Comments on: Why?

By: miltonfriedman

miltonfriedman — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 21:59:50 +0000

We are still suffering from the aftermath of inheriting a universal type health system following independence. It has become a huge tanker which has taken on a whole law unto itself. Predominantly serving the interests of consultants/doctors (in their inate human desire for profit – so I’m not knocking them). There lies the dilemma. The tension between public and private. The UK have struggled to hold on to the (perception?) of the worlds leading universal national health system but in reality it has failed of course. What is perceived as nationally provided is more often a public-private partnership and is slowly moving towards the private public mix.

Ireland has never been able to afford the legacy of a universal health system (regardless of any political philosophy) while our neighbours steamed ahead, oblivious… Ireland matured and between circumstance and design started to turn the tanker. While the circumstances were turning (with the invaluable support from the church becoming inadequate) those that could afford to pay for a better service started to, naturally) it took one Minister to have the guts to start turning the tanker in the design mode. This is a slow process – I guess the aim will be to have an effective public health service for those who can’t pay. Biggest challenge is for people to recognise that the state does not necessarily provide. We are all responsible for our own well being. If income taxes were levied at 2/3 of income and 1/2 of the value of your house, shares,etc. then you have every right to demand free healthcare. But before you say yes (!) – can you trust the government to invest YOUR hard earned money for you… Think about it. I would rather be taxed as little as possible on the money I earn and the assets I buy with those net earnings and have a choice of how I spend my wages rather than deposit into the exchequer every month in case I get sick. Will they know it’s me when I get to hospital – no.

By: Maxi Cane

Maxi Cane — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 21:47:50 +0000

Heard this on the radio yesterday and it made me so angry.

If I start, I won’t stop.

By: Baino

Baino — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 20:08:59 +0000

We have a two teir system here but it doesn’t seem to be in quite as dire straights as the Irish health system. As for taking out the wrong kidneys etc. How is that a systemic fault, surely your medical staff need to accept some responsibility there!

By: Kate

Kate — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:48:45 +0000

Rant over – I am just sore maybe – my beloved Mum lasted another two weeks in that hospital and never came out. She did improve enough for my son to get there but only because I was there checking all the time. I will never forget the look on her face when we first went in. We had visited her in the home every day for five years – the council had taken all her money for her care and she was left like that – the whole system here is appalling. My 91 year old uncle says he is so glad that I will be in his corner if he needs it.

Don’t get me wrong my son has private health care (it comes with his job) and thank God because when he had treatment for cancer he really needed it.

Our systems will never change now there are too many drains on them

By: KevanB

KevanB — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:14:59 +0000

Like Grandad I shell out over 2000 a year to join the so called private system, which of course isn’t private it just means I and the girls get to hop a queue in the state programme.

The HSE which this woman he is writing about is not in charge of, well that it is what she said – honest – as she is the Minister of Health and the Health Service executive run the Health Service. The HSE is the biggest employer in Ireland, it covers everything from delinquent kids missing school to emergency admissions to hospitals. It is the despair of those who work in it and the despair of all those it serves as Grandad so eloquently expresses it. The HSE was invented by Mary Harney, but she is not in charge of it.

As a politician across the water once said to his fellow parliamentarians, “In the name of God go!”.

I am aware that gentleman would not get a trial for Drogheda United were he to come back to life but is there nobody who can say it to the bloody woman?

By: Grandad

Grandad — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:32:46 +0000

TT – I am not complaining on my behalf. I fork out in excess of €2,000 [that I can ill (sic) afford] a year purely to avoid the perils of our public service. I am questioning why I see this constant barrage of deaths, litigation and appalling errors in such a vital service. As Nick says, it is not a safety net, but more of a trapdoor to a lottery system where you are as likely to end up more ill than you started.

By: Nick

Nick — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:26:24 +0000

tt – I’m not particularly grateful for a safety net that means people like Kate’s mother being treated so outrageously. And there are many more cases like hers. That’s not a safety net, it’s a trapdoor. And that sort of ageist indifference is very common also.

By: tt

tt — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:12:42 +0000

The answer is of course to go private. Take out health insurance(if you can afford to). Here we have no choice. It’s pay thro the nose for it or do without. Our health system is the best in the world; (if you can afford it.) So if I were you I would be gratefull to have the safety net of socialised medicine for those who can not go private and quit complaining.

By: kate

kate — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 14:54:30 +0000

Thats just the problem though – any kind of service will only be for the people who can afford it – it is a very scarey thought for those of us that don’t have the ‘arm and leg’ – and it shouldn’t be that way – people who have worked all their lives deserve some benefit…. sorry I’m ranting…..

By: Grandad

Grandad — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 14:47:16 +0000

Jim C – Harney worried me from the start when she professed that she was going to model the system on ‘Boston rather than Brussels’. She is hell bent on destroying the public service health care and driving us all into the private sector.

The stories that are coming out of our system are pretty horrific. Frankly, if I were to suffer a massive coronary or something, I would rather take my chances at home in bed. I have taken the cowards way out though, and have taken out private health insurance which costs me an arm and a leg [hopefully, not literally] despite having paid taxes all my life. I am simply too scared to trust the public service.