Medical services in China
Posted by Joshua Claybourn on 13 March 2005 | 6 responses
A short and simple reminder of the differences between socialized and privatized health care from someone who knows.
6 Responses to “Medical services in China”
That’s not a description of “the differences between socialized and privatized health care”. It’s a description of a fairly cheap specific service that is unlikely to be provided on most ’socialized’ healthcare system in any case. (Consider what would have happened if the results of the test had been, “Oh, by the way, you’ve got diabetes. Did you know”? Would the $80CDN have covered that? That’s what I mean when I say that this experience was NOT of ‘health care’.)
To make the comparison between “socialized and privatized health care”, you’d have to go down to the other hospital, the “busy and rowdy places”; and then compare that with what would happen to the users if the service did not exist.
“To make the comparison between “socialized and privatized health care”, you’d have to go down to the other hospital, the “busy and rowdy places”; and then compare that with what would happen to the users if the service did not exist.”
You wouldn’t want to visit the busy and rowdy clinics or hospitals in China for anything, except maybe as a tourist.
Equally, I wouldn’t want to have to visit the relative peace of a US hospital if I didn’t have a shedload of insurance behind me…
A fair point. And U.S. health expenditure is woefully inefficient as measured by total health outcomes. But the question is of support for the system when you can buy better care elsewhere, and thus the conversion of universal entitlements into targeted ones, with subsequent erosion of support for benefits.
Thanks for the interest in this post. I don’t if it is accurate to say my post illustrates the difference between public and private health care here, because as Ape says it’s a very specific situation. You can’t really take advantage of Chinese medical services as a foreigner in this country (for minor things I think it is possible, but I know for things like surgery they will send you to the foreigners’ clinics/wards).
There is a two tier system here, but the only people who really have a choice to use it are the Chinese.
The situation in Canada is also specific. We don’t have private hospitals, you have one level of health care whether you like it or not. The only reason you’re asked to pay for tests for insurance companies is to make sure that you receive services for unnecessary tests doesn’t take away from a sick person’s right to receive quality medical service.
John
Private care available to rich foreigners is superior to the care given to poor Chinese peasants by their poor, human-rights-loving government?
Why didn’t I realize sooner how blessed we are to have a privatized healthcare system given that the alternative is to be a poor Chinese peasant. I’m so glad this straw man wandered onto my computer screen to explain things to me.