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Aug. 12th, 2009 12:18 pmUK newspaper The Guardian reports on the recent NHS-bashing by American politicians, and how British diplomats in the US are trying (politely despite annoyance!) to the whole thing. Link courtesy of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nineveh_uk in the comments of my previous entry.
Defenders of Britain's system point out that the UK spends less per head on healthcare but has a higher life expectancy than the US. The World Health Organisation ranks Britain's healthcare as 18th in the world, while the US is in 37th place. The British Medical Association said a majority of Britain's doctors have consistently supported public provision of healthcare. A spokeswoman said the association's 140,000 members were sceptical about the US approach to medicine: "Doctors and the public here are appalled that there are so many people on the US who don't have proper access to healthcare. It's something we would find very, very shocking."
I find it pretty shocking myself.
Some direct responses to some of the claims.
I've been watching my mother and her relationship with The Irishman and have heard a couple of interesting stories from her. She, of course, is shocked (shocked!) that anybody would have to wait any time at all for medical procedures (like, come back the next day to get your blood drawn, or your x-ray taken), because she does have great insurance and good doctors. So when she heard that he had to go back another day, or whatever, she took it as an example of the UK system not working nearly as well as the system she uses in the US. She, in fact, has said that The Irishman needs to move here to the US to get better health care...but doesn't seem to worry about the fact that he'd have to pay for his care somehow, and is an insurance company going to accept an elderly man with several well-entrenched illnesses onto their rolls? Even if mom ends up marrying him? Or perhaps she assumes that since he's reasonably well-off, he'd be able to pay for his treatment out of pocket. But what interests me are the assumptions she makes that everybody in the US could get health care as good as what she has, despite the fact that she has seen people (she works as a care aid/companion to an elderly woman) who are obviously not doing as well as she is.
nineveh_uk in the comments of my previous entry.Defenders of Britain's system point out that the UK spends less per head on healthcare but has a higher life expectancy than the US. The World Health Organisation ranks Britain's healthcare as 18th in the world, while the US is in 37th place. The British Medical Association said a majority of Britain's doctors have consistently supported public provision of healthcare. A spokeswoman said the association's 140,000 members were sceptical about the US approach to medicine: "Doctors and the public here are appalled that there are so many people on the US who don't have proper access to healthcare. It's something we would find very, very shocking."
I find it pretty shocking myself.
Some direct responses to some of the claims.
I've been watching my mother and her relationship with The Irishman and have heard a couple of interesting stories from her. She, of course, is shocked (shocked!) that anybody would have to wait any time at all for medical procedures (like, come back the next day to get your blood drawn, or your x-ray taken), because she does have great insurance and good doctors. So when she heard that he had to go back another day, or whatever, she took it as an example of the UK system not working nearly as well as the system she uses in the US. She, in fact, has said that The Irishman needs to move here to the US to get better health care...but doesn't seem to worry about the fact that he'd have to pay for his care somehow, and is an insurance company going to accept an elderly man with several well-entrenched illnesses onto their rolls? Even if mom ends up marrying him? Or perhaps she assumes that since he's reasonably well-off, he'd be able to pay for his treatment out of pocket. But what interests me are the assumptions she makes that everybody in the US could get health care as good as what she has, despite the fact that she has seen people (she works as a care aid/companion to an elderly woman) who are obviously not doing as well as she is.
