Here’s a despicable example of the efficacy of public health systems. Brooklyn’s Kings County Hospital (a public hospital run by the city) left a woman waiting for treatment for nearly 24 hours before she keeled over on the floor and died. Multiple guards came and looked at her as she writhed on the floor, and they did nothing. The incident was all caught on camera. What’s worse, the hospital staff falsified logs of the patient’s activities, reporting that she got up and got herself a drink of water when the security camera in the waiting room proved she was lying on the floor in distress at the time.

As if that wasn’t enough, the hospital only released the tape because they were compelled to by law in the course of exchanging evidence in a civil suit that has been brought against them by the New York Civil Liberties Union. They have now agreed to try to reduce the waiting time at these public hospitals to 10 - 13 hours over the next several months. You read that right; 10 - 13 hours is their new goal for treating patients. Talk about chinning off the curb.