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Waiting for Care

Waiting for Care

Saudi Arabia eyes healthcare privatization

Financial Times By Robin Wigglesworth
October 1, 2008
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5206598c-8f3f-11dd-946c-0000779fd18c.html

The government finances more than three-quarters of the healthcare industry, which was “unsustainable given population growth projections, as well as spiraling healthcare costs,” he said.

Buying time - Should NHS patients be allowed to pay for life-prolonging ‘wonderdrugs’?

Scotland on Sunday By Kate Foster
October 5, 2008
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/comment/Buying-time–Should-NHS.4559800.jp

The NHS won’t pay for Diane to have Avastin because it has not yet been approved by the Scottish Medicines Consortium, the body that recommends or rejects new drugs for the NHS. So what should Diane do? Should she try to find the cash herself? If she does, current NHS rules would force her to pay not only for this drug, but also for all the other cancer treatment she needs, including scans, nursing and other drugs. Is this fair? Shouldn’t she be allowed to pay for Avastin and get the rest of her cancer care free on the NHS?

Health service must evolve at same pace as medical world

Scotsman By Ian Swanson
October 6, 2008
http://news.scotsman.com/opinion/Health-service-must-evolve-at.4560963.jp

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon last week announced a review of whether patients should be allowed to pay for top-up private treatment while receiving the rest of their care from the NHS. From one point of view, any move to deny patients life-prolonging drugs is inhumane and if paying privately is the only option no-one should block it.

Canadians still waiting too long for surgery: report

The Star Phoenix
October 7, 2008
http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/story.html?id=92c01c64-59b6-4a7d-af16-e2b01acf0bd5

Canadians are waiting less time for surgery but are still experiencing delays of more than 17 weeks for treatment, according to new research published Tuesday by the Fraser Institute.

Two-tier medicine an election away

Toronto Star
October 8, 2008
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/513534

I applaud NGOs like the Ontario Health Coalition for their effort to protect medicare. Unfortunately, I think it will be futile without immediate fixes to address the key problems of our public system: lack of access to family doctors and long wait times. We have been waiting for six years for some noticeable and measurable improvements in these two areas without success.

Wait-time insurance condemned as latest assault on public health care

The Canadian Press
October 5, 2008
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hjl3mtCCptd0XI_IHiAJ794ZOIWA

A health insurance policy that sends people facing long waits for surgery to private clinics or the United States is the latest flash point for critics warning Canada is on a slippery slope toward for-profit health care.

Bureaucratic Health

FrontPagemagazine.com By Peter Pitts
October 8, 2008
http://frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=C4CD3B7E-A6E9-4726-ACFB-8326769B5413

Legislation is currently in the pipeline to create a government agency to evaluate the relative effectiveness of different medical treatments. In Britain, such an agency already exists. And because bureaucrats have ended up in charge of healthcare, heinous injustices have become the norm.

Employers face higher bills for health benefits

Financial Times By Andrew Taylor
October 1, 2008
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fa1fc904-8f4f-11dd-946c-0000779fd18c.html?nclick_check=1

The cost to UK companies of providing employee healthcare benefits is one of the highest in Europe, according to an independent study published today. UK companies on average spend 7 per cent of their total payroll costs on healthcare schemes, compared with 5.3 per cent across Europe.

Medical wait-list insurance to be available in B.C.

CBC.ca
October 1, 2008
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/10/01/bc-medical-wait-list-insurance-bcaa.html

In a move that is sure to stir up debate, the British Columbia Automobile Association is offering so-called medical wait-list insurance for the first time ever in Canada. BCAA members who buy the insurance will be given access to private medical clinics in B.C. or in the United States if they are placed on waiting lists longer than 45 days.

America Spends a Lot on Health Care — But So Does Everybody Else

EGPNews.com
September 25, 2008
http://egpnews.com/?p=1818

America’s $2 trillion healthcare tab is quite steep. But America’s not alone — every other developed nation, even those with universal healthcare systems, struggles with high healthcare costs. Indeed, people in other healthcare systems often pay more than Americans do, once taxes are taken into account. Add in the high non-monetary costs of rationed or denied care and waiting lists, and suddenly the vaunted European systems commonly touted as models for the United States don’t seem like a good deal at all.

Making the NHS the best insurance policy in the world

Reform By Nick Bosanquet et al.
September 2008
http://www.reform.co.uk/makingthenhsthebestinsurancepolicyintheworld_221.php

The British think tank Reform recently analyzed the present situation of the country’s National Health Service, comparing it to health care systems in other countries, and offered suggestions for its future that would move in a more market based direction.

No clean bill of health for government according to Kingston nursing professor, UK

Medical News Today
September 22, 2008
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/122321.php

Health Secretary Alan Johnson needed to tackle the four big issues listed as barriers to good care by the nurses who took part in the survey: mixed sex wards; inappropriate use of targets; overcrowding/lack of resources and respect for staff.

A tale of 2 sickbeds: Health care in U.K. vs. U.S.
MSNBC

By F. Brinley Bruton
September 22, 2008
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26794291/

Unlike the personal care I received in the U.S., in London, I felt like I was on a vast and often creaking conveyor belt, and there was a big risk of falling through the cracks. British care is socialized — and feels that way.

Man dies after 34 hours in ER without getting treatment

CTV News
September 23, 2008
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/Article…

A Winnipeg man waited 34 hours in an emergency room this weekend, but died without getting treatment. Unconfirmed reports also claim the man may have been dead for several hours before he was noticed by staff.

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