Is free health care worth it? You sure? What if the cost is the needless loss of your leg?

Socialized health care is only "free" if you don't count all the costs.

You have to be careful these days when you hear a story that seems outrageous. It doesn’t matter if it’s from a “legacy journalism” source or an independent reporter on the interwebs.

Both types of entities are interested in clicks and engagement, and are more than willing to misrepresent a story or use a dishonest headline or leave inconvenient or contrary facts buried deep in the text (or out of the article all together).

That said, the following story seems legit, and it’s outrageous.

Americans have long been told how stupid and backwards we are to have a “private” health care system as opposed to the more civilized socialized health care systems of enlightened countries like the United Kingdom and Canada.

Now, don’t be fooled. We don’t have a private or free market health care system in the US, and haven’t for over a century. Nothing even close. But that’s an article for another day.

Opponents of socialized health care (like me) point out that it is impossible for government to direct resources efficiently. And worse, that in such a system all the incentives of consumers, providers, and manufacturers are misaligned. Because of this, horrible outcomes will be much more common compared to a free market.

Specifically, the UK’s and Canada’s socialized medical systems are famous for their long waiting times to see a doctor, their shortages of staff, equipment, facilities, and… well… competent health care.

A famous example is that it’s much quicker and easier to get an MRI for the family pet at a private veterinarian than it is to get one for yourself in Canada’s socialized health care system. Sure, it’s expensive, but “free” doesn’t account for shortages, wait times, and lower quality care.

None of this is surprising to anyone who has studied economics, but ideologues (and the ignorant masses) don’t often do that, so socialized health care is very popular — at least for those who don’t use it much.

Roseanne Milburn (pictured above) had to use Canada’s “free” health care, and ended up paying a tragically high cost — her leg.

She had knee replacement surgery (after waiting on a list for six years!) and developed complications afterwards. Two months after the surgery, this occurred (from linked article above):

In late November, a surgeon at Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre began removing dead tissue from her right knee, with the intention of stitching her up later that day after she was seen by an orthopedic surgeon at Concordia Hospital.

She was sent to Concordia, but couldn't be transferred back to HSC because there wasn't a bed available for the specialist to finish the procedure. Instead, she spent eight days languishing at Concordia with a painful open wound.

Once she finally got to HSC, Milburn went under the knife for another infection, but due to the long delay in stitching up the wound, she said she was told her leg wasn't salvageable.

Eight days on her back with an open wound waiting for someone to stitch her up. Of course she got a hideous infection. I can’t imagine what this woman suffered through — and is currently suffering through. That is just awful.

The article isn’t explicit, but if it took two months after the knee surgery to detect a problem and address it, I can’t imagine the post-op care was very timely either.

Supporters of this type of socialism will claim that these kinds of bad outcomes are rare, and they are correct. This was extreme. But the long wait times and shortages aren’t rare, they are endemic. They are baked into the system. And the probability of a terrible outcome is ever-present — and much higher than would exist in a purely free market system.

We often throw around the phrase, “You get what you pay for.” It’s not just a slogan. There is a deep truth there. It’s a shame so many people ignore that truth in the most critically important areas there is — our health.

Thanks to @RobynUrback on X where I first saw this story.

Naturally,

Adam