Now that health care is being talked about again in the US
we are hearing what I am assuming to be mis-truths, twisted truths, and outright lies about the UK's NHS. Some of these stories include: stopping treatment on anyone after +/- 22K ($) per year because that is how much someone is worth to the economy, refusing to treat cancer on elderly patients because they will die anyway, refusing operations, etc.

While I have read about problems in the NHS, people in the UK live longer than in the US and the World Health Organization rates the UK health quite a bit higher than the US health. Any thoughts? (I have spent a lot of the last 3 days in the intensive care ward of my local hospital while mother has had her spine operated on twice to fuse the upper portions to stop pressure on her spinal cord. She has great insurance but most people could not have received the care she is receiving because of cost, and the insurance company is now trying to figure out some way of dropping her and won’t sell anyone the type of policy she has anymore).
(MichaelS wasn't picked again, Tue 18 Aug 2009, 11:48, 20 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

there have been some shocking lies
as much as people bitch about the NHS it is pretty good. I'm in the enviable position of also having private healthcare paid for by my company as well though.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 18 Aug 2009, 11:51, Reply)

So smug :(

( Cawl, Tue 18 Aug 2009, 11:52, Reply)

yeah
couldn't be helped on this occasion
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 18 Aug 2009, 11:54, Reply)

No problem.

( Cawl, Tue 18 Aug 2009, 11:56, Reply)

What does the private health care provide that the NHS doesn't?
Is it just a little extra to get you things like private rooms or is it a whole different health care system?
(MichaelS wasn't picked again, Tue 18 Aug 2009, 11:52, Reply)

quicker service mostly
hotter nurses and nicer rooms.

quick access to specialists is the main thing I think. I've not had to use it though, so I'm not entirely sure.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 18 Aug 2009, 11:54, Reply)

Yeah, you're right.
My gran had a hip-replacement done on the NHS, the waiting time was eight months.
No complaints, they did a great job, and she's had no problems since.
Her other hip went, and she got it done privately, in about a month.
( Cawl, Tue 18 Aug 2009, 11:56, Reply)

Generally,
Private stuff is individual rooms, much shorter waiting times on non-urgent operations and procedures and better food when you're in hospital.
( Cawl, Tue 18 Aug 2009, 11:54, Reply)

I have a lot of US friends
And most of them are smart enough not to believe this shit.
( scarpe We Stole Bikes, Tue 18 Aug 2009, 11:52, Reply)

I agree. The trouble is that the right wing is so good at
propaganda and making lies sound true, a lot of our, let's say "intelligence challenged", voters believe the BS being fed to them along with other things like Sarah Palin's Death Panels). Anyone can vote and there is no requirement that voters be informed of the truth.
(MichaelS wasn't picked again, Tue 18 Aug 2009, 11:58, Reply)

What scares me...
...Is what get dismissed as 'Flyover Country'.

I have a friend in Green Bay and her vote never seems to count.

I also have a friend in Peoria. And he votes republican. I like him a lot, but don't understand why he does that.
( scarpe We Stole Bikes, Tue 18 Aug 2009, 12:03, Reply)

There's a lot of scaremongering.
My favourite quote was 'if Stephen Hawkings was British, he'd be dead.'

The NHS is, in my experience, a good organisation. Yes, it has many issues, low budgets and it's beset by meddling politicians, but a system where all healthcare is free is to my socialistically-tilted mind a far more civilised option than medical insurance.

And, what the stories appear to forget, is that there's an extra tier of private medical care in the UK - BUPA. You can elect to go privately and recieve quicker treatment in better facilities if you have the insurance.

But, and here's the key thing, if you don't have the insurance, you're not left to rot.
(Miraclefish How appropriate, you fight like a cow, Tue 18 Aug 2009, 11:52, Reply)

that quote is awesome
not only is he british, but he has actually said that he wouldn't be where he was without the NHS
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 18 Aug 2009, 11:55, Reply)

You beat me too it!
Love those stupid republicans.
( scarpe We Stole Bikes, Tue 18 Aug 2009, 11:57, Reply)

Hurrah!
They also appear to have added an erroneous 's' to his surname.
(ThomsonsPier consumes, Tue 18 Aug 2009, 12:39, Reply)

AAAAAND
his name is Stephen HAWKING.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Tue 18 Aug 2009, 13:08, Reply)

Them's Americans. And Republican, Foxy Americans at that.
We should be glad that all they did was add an 's'.
(Miraclefish How appropriate, you fight like a cow, Tue 18 Aug 2009, 13:12, Reply)

He was actually willing to be quoted denying that
He went on record and to all intents said 'If it wasn't for the NHS I would be dead'
( scarpe We Stole Bikes, Tue 18 Aug 2009, 11:56, Reply)

The NHS is one of the greatest humanistic projects ever undertaken
and I'll stand by that statement no matter how much of a cunt it makes me sound. Nobody should be profiteering off peoples' lives and health. The "facts" you've given are nothing but propaganda spread by a Government that doesn't want to pay for its' voters health. That's despite the fact that the NHS is paid for by the people who use it, through taxation.

The fact is that the NHS is an idea that will probably never take off in the US because doctors, corporations and even politicians have got used to getting rich and fat out of working in medicine; whereas the people who it would benefit are fed utter crap to them and forced to take out insurance that they often can't really afford in order to access any real kind of medical care that should be theirs by right.

Aneurin Bevin, the architect of the NHS, really ought to have more attributed to him than one smallish statue in Cardiff.

And yeah, I am a pinko, commie Euro-weenie :P
( Kroney, Tue 18 Aug 2009, 12:26, Reply)

It's not as much the Doctors as the insurance companies
A lot of Doctors really want a simple national system. They have to spend lots of money on personnel to fill out confusing and obfuscatory insurance forms for each patient in order to get any money.

Industry to a great extent owns much of the US government especially the right wing who spend their energy and lies supporting an insurance industry that pays millions to its top executives while dropping people off of their policies in order to maintain profitability instead of actually paying of the medical coverage they advertise that they cover.
(MichaelS wasn't picked again, Tue 18 Aug 2009, 13:05, Reply)