Our medical system is an international joke.
Upon what do you base this assertion? If you are referring to access and cost, I would agree that some countries with a "socialized" healthcare plan such as Canada, Great Britain and Australia offer better solutions, but not necessarily better care. The quality of healthcare overall in the US is probably the best in the world (the problem being that there is too much care if anything, and this drives up affordability for basic care...an issue that irritates me quite a bit, but I won't belabor that point). Just ask any Canadian who has to wait 3-6 months for surgery or an MRI scan, and I'm sure there are parallels in GB where the system is really 2-tiered. The National Health (where John Q Public receives care) and the "private" system where those with more money can get specialist attention. I can't speak for Australia; during my travels there, the people I encountered seemed largely happy with the system, but they were all young and healthy. How is it for elderly in Australia? I don't know...Kathryn, Al...chime in...
Oddly, the current candidates for Presidency keep talking about a "Universal" healthcare plan that is anything but socialized medicine. I've never seen a decent proposal from anybody. What will happen here, is that the big insurance companies will still call the shots, the doctors, hospitals and employers will be penalized...then "everybody" will have "insurance" and..the problem will be solved. But, that's not socialized medicine, it is still privatized medicine, except now everybody has "insurance".
An ideal socialized medicine scheme would be a single party payer (ideally the patient...but nobody wants to pay for healthcare, most people think it should be "free" and an inherent "right"...so that idea won't fly, although it would solve most of the health expense problems immediately...no more expensive/unnecessary testing, exhorbitant drug costs etc..because most people would not be able to afford it). So the next best single party payer would be at (hopefully) the State or local goverment level and not the Federal level (god forbid). Physicians and other providers should have the option of either fully, partially or not participating in the system (most providers would be participating, otherwise they would not have a significant patient base). Now...how to pay for such system? Taxes have to go up significantly, and that, my fellow Americans would put the cabash on any system resembling Canada or GB in this country, because nobody wants to "pay" for healthcare.
