In 2000, London’s Daily Telegraph chronicled some horrors of Britain’s government-run medical care. For example, a cancer patient named Mavis Skeet was supposed to have surgery in 1998 to save her life. But for various manpower and other reasons, the surgery was put off — five times.
Finally, as the cancer progressed, doctors discovered they could no longer hope to save her through surgery, and she died in 2000.
The British health care system needed reform, but what it got was lots more spending and bureaucracy.
In the 10 years since Mrs. Skeet’s death, “(T)he number of bureaucrats (in the British medical system) has grown six times faster than the number of nurses,” Reason magazine noted. And there are twice as many managers compared with 1997.
“The cash was spent, but by and large it didn’t increase the volume or quality of care,” Reason pointed out.
We wish that we in America could simply pity the British from afar. But with ObamaCare socialized medicine having been approved by Congress, we’re afraid our own nation is about to face the twin crises of poor medical care and exploding costs.