Thread by @AndrewCFollett

Ok, let's explain why the US is in a good position to deal with #WuhanCoronavirus relative to single payer systems thanks to capitalism relative to the Euro healthcare systems we constantly get lied to about.

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The US has about 4 to 6 times as many ICU beds per capita as the UK.

The UK, Italy, and other public systems have almost no surge capacity...as their only means of controlling costs is care rationing.

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The UK has regular "winter crises" from the freaking flu every single year because they increase demand for care, because why not go if its *free* and you already paid for it during taxation?

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For example,in 2018, the UK's nationalized NHS postponed 55,000 surgeries two years ago due to capacity constraints, with one ER physician apologizing for “Third World conditions of the department due to overcrowding.”

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5…

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Ultimatly, bureaucrats SUCK at determining spending priorities. Of nearly $3 billion from Obamacare’s Prevention and Public Health Fund given to Centers CDC in the years 2010-2014, only about 6 percent went towards building epidemiology and laboratory capacity.

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Instead, CDC spent $517.3 million funding grants focused on objectives like “improving neighborhood grocery stores” and “promoting better sidewalks and street lighting.”

cdc.gov/nccdphp/dch/pr…

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This happens because government agencies KNOW they'll get access to the big bucks if there's an actual crisis...so they chose to spend on fat before they spend on bone.

Gov't agencies get REWARDED when they fail.

7/FIN