Here Is Your Public Option

A midwife in a Brit maternity ward writes about a typical day under Britain’s National Health System – the one that Americans continue to insist is fine, Winston, just fine.

Clutching her husband’s hand and with agony and exhaustion etched on her face, a young woman struggled into a room in the maternity unit where I worked.

She was in the early stages of labour with her first baby, she was terrified, in excruciating pain and desperate for any crumb of support.

Helpless beside her, her overnight bag in his hand, her poor husband looked equally traumatised.

My heart went out to them. But I knew there was little I could do. With five other pregnant women to care for at the same time, all with hugely different and complex problems, I was rushed off my feet and didn’t have the time to look after her properly, to allay her fears or to hear about how she wanted the birth to unfold.

“Brits love the NHS”

I longed to sit with this poor young woman, calm her and remind her gently to breathe deeply through each contraction.

Just half an hour of my time could have made all the difference. Instead, I put on my cheeriest smile and followed hospital procedure. ‘Would you like a painkiller?’ I asked.

“Here, look at this poll, helpfuly provided to me by a pro-public option group!”

Ten hours later, after she had been drugged to the eyeballs to dull the pain, I heard she’d given birth.

“PUBLIC OPTION NOW!  PUBLIC OPTION NOW! PUBLIC OPTION NOW!”

Her baby was healthy, but I knew I’d let her down.

The piece also goes into detail on the erosion in numbers of providers – doctors, nurses, midwives and the like – that is inevitable under socialized healthcare.  15 years ago, there were 35,000 midwives in Brit materinity wards.  Today, there are 25,000 – half of ’em part-timers.

Read the whole thing.

And then call your legislator and remind them that if they want this kind of healthcare so bad, they should lead the way by having it themselves.

UPDATE:  Added the link.  It was early.

13 thoughts on “Here Is Your Public Option

  1. Pingback: The Greenroom » Forum Archive

  2. Mitch, You ask us to “read the whole thing” but you don’t give the source or provide a link to the article, unless I’m really missing something. I would like to read it.

  3. Isn’t the definition of insanity trying the same thing over and over again while expecting different results? Public Option=NHS=bad idea but libs still support it. Ergo, Michael Savage’s thesis that “Liberalism is a Mental Disorder” is proven once again.

  4. “And then call your legislator and remind them that if they want this kind of healthcare so bad, they should lead the way by having it themselves.”

    With the exception of Reps like John Fleming, R-La. and a few others who have challenged congress to “put their money where there mouth is”, the majority of these “elected leaders” don’t want to part with their entitled perks. Same is true with the other government unions (I know some of these people). From what I understand they will be allowed a 5 year exemption from any law they pass, and after that time has passed their participation is the new system will be optional for them. When asked about this double standard they make every effort to change the conversation, not unlike cockroaches, they run when the light is turned on. HYPOCRITES!!!!

  5. Step 2: The part where private insurance tries and fails to compete with a government subsidized system that requires people to enroll in public insurance if they lose, for any reason, their private plan.

    In physiological terms, “that gurgling sound deep in the chest”.

  6. Two questions. If the government plan is so crappy, why would anyone who can afford better use it? You call it compulsory, but given the choice, I’d go with something better. But given the choice between nothing and the public plan, yeah, I’d go with the public plan.

    Second question – Some companies provide insurance, at significant cost, for their employees now, when it is not required. Why would they stop when the public option becomes available?

  7. If the government plan is so crappy, why would anyone who can afford better use it?

    Exactly. Which is one reason Congress and some of their union pals have exempted themselves from the plan.

    Why? Onward:

    You call it compulsory, but given the choice, I’d go with something better.

    Yep.

    But given the choice between nothing and the public plan, yeah, I’d go with the public plan.

    Two problems:
    1) A “feature” of the public plan is that if you lose your private insurance, you don’t get to sign up for a new private plan.

    2) Since the “public” plan will be subsidized, it will behave like a monopoly, driving out services that are not subsidized. Companies – which pay for most private insurance – will opt for the lower-cost public option (becuase the tsunami of government money will drive up the prices that private insurance has to pay). Private insurance will not be able to compete on a cost basis; companies will eventually have to take the lower cost and accept the lower quality (and that’s leaving out the whole #1 thing).

    Second question – Some companies provide insurance, at significant cost, for their employees now, when it is not required. Why would they stop when the public option becomes available?

    Because, being a subsidized plan, the public option will be cheaper. And if private plans are forbidden from enrolling new customers, where will they go?

  8. Well, I’ll agree that forcing people onto the public plan is a bad idea. I’d prefer an actual “option,” available fro those who can’t afford anything else.

    “Because, being a subsidized plan, the public option will be cheaper. ”

    Then why does any company provide insurance now? It would be cheaper not to, no public option required. I’ll go out of my comment character and make an assertion. Many companies see providing decent health care as beneficial to their business, and worse coverage for a lower price won’t change that.

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