While we were celebrating the failed attempt by Guido Fawkes to blow up Parliament, last night the House of Representatives passed the Democrats' healthcare reform bill. They still need the Senate to vote in favour before this becomes law. This is HUGE people! Criminally, the US is the only major industrialised country that does not provide regular healthcare to all its citizens. Instead, they are required to fend for themselves. And 50 million people can’t afford insurance. As a result, 18,000 US citizens die every year needlessly, because they can’t access basic healthcare and medication. That’s equivalent to six times the deaths caused by 9/11, every single year.
For more information on the issues surrounding healthcare reform in the States, this Radio 4 podcast is brilliant.
And I do wonder what those upset that change is not coming quickly enough, have managed to achieve in the last 100 days? Hmmm yeah. I thought as much.
Image from the Boston Globe Big Picture: A town hall meeting on health care at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Virginia, U.S.
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10 bantering wittily:
Oh sas, I LOVE your new banner. Makes me want to jazz up my own again. Being here in the US and on Medicare plus supplement, I have coverage. But I had to wait until I turned 65 to retire from my job because of health care concerns. I am really hopeful that this president can get us into the 21st century along with the rest of the developed world. Thanks for pointing this out.
It's such a major break through and about time too!! :) I'm so happy for all those who'll be affected positively by this
You know, I hate to rock the boat, but this health plan is not the solution. It won't work. AND it just makes our government all the BIGGER. They can't run the things they've already got their dirty little fingers into...and although many think that this will be a saving grace. It won't.
BIG government does not work. It never has. And it's getting worse.
This country of ours was not built with socialist ideals, which is exactly what it is turning into.
People that don't want to work but feel entitled to all the perks of people that do, are ruining the country. The American dream is to be rewarded through good work ethics. Many of those supporting these plans do not have the ethics of the American dream. They wish only for handouts.
If we could have a balance, then, and only then will such a plan work. But with Gov now in charge of the banks, the car industry and the housing industry (and failing miserably at all of them) to add health care? It's suicide.
I'm all for a good health care plan, but they need to change some major points in the plan that's on the table to work properly. I'm willing to wait until they get one that DOES work before rushing through something that doesn't just to DO something.
I don't know much about the details of this health care plan, but my gut says it's at the very least a step in the right direction, having grown up in a country which had a good public health care system - which is now in shreds after the previous govt did what they could to destroy it in an effort to emulate the US.
@f8hasit entitlement is an interesting argument when it comes to healthcare - we don't ever argue that a child is not 'entitled' to be educated. It is considered a 'right'. And yes schooling is squandered by some, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be given the opportunity.
Yes bigger government carries more risk. And it will be imperfect while you go through the major changes, but in 10 years this argument will be all but forgotten.
In the UK there has been universal free healthcare since the 1950s - that means anyone who is a british citizen has the expectation of access to healthcare and medication. It is a flawed system because it is run by people and to an extent there are competing objectives, but by and large the national health service is a source of great pride. There is still the option of private healthcare.
The US is being held to ransom by insurers and pharmaceutical companies and their murky back-scratching. It is offensive that these companies are profiteering when people are at their most vulnerable.
And the argument that this is socialism holds no water for me, firstly because it isn't socialism! and secondly we've let 'the market' a completely uncontrolled and intangible phenomenon control everything for decades and look at the utter mess that capitalism has made!
Quite happy for you to rock the boat Nancy! :)
A good debate is always welcome! (at least for me)
And yes, the British healthcare system SHOULD be commended. The basis of Englands Healthcare system started at WWII when it was a necessity. When the Allied forces continued to work TOGETHER.
And yes, the pharmaceuticaal and Insurance companies are horrendous. But that being said this particular plan will be taxed 62%! 62! It's like Robin Hood.
If people were HONORABLE and only asked for help when they needed it, that would be one thing. The problem arises that those that work hard are penalized and forced to pay for those who live off the system. And there are alot of individuals that do...
It's those that abuse the system that has soured my spirit.
Reform IS needed. I agree wholeheartedly. But THIS plan isn't the one that will fix anything. It's a band-aid. And not a good one at that.
Thanks for your post. It's good to get in on an 'healthy' argument now and again!
:-)
I need to correct a typo, clarify...
the government isn't taxing the companies 62%, they will be taxing people like me 62%. Just your everyday run of the mill citizen.
The way I wrote that came out wrong. The ol' brain working faster than my typist fingers!
If I work hard, I'd like to be able to hold onto my earnings.
@f8hasit I completely understand that this is being positioned by the media as a way of robbing good hard-working americans to pay for the lazy, sick ones. But is it really?!
Consider that most of your taxes (as are mine) are actually going to fund the economic bailout. this is as a direct result of failed policies that put the needs/rights of the individual WAY ahead of the needs/rights of the community.
For me funding free healthcare (effectively twice in the UK as you are taxed and can then chose to pay for private insurance) is as important as funding schools - and that is never questioned.
I want to live in a community that values everybody - the mads, bads and sads included! I don't see that my taxes are being taken from me in order to be handed out to someone who hasn't 'earned' it. Most of the people I have seen and heard interviewed around this issue are sick and vulnerable and if they were well and could work, then their lives would be all the better. They are not that different to you and me. Chronic illness is tragic. Couple that will the uncertainty about treatment, for someone not too far from the poverty line. It's something we would never want anyone we loved to go through.
And I think that's what gets lost in the emotive political debate - this isn't about money or entitlement, it should be about creating a community that we are proud to be part of.
Frankly, if I am funding lazy arsed bankers who were too arrogant to see the tidal wave of shit they were creating, that the rest of us are now swimming in, then I am happy to fund sick folks who can't afford access to a doctor. And to give the healthcare workers the option of working for a living wage in medical facilities that might now be able to afford them.
Judging from f8hasit's comments you must be in my neighbourhood, seeing as you've mentioned High Road House! And yes, they're wonderful! Stumbled in here via f8hasit obviously and am sure I'll drop in here again!
Anna
...and as for the subject of this post... I am from Sweden, where you are born free but taxed to death... And we have a health care system similar to the NHS. It has - like the NHS - its flaws and shortcomings, but I do believe that your health or care thereof should NOT be determined by circumstance.
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