April 29, 2004

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A British Cockle Cognoscente Corrects VDARE.COM

From: Richard Power

If you have been to the emergency room lately, you know what I mean when I say that the cost of getting even the simplest procedure done in the Emergency Room is nothing short of outrageous.

Why is this you ask? Corporate Hospital greed? High priced egotistical Doctors? Drug companies?

Well.... Maybe to some degree these factors apply, but let's look for a few moments at the real cause of our health care woes. The real cause is Liberalism! Did you know that if you own a hospital, you operate the only business that is required by law to provide services regardless of the "customers'" ability or willingness to pay you. But don't you dare say anything about the patient that is addicted to cigarettes, alcohol, every street drug there is, and having sex with anybody, anything, and everything available. If you do, you just might be infringing on one of their "rights." This so-called "right to medical care" is a liberal notion, along with all the rest of their something-for-nothing notions.

Now let's see how this affects you being cared for at your local hospital.

Mary Juana Gonzalez just arrived illegally from Tecate, Mexico two days ago. She shows up in your ER complaining of pain, she doesn't speak any English but you just happen to have staff members that have been browbeaten into taking Spanish. They examine Ms. Gonzalez only to confirm the obvious, she is pregnant and in the process of delivering right now. (A strange coincidence that occurs over and over again.) Since she has no money and no way of paying you (the hospital), in jumps the State with their generous welfare laws (enacted by the liberals). Suddenly Ms. Gonzalez has medical coverage.

But wait... Pause for a moment and consider who is providing the money for this coverage, the liberal perspective assumes that it arrives out of thin air. As a hospital manager, you see the reality of the situation, because you know the state's welfare office sends you only a very small fraction of what it costs you to provide for her care and the care of her baby.

Remember! This service is required by law. And what if the delivery should be a problem one, that is to say the baby that would have died under Mexico's medical system, is suddenly able to survive because of the million dollars spent (by the hospital) on providing the month long intensive care for the child.

Now, this scenario is repeated by the millions in various forms, i.e. differing medical conditions, but with the same outlook. Which is to say, no one is taking responsibility for the cost of the medical care. So most of the burden is laid upon the hospital. As the owner of the hospital you do the only thing you can do: raise the rates for those who have the money to pay their own way. This means the insurance companies and the private-pay "customers." Well, the insurance companies have figured this out, and they are digging in their heels by following the government's example of only paying a fraction of what the care costs. (Keep in mind that we are talking about legitimate patients that have been paying their way.)

Well guess what.... up goes their co-pay, up goes their insurance costs, up goes the taxes, and deeper and deeper gets the crap that liberal politicians keep handing out. Hospitals are going under by the hundreds because they can't meet their financial obligations.

The liberals have a solution for that too: "If we had socialized medicine like Canada everything would be peachy." No! If there were a year round hunting season on liberals everything would be peachy! Canada has senior citizen discounts for "Canadians." They also have tight border controls, this should tell us something.

An additional affect that is frequently overlooked is the pressure put on hospital staff. The hospital budget is so tight that administrations squeeze every ounce of energy, both body and mind, from their employees, especially the nurses. This pressure is the prime reason there is a national nursing shortage (in case you hadn't noticed). As if that wasn't bad enough there are millions of liberal lawyers waiting like vultures to pounce on anything that has to do with the medical field. They know it is a lucrative venture to enter into a malpractice suit and they do so with no equivocation. This puts hospitals on guard, dotting all the "I's and T's" so that they don't get hammered in some liberal courtroom.

This necessitates literally hours of time spent each shift, by each nurse, on paperwork. Couldn't this time be better spent on caring for the patients? Sadly, as any reasonable person would expect the demand to be doing multiple tasks at the same time is breeding ground for mistakes. Drum roll please… enters the government with more regulations and more paper work. All this sends the malpractice insurance even higher and as a result….up goes the co-pay, up goes the insurance costs, up goes the taxes.

As it stands now, far too many ignorant people are running their mouth about the excesses of the medical system, when they have absolutely no understanding that it is their own ignorance that has allowed this to occur in the first place.

Capitalism is in a fight for its existence against the inroads of communism once again. But this time the enemy has concealed itself well.

Richard Power says he has worked in the medical field for 26 years, in both urban and rural areas.