Japan has a “universal” health care system not unlike that which many faux-progressives advocate for the U.S.  Like all government-controlled systems, it boasts a strict price control mechanism that produces provider shortages. As AP reports, such shortages can have tragic results for patients is dire need of care:

An 89-year-old woman died after an ambulance crew spent two hours trying 30 hospitals before finding one that would accept her for treatment, Japanese officials said Friday.

The two hours the ambulance crew spent searching for an open bed should have been spent saving the patient’s life. This episode is reminiscent of this Canadian horror story, in which it took the patient two days to find a hospital to extract his appendix. 

The next time you hear someone promoting “universal” health care, imagine your mother or brother going through what these people endured.