Another problem with government-run healthcare, aka SEIU-care

by NW Spotlight

The UK Telegraph is reporting that an upcoming one-day doctor strike (“industrial action”) by the UK doctor’s union, the British Medical Association, will cause a three month backlog and affect one million patients needing surgery or hospital appointments.

The British doctors’ union is planning the strike over proposed changes to doctors’ retirement pensions. The move by the British doctors’ union has led to accusations of them being “greedy” and leaving patients “waiting in pain” for surgery.

The British Medical Association has also been accused of hypocrisy after staff working for the British Medical Association itself voted to strike in a dispute over pay.

In England’s publicly funded healthcare system – the National Health Service (NHS) – the government is the single-payer and it owns healthcare resources (like hospitals) and employs personnel.

SEIU-care: Although government-run healthcare in the U.S. would certainly be good for the SEIU – SEIU was a major player in pushing Obamacare – nationwide doctor strikes are yet another possible downside.

SEIU is the largest healthcare union in the country, and is the fastest-growing union in North America. SEIU is also the second largest union of public employees. Moving further towards an almost completely government-run healthcare system like the NHS would be a huge win for SEIU – there would be more goverment employees to administer the healthcare system and they’ve already got the healthcare workers covered – being the the largest healthcare union in the country.

* SEIU Doctors out in full force on Capitol Hill to support health care reform *