We Love The NHS
Aug. 14th, 2009 08:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lokifan_importAs I always say before a post on American politics: I generally try not to post about them for the same reason I keep quiet in discussions on male circumcision. I have an opinion, but it’s not my issue. But when American politicians are saying that the NHS “rations care to the elderly”, has ‘death panels’, denies care to patients if their care will cost more than £14k in six months, refuses to allow pap smears for women under twenty-five – well, then I really feel I can and must speak up. Because all that stuff is rubbish. American politicians are welcome to blather about the evils of ‘socialised healthcare’ but not when they use the National Health as their scapegoat.
The NHS has a lot of problems. But our doctors and nurses are bound by the Hippocratic Oath too. They would never do any of those things.
It is free at the point of use. If you’re on a low income, you might have to worry about money, but you never have to worry that you won’t be able to afford healthcare. 60% of US bankruptcies in 2008 were caused by medical bills, and plenty of those for people who had medical insurance. The NHS is creaking in places, it costs a lot of money, there are waiting lists for operations. But actually, it does an amazing job and I feel safe. I’ve never felt like I needed to go private to be properly looked after, even if I could afford it.
I love the NHS! And so does everybody else; the PM and Health Secretary (or their young Pas) got on Twitter yesterday to say so. It’s actually kind of difficult to say how outraged I am by these aspersions on the honour of the National Health. It sounds silly, particularly when so much of my flist is American: the attachment we have to the Welfare State, and the NHS in particular, is hard to explain. But it’s an integral part of the country – not just the infrastructure, but the mythology of What Britain Is. (I don’t at all mean ‘mythology’ in a disparaging way – I mean it’s part of a national identity, like liberte, equalite, fraternite, or life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness). I don’t think I could explain, particularly since even Tories (Conservatives) in this country generally Just Don’t Get the American attachment to individualism over free-at-the-point-of-use healthcare. This is one of the biggest differences in political culture between the Brits and the Americans, I think.
I remember my Government and Politics A-Level classes: Americans vote on matters of conscience, like abortion or gay marriage. Britons vote on top-up fees at university, and the NHS. The Tories’ election defeat in 2005 was partly due, at least, to the fact that they got caught with a policy of cutting NHS funding. Outside a recession, that is a party’s death knell.
According to one American politician, in this country (and Canada) we do not have the same appreciation of life as Americans do. According to Sarah Palin, the very gentle reforms Obama is suggesting – still paying for healthcare with insurance, not tax – will mean disabled people and the elderly will go in front of “death panels” that will decide whether they live or die. Apparently we consider £14 000 the price for six months’ life: if your treatment costs more than that, the NHS lets you die. And so on.
No. The NHS might not be right for America, but it’s an honourable institution and it makes me furious that the doctors and nurses who work there are being maligned this way. How fucking dare they? Rudy Guiliani, when he visited London in 2008, said he had been treated much faster in America than he would be in Britain.
That’s true, but only because he’s rich enough for excellent health insurance. Poor Americans are screwed over by the system. In this country, income has no impact whatsoever on your healthcare.
The NHS is one of our proudest institutions, whatever its mistakes. I’m pretty damn sure that in lying about it, rather than spluttering about ‘socialised medicine’ generally, the Republicans have overplayed their hand.
*bares teeth*
The NHS has a lot of problems. But our doctors and nurses are bound by the Hippocratic Oath too. They would never do any of those things.
It is free at the point of use. If you’re on a low income, you might have to worry about money, but you never have to worry that you won’t be able to afford healthcare. 60% of US bankruptcies in 2008 were caused by medical bills, and plenty of those for people who had medical insurance. The NHS is creaking in places, it costs a lot of money, there are waiting lists for operations. But actually, it does an amazing job and I feel safe. I’ve never felt like I needed to go private to be properly looked after, even if I could afford it.
I love the NHS! And so does everybody else; the PM and Health Secretary (or their young Pas) got on Twitter yesterday to say so. It’s actually kind of difficult to say how outraged I am by these aspersions on the honour of the National Health. It sounds silly, particularly when so much of my flist is American: the attachment we have to the Welfare State, and the NHS in particular, is hard to explain. But it’s an integral part of the country – not just the infrastructure, but the mythology of What Britain Is. (I don’t at all mean ‘mythology’ in a disparaging way – I mean it’s part of a national identity, like liberte, equalite, fraternite, or life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness). I don’t think I could explain, particularly since even Tories (Conservatives) in this country generally Just Don’t Get the American attachment to individualism over free-at-the-point-of-use healthcare. This is one of the biggest differences in political culture between the Brits and the Americans, I think.
I remember my Government and Politics A-Level classes: Americans vote on matters of conscience, like abortion or gay marriage. Britons vote on top-up fees at university, and the NHS. The Tories’ election defeat in 2005 was partly due, at least, to the fact that they got caught with a policy of cutting NHS funding. Outside a recession, that is a party’s death knell.
According to one American politician, in this country (and Canada) we do not have the same appreciation of life as Americans do. According to Sarah Palin, the very gentle reforms Obama is suggesting – still paying for healthcare with insurance, not tax – will mean disabled people and the elderly will go in front of “death panels” that will decide whether they live or die. Apparently we consider £14 000 the price for six months’ life: if your treatment costs more than that, the NHS lets you die. And so on.
No. The NHS might not be right for America, but it’s an honourable institution and it makes me furious that the doctors and nurses who work there are being maligned this way. How fucking dare they? Rudy Guiliani, when he visited London in 2008, said he had been treated much faster in America than he would be in Britain.
That’s true, but only because he’s rich enough for excellent health insurance. Poor Americans are screwed over by the system. In this country, income has no impact whatsoever on your healthcare.
The NHS is one of our proudest institutions, whatever its mistakes. I’m pretty damn sure that in lying about it, rather than spluttering about ‘socialised medicine’ generally, the Republicans have overplayed their hand.
*bares teeth*
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no subject
Date: 2009-08-14 09:11 am (UTC)Make that 'between Europeans and Americans', because I think no-one around here gets it either.
Americans vote on matters of conscience, like abortion or gay marriage. Britons vote on top-up fees at university, and the NHS.
That's an interesting observation.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-14 06:39 pm (UTC)Oh? I'm curious about what Europe thinks, especially since France, Germany et al have medical insurance rather than an NHS, but the systems are much, much less screwed up than the US version.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-14 07:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-14 11:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-14 06:42 pm (UTC)I know! I often splutter over American politics, but... WOW. If Americans didn't have this habit of proudly ignoring international opinion, the Republicans would be screwed now, because everybody's SO pissed off.
Even Daily Mail readers who splutter over "all those layabouts on benefits" would never consider the abolition of the NHS
YES! When you're more right-wing than the Daily Fail... Welfare: ur doing it rong.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-14 11:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-16 05:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-14 01:14 pm (UTC)And I agree with your comments about how it becomes part of a national identity. It's a broader statement about what you value, imo.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-14 06:49 pm (UTC)*nodnod* It's impossible to find an NHS dentist any more. But yeah, even the flawed Canadian and British systems are so much better. Thanks so much for your comment - I was trying to keep the rant more facts-filled and less HOW DARE YOU INSULT THE NHS I WILL DESTROY YOU, but I was a bit worried about the response.
And I agree with your comments about how it becomes part of a national identity. It's a broader statement about what you value, imo.
Oh, absolutely. The icon is from a Disney version of The Sword In The Stone, and I found it very satisfying to have angry!Merlin as my icon for 'stop being rude about a tenet of British identity!' :D
no subject
Date: 2009-08-16 07:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-14 02:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-14 06:43 pm (UTC)Absolutely! What a perfect encapsulation of the whole thing.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-14 05:38 pm (UTC)And I've always found it very strange when companies 'advertise' their medicines on TV in America. :/
no subject
Date: 2009-08-14 06:52 pm (UTC)YES. Aww, it's been lovely to have all these YAY NHS comments on my rant. *cuddles NHS*
*dies of superbug*
I've always found it very strange when companies 'advertise' their medicines on TV in America. :/
That would seriously creep me out, lol.