EUROPEAN HEALTH, AND LACK OF IT - AT 8:53 P.M. ET:  Reader Carol Darien alerts us to a well-reported AP piece on European health care.  It's decidely a mixed picture, and, if you're at the wrong end of the mix, consequences can be grim:

The concept has been enshrined in Europe for generations. Health systems are built so inclusive that even illegal immigrants are entitled to free treatment beyond just emergency care. Europeans have some of the world's best hospitals and have made great strides in fighting problems like obesity and heart disease.

But the system is far from perfect.

In Britain, France, Switzerland and elsewhere, public health systems have become political punching bags for opposition parties, costs have skyrocketed and in some cases, patients have needlessly suffered and died...

...Critics fear Obama's reforms will lead to more government control over health care and cite problems faced by European health systems as examples of what not to do.

And...

Many European health officials applaud Obama's attempt to provide health care to millions more Americans, but they also advise him to proceed with caution.

"What we can be proud of in Europe is the ground rules, that everyone has the right to health care," said Jose Martin-Moreno, a health expert at the University of Valencia in Spain. "But the implementation has been difficult and one size does not fit all."

Private health care is also available in Europe, creating in some instances a two-tier system that critics say defeats the egalitarian impulse on which national systems were built.

COMMENT:  In other words, we'd better proceed from facts, not from slogans or generalities.  We are talking about the sanctity of human life, a concept that some on the left treat rather cavalierly.  We are also talking about profound moral issues.  How much care do we give the dying?  The child with life-shortening defects?  The great scientist as opposed to the factory worker who may be competing for an available organ?

So far, our "debate" has been superficial and off-handed.  We can do better.

July 7, 2009