French Health Care: "Not Sustainable"

I'd laugh if this wasn't actually a tragedy. You won't find this in the NY Times: NewsBusters reports that "French professor Alice Teil not only said the French system is “not sustainable anymore,” but copying parts of America's could save it.... Maybe [Teil] was ignored because Teil's startling description of France's situation did not match the media's typical positive depiction of “free” health care. The earliest online report of Teil's trip was a brief August 22 article posted on Salt Lake City radio station KCPW's website, and it did not stick to the usual MSM script." Full Story... The LaCrosse Tribune printed this commentary on Sept. 17: France’s socialized health care costs grow faster than the economy as the health-care deficit could be 29 billion euros by 2010 and 66 billion euros by 2020. Workers pay half their paycheck for health care, retirement and unemployment and companies outsource jobs to cut costs. The LaCrosse Trib did not restrict itself to the French health care debacle: In Britain, 1 million patients wait for care; 200,000 wait longer than six months. One cancer patient’s appointment with a specialist was cancelled 48 times. The Labour Party, which created government-run health care now favors privatization. Canadian newspapers report long delays for care. A total of 1.5 million in Ontario can’t get family physicians. One Nova Scotia community held a lottery for doctor’s appointments.Problems surfaced in France in 2003, when a heat wave killed around 15,000 elderly people. There was also a bed shortage in hospitals when a nationwide flu and bronchitis epidemic broke out.