Does the government actually run the BEST healthcare?

The main thrust of the anti-reform argument is that government is bad at running things, and would be terrible at running a healthcare program. Better to entrust running healthcare to the very same private insurers who have gotten rich creating the very problem we have now: skyrocketing premium costs, coverage reductions or limitations, denials due to pre-existing conditions, etc.

But is there really a good argument to be made against government run healthcare plans in general? Certainly, the healthcare enjoyed by members of congress is government-run, as is that offered to our armed servicemen and women. How do they measure up to privately run medical programs?

A team of researchers recently set out to compare the quality of VHA care with that of care in a national sample by using a comprehensive quality-of-care measure.

From the study, the research team concludes that patients receiving socialized, government-run medicine from the VHA received higher-quality care according to a broad measure. Differences were greatest in areas where the VHA has established performance measures and actively monitors performance.

What this study really says is that the more accurately we measure, the more we begin to see that socialized, government-run medical programs like the VA provide extremely high quality medical care

Read it all here.