The BBC have Santorum saying that the NHS devastated the U.K.
Has he expanded on that anywhere?
Simple maths will tell you that the NHS costs about £1500 / $2250 per person per year, which is vastly less than Americans pay.
Here are a couple of threads in which I ask a similar question, and did get at least some replies. They may be constructive, at least as a starting point.
Well in 1946, the UK Parliament passed the NHS Act. In 1947, India became independent. The empire was lost right then.
Quite right, too, Gandhi would never have accepted socialized medicine!
Don’t worry, well just slip the pills into his . . . food . . . this ain’t gonna work.
Think of all the profit that could have otherwise been made…
Well he is a politician and so apt to spout balls in general. Plus he is ideologically hard-wired to oppose it regardless of the true benefits. I suspect he is not open to rational discussion on this.
The NHS is a hugely costly organisation but one that is seen by the UK population as worth it. And as you have pointed out it is cheaper per person than the USA system (which doesn’t cover anywhere near the same proportion of the population, nor with the same “free at the point of use” ethos).
To be completely fair (and I’m not even sure I want to be fair to Santorum, but let’s just play along), he was talking about the social programs in the UK in total. He was subsequently asked by a reporter to name one, which was sort of a trick question (remember, folks, we’re being fair here) since Santorum specifically mention programs, and he was talking about the net affect of all of them. It’s easy for someone to be hit on the spot like that and not realize that the answer he should have give was: It’s not just one program, but all of them taken together. Moral of the story: don’t let the reporters frame the question and make you say something stupid because your natural tendency is to defend your position.
Also, he said something about Thatcher claiming that the NHS prevented her from getting done what she really wanted to get done. There’s probably some hook there to something she actually said, but it might have been about all the social programs taken together.
I love the Dope!
Here’s the question I’ve had for years. If public health care systems are so terrible, why have no countries that have public health care systems ever switched back to a private health care system?
Well, Santorum has a hard time proving his point, because he doesn’t have the facts. This is a man who insists there are no Palestinians and seems to think that states will outlaw birth control in the coming era. I understand living in a fantasy world, but let’s not pretend he’s doing other than that.
I don’t think I’m feeling like being that fair. The same question should be answerable in an American context:
“If government is way too big, which programs will you, as a politician, eliminate?”
We all saw what happened when Rick Perry tried to answer that.
If Santorum is prepared to answer Perry’s “gotcha ya” question with real policy statements rather than handwaving about general government expenses, then I would indeed cut him a little slack for not being able to do the same with the UK at a moment’s notice.
I just watched two debates in as many days, and Santorum is no idiot, like Perry. He’ll be able to rattle off any number of programs he thinks should be eliminated or cut back significantly.
Politicians always think the country is going to ruin if we don’t follow their path. The Republicans, though, like their Europe-bashing, and this was just another example. It plays well with a large segment of the public.
It’s my understanding that the Netherlands has moved from a system of publicly provided insurance to a system of private insurers and an individual mandate to provide universal coverage. I don’t really know much about the details.
No, they say that. It’s a commonplace in politics to overstate one’s case. How else to fire-up the base?
Wikipedia has a pretty good synopsis. It seems like they moved more towards an Obamacare-like model from a previous model that was less “liberal” (for lack of a better term) rather than becoming more “conservative”.
People like Santorum also believe in creationism and think climate change is a myth. They believe things that aren’t true.
I’m not sure how true it is, but I’ve heard several wealthy countries use the US and our health care system as a fear tactic. “If you elect politician XYZ, he will destroy our health care system and create a system similar to what the Americans have”. Not that I blame them. Wendell Potter was a HR rep in charge of bashing Michael Moore after SiCKO came out, but changed his mind when he saw a non-for profit ad hoc health care fair being set up in Virginia where people were (I think) getting teeth pulled in animal stables, etc. He said it reminded him of a 3rd world country.
FWIW, people in the US don’t want to destroy our public health care systems either. The Tea party roared to power in part because they were protesting cuts to medicare.