As we consider national healthcare proposals, we would do well to keep in mind the experiences of the Europeans. In the European Union there are all manner of nationalized programs to combat health inequality. They think that "society is killing us."
One might think they've solved their health problems so we should follow suit. Surely they've overcome what the World Health Organization bemoans, "Social injustice is killing people on a grand scale."
Remember that the Europeans don't believe so much in equal opportunity -- the so-called level playing field -- as in equal outcomes, or results. For health, that means the civil government is
supposed to make sure that, for instance, the doorman living in inner-city Glasgow lives as long as the executive who commutes home from the city to a rural area.
So have they achieved these outcomes with their brand of socialism? A great place to look for this is the Nordic countries such as Sweden and Norway where they score well on good health and social cohesion.
As reported in an article in European Voice, the European Journal of Health states, “Despite high living standards and egalitarian policies, fundamental social inequalities continue to exist in the Nordic countries.” François Décaillet at WHO's European regional office is stunned, “I cannot explain it. I am shocked to see very large inequalities in health, despite all the efforts made.”
So what the Northern Europeans haven't been able to do with their homogenous societies and mandatory egalitarianism, we should be able to accomplish here?
From Gailon Totheroh, Senior Reporter...
New research out on Oct. 6th finds that the regular seasonal flu shot may offer some protection against the swine flu. The study among hospital patients in Mexico found those who got a 2008-2009 flu shot were 73% less likely to get H1N1 swine flu than those who didn't.
But as WebMD Health News points out -- that appears to give a false message:
"The Mexican data stand in stark contrast to U.S. data and Australian data, which show no hint that seasonal flu vaccination has any effect on the current H1N1 swine flu.
An unpublished study from Canada reportedly showed just the opposite of the Mexican study -- that seasonal flu vaccine might make people more vulnerable to H1N1 swine flu. U.S. and Australian data offer no support for this hypothesis, either."
So what gives? Conventional wisdom says that what you really need are the seasonal flu shot and the swine flu shot. However the conflicting data and interpretations should give a person pause. There is great uncertainty amidst the prevailing public certainty presented by public health officials.
Even after you research this and still decide for flu and swine shots, you would be well advised to consider the lilkes of vitamin D (2,000-10,000 IU daily, increases your body's own antibacterials and antivirals), vitamin C (2,000-10,000 mg daily, boosts white blood cell counts and acts as an antihistamine), and quercetin (750 mg. and up as needed, impedes viral entry into the cells and also an antihistamine).
While God has given us the ability to make many fine medicines, what He directly created is often better by increasing what we already get of the three above to therapeutic levels needed in a fallen world.