A commonly-held notion about the British National Health Service is that surgery must be scheduled months in advance, and that this is therefore a significant weakness of all single payer health care systems. To the extent that this is true -- and it's unlikely that British citizens must wait notably long for general surgery -- it turns out that single payer is neither here nor there as a cause. Unlike the United States, Great Britain has a national health policy; that policy stresses primary care over what is known as tertiary care. (Tertiary care compromises expensive, rarely performed operations such as organ transplants.)
As a result, British health policy encourages doctors to become primary care physicians. While most of the health care dollars in Britain are directed to secondary care (such as medical oncology) and tertiary care, 60% of British doctors are primary care physicians, based on the theory that that is the overall population's greatest need. If the policy directed otherwise, more doctors would pursue careers in secondary or tertiary care, and there would be fewer primary care physicians. But the policy could exist either way regardless of whether the British health care system is single payer or market driven.
Source: Understanding Health Policy: A Clinical Approach (Bodenheimer and Grumbach)
PHOTO GALLERY
Corner of Marigny and North Rampart...
At Roy's World, good fences make good pictures...
Mile marker made of railroad spikes...
Hope...
Happy 76th birthday, Leonard Cohen...
In old St. Augustine...
Street art in Lakewood...
FROM THE JUKEBOX
Fatten up on Marguerite's pumpkin gingerbread with caramel rum sauce, then work off the calories dancing to Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas...
Emmy Lou Harris and Linda Ronstadt sing "For A Dancer." (Some good Jackson clips, too.)...
Bob Dylan hits "The Auld Triangle" out of the park. And I mean hits it: This is like a 600-foot home run...
These guys have become one of my favorite bands. They make consistently good, consistently honest blues-rock bulwarked by Luther Dickinson's slide guitar. Right now I'm listening to the acoustic Mississippi Folk Music, Vol. 1; it's a gem...
Posts
5 comments:
Ahhhhh! TWO Leonard Cohen clips! That makes my day!
Hey, K., thanks for the snippet on health care. May have to link to you in my next post, if you don't mind, friend. Little Man and I enjoyed your Sunday funnies immensely, as always...thanks!
There is No One quite like Leonard
Roy: It's wonderful how he's been embraced in his late years. We saw the tour in 2009. Not quite up the standards of the early 90's, but how 74-year olds -- how 24-year olds give you three hours of incredible songs lovingly arranged?
MM: No need to ask! You'll be getting your fill of health care tidbits from me over the next couple of years.
NM: Definitely corset-worthy, huh?!
oh yes
Post a Comment