Saw this up on Yahoo - Britons defend their health care from US criticism - and got ready for some serious arguments in favor of socialized medicine.
Instead, I wound up laughing all the way through. Where to start? Not sure - maybe with the head of Britain's conservative party bragging about widespread support of the NHS, based upon the praise it recieves on Twitter? (no wonder why Labour owns that nation).
How about I start here, with the lass suffering from Stockholm Syndrome?
Even British health campaigner Kate Spall — who criticizes NHS failings in U.S. television ads produced by Conservatives for Patients' Rights, a lobby group that opposes Obama's plans — declared that the group had misled her and was distorting her true views. Spall's mother died of kidney cancer while waiting for treatment.
"There are failings in the system but I'm not anti-NHS at all," Spall told the British Broadcasting Corp.
"I help the vulnerable patients in our country that come to me for help, those that have been denied treatment," she said....
So your mom died waiting for treatment, you specialize in helping people who have been denied treatment, and yet you still support the system that forments this chaos? The Patient's Rights Group should pull their ads with Ms. Spall, if only because she is quite clearly deranged.
The truth comes out at the end of the article - which offers no support from ordinary British citizens, only activists and elected officials:
The NHS, founded in 1948, is the cornerstone of the United Kingdom's welfare state.
About 12 percent of the UK's 61 million residents have private insurance, but the vast majority rely on state-funded emergency care, surgery and access to family doctors. Even those who complain about the system say they want it improved, not dismantled.
British officials acknowledge that their system has been struggling to cope and faces a 15 billion pound ($24 billion) deficit. Hospitals are often overcrowded, dirty and understaffed, which means some patients do not get the care they are promised.
So, the AP agrees that nationalized health is the building block of the "welfare state", 88% of British citizens are on what we would call the "public option", with only 12% remaining on private insurance, and its $24 billion in the hole (and counting). Oh - and the whole think is a clusterf*ck, to boot.
And this is what the Brits defend, and this is what Obama wants to foist upon us. God help us, and our children, if he succeeds....
UPDATE: Yes, Stockhold Syndrome is appropriate here: a psychological response sometimes seen in abducted hostages, in which the hostage shows signs of loyalty to the hostage-taker, regardless of the danger or risk in which they have been placed.
1 comment:
A demonstration, rather, of your own prejudices than any general tendency, on our side of the Atlantic, to fall victim to "Stockholm Syndrome". Of course, the NHS isn't perfect; but it is possible to remedy those by discussing reforms of NHS policy and structure, without challenging the fundamental principle of health care supplied universally, free at the point of use.
88% of British citizens are on what we would call the "public option", with only 12% remaining on private insurance
No one can "opt-out" of NHS coverage, and you can use it even if you have private insurance. Indeed, many of those with insurance do so, and take a lump-sum payment instead of private insurance.
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