wait or a lot of doctors, i argue is a result of you never being denied it your whole life. for someone who, for example, can't afford to get x-rays on his son's broken leg, the important (and life-changing) thing would be that he can get healthcare at all.
ReplyDeletehope that made sense. for the love of god, please support enlightened ideals...by lying if necessary.
Sarah: not sure papering over universal health care's flaws is the best way to win over those who are skeptical about it...refusing to acknowledge that implementing any new idea requires trade-offs does far more to undermine one's position than it does to support it.
ReplyDeleteI'm not advocating for or against universal health care at any point in my post. At no point do I refer to it as a practice that should not be implemented in America, nor am I leading the charge of enlightened ideals against "the ignorant people who are pro-private care." I'm giving an account of my experience at the hospital and some of the things that I found interesting about it. What was said in the post is EXACTLY what occurred when I went to the Greek public hospital. And, also, I'm not sure ad hominem attacks towards people who disagree with you are the best way to support your point.
ReplyDelete