Comments | tanngrisnir: NHS

tanngrisnir

NHS

Aug 24, 2009 16:29

I might not have been online much in the past couple of weeks, but that doesn't mean I haven't heard some of the grotesque rubbish coming out of the USA about the NHS. You try to ignore it, but the stupid seems to seep through. Of course, the NHS is not perfect; what large organisation is? It certainly wasn't helped by Thatcher's determination to ( Read more... )

nhs

Comments 16

ashestothestars August 24 2009, 16:32:05 UTC

There in and of itself is the problem with Canada. We have free health care (don't GET me started on how people are suing to have IVF covered FREE), but the medication's prices will kill you. Sure, I can go to my Doctor and get a script for a necessary drug, but when you get to the pharmacy - being hit with a $600 bill when you're low income... well...

kalypso_v August 24 2009, 16:47:00 UTC

Does it apply to foreigners? I've been wondering because friends living in Canada have recently been saying how grateful they are to live there rather than the US because of the free healthcare, but I remember a friend visiting Canada in the 1980s having a very scary moment when she was lying on a trolley with her appendix about to burst and they were arguing with her about her insurance.

ashestothestars August 24 2009, 16:50:12 UTC

It's for Canadian residents only. In cases like that what should happen is that they bill you later - and in the case of people from the UK, they'd hand over the bill to the NHS to cover some of it. It's why it's always good to have travel insurance as well. Unfortunately, there are assholes in every profession...

kalypso_v August 24 2009, 17:13:56 UTC

I think part of the problem was that she said "Yes, I have insurance" and then gave a name they didn't expect, which made them suspicious. But it does seem an odd sense of priorities, and left me very nervous of the words "healthcare" and "insurance" in close proximity.

When I go to Europe, I have an EHIC, which doesn't replace travel insurance but is supposed to give me "access to the same state-provided healthcare as a resident of the country you are visiting".

Thread 7

frostfox August 24 2009, 17:23:45 UTC

It's a hot spot for me too.
I would have died at birth, my mother would have died giving birth to me, without the NHS. My parents would both have died of heart attacks and strokes without the NHS.
We were poor working class (didn't have an inside loo 'til I was 13) and I am still, poor working class, I was self employed on the breadline for 11+ years.

The US misinformation sickens and angers me.
Seeing US friends worry about paying for treatment WHILE HAVING A HEART ATTACK makes me furious.

FF

tanngrisnir August 24 2009, 17:31:33 UTC

Yes, sickens and angers is exactly how it affects me.

I didn't go into my parents' health care. My mother does have problems which are not fully dealt with, but that's because they are difficult problems and she does tend to avoid seeking medical help when she needs it. However, she would have died a couple of years ago without the NHS, which dealt with her severe heart failure quickly and without the added worry of how it would be paid for.

My father is currently undergoing chemotherapy for gastric CA, not likely to be curative but it should help him (actually, it is clearly helping him already); without the NHS, he would probably have died four or five years ago from bowel CA, which was treated and cured: this involved major surgery which would have been hugely, prohibitively expensive without the NHS.

bella_cheval August 24 2009, 17:29:45 UTC

Fuck, do NOT get me started over the stupid coming from the US about NHS or Canadian health care ( ... )

ashestothestars August 24 2009, 20:03:24 UTC

Would that be Justin's horsey mom?

bella_cheval August 25 2009, 04:19:06 UTC

BINGO!!

jobob_80 August 24 2009, 18:37:56 UTC

I probably would believe how your paternal grandmother lived. I *wasn't* born in a Glasgow tenement, but both my parents were. It was my dad's generation that were the first to benefit from the same education policies that you mention here, which paved the way for he and my mum buying their own house. My family were never well off, but we could afford the important things ( ... )

tanngrisnir August 30 2009, 13:24:18 UTC

Yes, you probably would. (She lived in one not very large room, with a sink - no hot water - and a small cooker, bed in a recess, a small hallway between it and the door, just big enough for a cupboard for her food, etc.; the toilet was outside, down the close stairs on one of the landings.)

My impression of insurance companies is that they always want to avoid paying out. Also, the cost is much higher: if the US had a sensible, state-provided system it would cost the individual less than those who currently have insurance pay (or have paid for them by their employers).

If we didn't have the NHS, the situation would be that many people would have untreated problems because they couldn't afford the doctor.

weofodthignen August 25 2009, 03:54:37 UTC

I've been worried about you and still am, but I'm grateful you waded in on this ( ... )

tanngrisnir August 30 2009, 13:48:46 UTC

Yes, the education system has been screwed up: you can still get to university if you have the ability, but you get saddled with debt from having to take out a student loan to pay the fees....

The US health care system is a nightmare. Assuming that everything else about the USA were perfect, a complete paradise, with a health care setup like that, I would never, ever want to live there, even temporarily.

I do find it hard to understand how the republican minority can hold the majority to ransom. But, then, the politic system is pretty FUBAR too.

I try to look after myself. ;)