How Would Ted Kennedy Fare Under Socialized Medicine?

We are all saddened by Senator Ted Kennedy's recent ailment.  Inoperable brain tumors such as his diagnosis indicates, result in a 5 year survivor rate of 5% for people in his age group.

With the first 911 call, he was quickly driven to a local hospital via emergency services and after examination it was decided by doctors and family that the best plan was an airlift to Mass General.

The first indications were that he suffered a stroke.  If his case required immediate surgery, the best option was to sacrifice a bit of time for the expertise and surgeons on hand at Mass General.

As it turned out, after many test, it was determined that he had a brain tumor.

Ted Kennedy is a proponent of Socialized Medicine.  How would the scene described above be different if he were an average citizen under socialized medicine?

The following is an excerpt from physician Dr. David Gratzer printed months ago:

"I was once a believer in socialized medicine. As a Canadian, I had soaked up the belief that government-run health care was truly compassionate. What I knew about American health care was unappealing: high expenses and lots of uninsured people.

My health care prejudices crumbled on the way to a medical school class. On a subzero Winnipeg morning in 1997, I cut across the hospital emergency room to shave a few minutes off my frigid commute.

Swinging open the door, I stepped into a nightmare: the ER overflowed with elderly people on stretchers, waiting for admission. Some, it turned out, had waited five days. The air stank with sweat and urine. Right then, I began to reconsider everything that I thought I knew about Canadian health care."