How Does Universal Healthcare Affect Patients?

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Some citizens that live in countries where there is universal healthcare really like it. Some don’t. Norway has universal healthcare and there are many stories of people that are not happy with the healthcare system. In “Government Health Care Horror Stories From Norway,” Bruce Bawer, and author and writer for Frontpage Magazine, shares stories from citizens of Norway displays the negative effects of universal healthcare. Many people were denied care and ended up not getting treated in time. Patients were treated unfairly and were not cared for in the way they should have been.

A man named Joseph was treated for a cut on his thumb at a hospital in Norway. Hours later he realized the doctors wrapped his finger incorrectly because he was in excruciating pain. He tried calling the ER, but they said it was closed and to call back later. Joseph called an ER in another town and was told that there was no more room. After a day in pain, he went back and there was no doctor there to see him. “The next day, after another twenty-four hours of intense pain, he removes the bandage to find that a gigantic blister, the result of a too-tight bandage, has engulfed his entire thumb.” This seems like an extreme story, but it happens a lot, not just at that hospital. He was denied care and that led to a worse injury.

Universal seems like a good idea, but only if you go to the doctor with a cold or the flu. With things more serious and life threatening, treatment is either not covered or it would take a long time (maybe too long) to receive care. For example, Peter Franks had a lump in his chest that was oozing blood and pus, but was sent home twice by a doctor. It ended up being cancer, but it was diagnosed too late. His family sued and most of the time doctors would learn from other people’s mistakes, “but doctors in Norway don't have to take responsibility for their mistakes. The state does it.” Another patient Helga Kvinge found a lump in her breast and couldn’t get an appointment at the local hospital for three months. She ended up getting checked out at a private hospital and finding out it was cancer. Even knowing it was breast cancer, the local hospital refused to treat her until they did the test themselves and she still had to wait months.

The Norwegian government’s health director said “we can extend the lives of patients with heart failure by installing a heart pump...but this is a service we probably can't offer. It's too expensive.” They also have to chose who receives treatment. Many times elderly people do not get treated for illnesses because it would be too expensive.