Like everyone else, I complain about the medical insurance my employer offers -- it seems like premiums go up but benefits go down every year, and the plan that district administrators can afford is way out of the price range of those of us who actually perform the primary task of the school district -- educate students.

But I've never really been attracted to the notion of a socialized medical program, no matter how much the advocates of such plans waxed eloquent about the medical care in Canada, the UK, or the Soviet Union (hey -- I still remembr the discussions from my college days).

Articles like this one help me remember that such schemes are inherrantly flawed and riddled with inefficiency.

A HOSPITAL told a road accident victim that she would have to wait a year and a half for an NHS brain scan, but could have the procedure done privately at the same unit in two weeks, The Times has learnt.

In a case that highlights the crisis in diagnostic tests, King’s College Hospital, London, warned Rachel King that, because of “heavy demand”, the MRI scan that her consultant had sought could be delayed for 80 weeks.

But a handwritten note at the end of the letter gave a telephone number for the hospital’s “self-pay” private clinic, where she could have the procedure in two weeks for £983.

Ms King’s case is the starkest example yet of widespread delays in diagnostic tests across the health service. One in five trusts has waiting times of more than a year for MRI scans, and two in five have waits of more than six months.

A quarter of trusts said that 25 per cent or more of their scanning capacity was not used but lack of staff and resources prevent increased usage.

You read that right -- eighteen months instead of two weeks. As bad as Aetna HMO is, my wife has been able to get MRIs done in under two weeks (even with my work schedule and only one vehicle), and in hours when she has been to the ER for treatment. I've had to wait longer, but only because the insurance folks were dithering over whether or not to approve the surgery the MRI was linked to or suggest a different treatment.

Now patients like Ms. King will see some improvement soon.

King’s College Hospital said in a statement that it recognised that an 80-week wait for scans was unacceptable. It had recently received funds to expand its services, with the aim of getting waiting times down to 26 weeks by next March.

Patients identified as clinically urgent by referring doctors would be seen sooner, the statement said. It added that the handwritten note had been included because Ms King had discussed with her consultant the possibility of going private.

“It is not considered best practice to have handwritten additions to letters and internal processes will be reviewed in the light of this letter,” it said.

Wow -- waits for an MRI will be down to six months -- in another nine months. And in the mean time, the hospital will make sure that no one puts anything embarassing in writing.

And lest you think this is an isolated case, here are a couple of other interesting bits from the article.

Keith Taylor, a retired teacher from Derby who suffers from tremors in his hands, was told by Derbyshire Royal Infirmary that he faced a 12-month wait for an MRI scan — but got it in weeks by paying £400.

At Kingston Hospital, Southwest London, a leaked letter from a radiologist revealed that waits for scans had risen in the past year from 26 to 52 weeks, and were soon expected to reach 78 weeks. Dr Caroline Ward said that there was spare scanning capacity but no money to use it. It would be used only for urgent referrals and private patients in March as the year’s budget had been spent.

So when we start hearing about the Son/Daughter of HillaryCare in the run-up to the 2008 election, just pull out stories like this one to remind Americans how good we really have it.