Brendano

Waiting Times and Rationing in the U.S. May 6, 2009

     A conservative fear tactic against universal health care is waiting times and rationing. According to the argument universal health care causes overutilization of the services. Great Britian and Canada have long wait times for certain procedures. However, review of the data suggests that there are waiting times in these countries for elective procedures and not critical or intensive care. 

     I would argue that there are waiting times in the U.S..  I had a  double ear infection last year. It didn’t hurt too much but, it itched really badly. I couldn’t hear very well in either ear. I called my family doctor for an appointment. I had to wait three months to get into her office for an appointment. She sent me to a specialist for the infection. I had to wait another three months to get that appointment. So, I spent six months waiting for a pretty bad ear infection in both my ears.

     According to the chief medical officer at AETNA in the “U.S. waiting times average about 70 days to see a provider. People diagnosed with cancer are waiting over a month is untolerable.” The recession is also adding to waiting times. In Greensboro, North Carolina, Health Serve temporary stop accepting new patients in January and almost immediately 380 people were on a waiting list for health care services.

      Rationing already occurs in the United States. If you can afford medicine, you have medical care. If you can not afford it, you do not have medical care. That’s rationing. Similiarly, if insurers do not cover pre-existing conditions, rationing also occurs.

      Rationing and waiting times occurs in the United States’s emergency rooms. Emergency rooms are the safety net for the uninsured. Hospitals have to take care of the sick. However, the over use of the emergency rooms are caused by another circumstance. The insured are over using emergency rooms because they can’t get into their primary care doctors (Barlett and Steel 43). The solution to rationing and waiting times is simple. Covering everyone by universal health care can stop both waiting times and rationing.