COMMUNIST MEDICAL CARE

A Chinese peasant woman who suffered a brain haemorrhage was left at the undertakers alive for cremation because her family could no longer afford hospital treatment, state media said on Friday. She was only saved by the tears in her eyes. The case is the latest in a series of tragedies illustrating China's stretched health care system and the inability of rural workers to meet spiralling medical costs.

You Guoying, a 47-year-old migrant worker from southwestern Sichuan province, was taken for cremation by her husband and children in Taizhou, eastern Zhejiang province, where she worked, the China Youth Daily said. Fortunately for You, the undertaker realised she was still alive when he saw her move and tears in her eyes, the newspaper said. "This is not only a tragedy for the family, but also for society," it quoted Xu Yinghe, a Taizhou official, as saying. "The fundamental reason is the absence of a social welfare system."

You was taken back to hospital for further treatment with money donated by sympathetic citizens of prosperous Zhejiang, the newspaper said. "Three days of treatment cost us more than 10,000 yuan ($1,200)," it quoted her daughter as saying, adding that was the sum of the family's life savings. "If there had been another option, who would have the heart to send a member of their own family for cremation while there was still a hope of survival?"

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL hospitals and health insurance schemes should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the very poor and minimal regulation. Both Australia and Sweden have large private sector health systems with government reimbursement for privately-provided services so can a purely private system with some level of government reimbursement or insurance for the poor be so hard to do?

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