Tuesday, September 08, 2009

The American right is world famous....


David Seaton's News Links
Here is something from The Guardian that I thought readers would enjoy. It's written by Simon Hoggart and it titled, "Why the American right make me sick".
Enjoy!
There are few tribes more loathsome than the American right, and their vicious use of the shortcomings in the NHS to attack Barack Obama's attempts at health reform are a useful reminder.

I was thinking of this during a visit to my 91-year-old dad who is still in an NHS hospital after three weeks, recovering from a broken hip. He has had fantastic care, including a new metal hip, blood transfusions, different antibiotics to match every aspect of his condition; all administered by nurses who remain cheerful even when asked to perform tasks on men - the lethal combination of pain and old age makes some in the ward exceedingly grumpy - that I would not want to do for £1,000 a time. If he was in an American hospital he'd be using up half his life savings to get that standard of care, and few ordinary Americans could afford the insurance that would provide it. (This is because health insurers spend a large part of their income on PR against the "socialised medicine" and on sending pro forma letters explaining why your policy doesn't cover actual illness.) All over the US there are people whose lives are being destroyed for lack of proper health care provision, and there is no sight more odious than the rich, powerful and arrogant trying to keep it that way.

Nice, huh?

4 comments:

Kurz said...

Oh that pic is from The Meaning of Life... what a wonderful movie.

Would you like a mint, sir?

Anyway nothing like watching Sicko if you feel like feeling sick (valga la redundancia).

Anonymous said...

Nowhere in that absurd rant do I hear him mention how the NHS and Canadian healthcare systems are imploding under their own costs and driving their countries into debt. Or how the waits in the hospitals are getting longer and longer. Nor do I hear an explanation as to why rationing healthcare is "fair". Especially since the rich dont send their children to the free clinics.

And the 91 year old man would not be using up his life savings if he had health insurance, which is supposed to be the issue here. Everyone here has access to healthcare, but not health insurance.

And is this fool actually suggesting that the nurses in the UK are more pleasant and cheerful than the one's in the US?

IT'S NOT FREE! Your paying for the healthcare through your taxes. Why cant you understand that?

If you want to know why this is all failing, here's why: http://www.salon.com/opinion/paglia/2009/09/09/healthcare/


Adam

Anonymous said...

Adam,

We pay for healthcare through our taxes AND PAY MUCH LESS THAN YOU for more and better care for more of the population! Why can't you understand that?

The UK's healthcare system is CERTAINLY NOT 'imploding', it is in a better state now than it was the last time OUR 'fiscal conservatives / so-called libertarians' were in power. Our debt is lower than that of the US, as are our healthcare costs, and our waiting times have been going down not up.

Not only does the US have 40 million uninsured, many more of those with insurance have no security because the companies have get-out clauses to avoid paying and the regulation is too weak to stop them.

What is wrong with addressing these problems?

Anonymous said...

Don't argue with adam. He is clearly of the "we're number one" set. Anything else is unthinkable and a threat to his delicate worldview. You might as well try to reason with a doorknob.