The Joys of Socialized Medicine

Wonder what "HillaryCare" will be like? Here's a good hint. Get a load of this report on the waiting time for services in the socialized healthcare system in Wales.

One in 10 'face cancer care wait'

Almost one in 10 people in Wales referred for urgent cancer treatment by their GP wait longer than two months to be seen by specialists, figures show.

But those seen within the two-month target rose from 86% in January to March to 91% during April to June.

So they went from 15% waiting to 10%. Sounds like a good improvement, right (as long as you are not one of the 10%, that is)? But if you read deeper in the article you get this:

The head-and-neck figure is actually 66%, which is pretty poor, and for cancers where the survival rates and the journey that the cancer patients go on can be more problematic, it's clearly vital that people receive treatment as soon as possible.

However, the cancer charity Tenovus said it was "encouraged" by the overall results of the latest waiting times, despite them "falling short of the ideal".

Tenovus said: "With the number of cancer cases diagnosed rising each year and the current limited resources available for cancer services, these figures have to be commended."

So, if you have cancer in the head or neck area, you have a 35% chance of waiting at least two months to see a specialist.

In economics, we call that "rationing by waiting in line".

Good luck with that.