I know NHS isnt perfect, but...

[mod note]

Can we take the citizenship discussion elsewhere please.

And I'm all for the NHS (but feel entitled to the odd moan about it from time to time)

I'm all for the NHS but then I have three kids so have gotten my money's worth(grommets, speech therapy, adenoids, asthma, eczema, appendix, broken bones, numerous trips to the GP/ER, braces, glasses.........).

I haven't really had my money's worth out of the NHS, but I still don't mind paying into it, and I'm kind of confused as to why someone would object to paying into the system. I mean, who knows what the future holds for any of us? I may end up needing it desperately a month, a year, five years, etc. from now ... and I'm just glad it'll be there!

You have 'read' wrong. No country goes by 'blood' when talking about citizenship.

Read the site I quoted.  If you have a grandparent who was Irish by birth in Ireland, you can register.  As I said, I've done it.



Vicky

Good lord. I meant relation.

Good lord. I meant relation.

Either way, I looked at the site and it was pretty clear that as long as you have an Irish grandparent you were good to go.  It might be a little more complex than that once you get into it, but it didn't appear to be too tough on the surface.

[MOD NOTE]

Seriously.  New thread.

What poor choices? You mean not being able to afford insurance?

And why should it be the patient's responsibility to suffer in this horrid system where being healthy is not a right but a privilege.

Brutal honesty coming up and you can all slate me if you like....

By poor choices I absolutely meant not taking advantage of the insurance that your wife's company offered.  Yes it is expenisive, but if you chose to forgo this benenfit because it was cheaper to pay as you go....then you don't really have the right to complain that now that your health has deteriorated you aren't being looked after properly.  

I also gather that by "borderline diabeties" you mean type 2 adult onset diabeties.  This combined with the teeth falling out and your avatar pic leads me to believe you haven't lived the healthiest of lifestyles.  So if you haven't taken responsibility to take care of yourself, why should the government be expected to jump in and do so?

The world is a funny place.  People suffer everyday, in every imaginable way.  We as human beings are not entitled to anything.  It may not be ideal, but it is reality.  

And to clarify - I have no problem paying into the NHS because as someone else said you never know what may come your way.  I would resent someone taking advantage of this system and stressing it even further.    

I actually did go bankrupt due to medical debt, back when it was still something you could do.

Eh? Have they changed bankruptcy laws so that your medical bills remain???

I was just back in the US working on a political campaign and was appalled at some of the stories I heard. The diabetic woman who was living on $312 a month and simply couldn't afford her insulin. "She'll die because she doesn't have it," said the lady telling me the story. And the woman I spoke to on the phone whose daughter, in a massive seizure, broke both of her hands... and they have no health insurance.

When I lived in the US, I prayed it wouldn't happen to me. Now used to the NHS here in the UK, the system in the US seems, in a word, inhumane.

Someone living on $312 a month didn't qualify for Medicaid? Doesn't pass the smell test.

[MOD NOTE]

Seriously.  New thread.

Apols.  Continued here http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=48159.0

Vicky

I also gather that by "borderline diabeties" you mean type 2 adult onset diabeties.  This combined with the teeth falling out and your avatar pic leads me to believe you haven't lived the healthiest of lifestyles.  So if you haven't taken responsibility to take care of yourself, why should the government be expected to jump in and do so?

Karin, I really don't think any of us is in a position to make assumptions about the OP's health issues or about what is responsible for them. 

Brutal honesty coming up and you can all slate me if you like....

By poor choices I absolutely meant not taking advantage of the insurance that your wife's company offered.  Yes it is expenisive, but if you chose to forgo this benenfit because it was cheaper to pay as you go....then you don't really have the right to complain that now that your health has deteriorated you aren't being looked after properly.  

I also gather that by "borderline diabeties" you mean type 2 adult onset diabeties.  This combined with the teeth falling out and your avatar pic leads me to believe you haven't lived the healthiest of lifestyles.  So if you haven't taken responsibility to take care of yourself, why should the government be expected to jump in and do so?

The world is a funny place.  People suffer everyday, in every imaginable way.  We as human beings are not entitled to anything.  It may not be ideal, but it is reality.  

And to clarify - I have no problem paying into the NHS because as someone else said you never know what may come your way.  I would resent someone taking advantage of this system and stressing it even further.    

Our health went bad before we switched jobs. Before, we worked at the same place ad the insurance was even more expensive. Im not sure, but it sounds like you are picking and choosing. If we get the insurance, then we have to pay the $350/mo plus the $10000 deductible, plus the co-pays and then the insurance will not cover the doctor visit because of our pre-existings so we then have to turn around an pay our way again. We literally do not have that. It is rent and groceries and fuel to get to work and back or medical. That is our predicament. Before, at our other job, it was $1000/mo per person and we made $1500/ person. Rent is $650/mo in the worst apt in our city. Do the math and quit judging me. The last thing we need is people to judge us. I guess you will tell us that you say the same thing to the person whom cancer runs in their family that its their fault? We were poor from the start and the system does not cater to everyone here.

I have nothing against immigrants either, but the illegals who cant get real jobs are a huge issue here in the charity organizations. They take most of the funding because the have no documented income. But many here make more money than we do under the table. So we didnt get the care we needed through charity. So, how is one supposed to take care of ones self on a meager income and no health care?

Eh? Have they changed bankruptcy laws so that your medical bills remain???

I was just back in the US working on a political campaign and was appalled at some of the stories I heard. The diabetic woman who was living on $312 a month and simply couldn't afford her insulin. "She'll die because she doesn't have it," said the lady telling me the story. And the woman I spoke to on the phone whose daughter, in a massive seizure, broke both of her hands... and they have no health insurance.

When I lived in the US, I prayed it wouldn't happen to me. Now used to the NHS here in the UK, the system in the US seems, in a word, inhumane.

Thank you! Yes, this happens every day here. And yes, the laws have changed. They want people to pay it back now.

Our health went bad before we switched jobs. Before, we worked at the same place ad the insurance was even more expensive. Im not sure, but it sounds like you are picking and choosing. If we get the insurance, then we have to pay the $350/mo plus the $10000 deductible, plus the co-pays and then the insurance will not cover the doctor visit because of our pre-existings so we then have to turn around an pay our way again. We literally do not have that. It is rent and groceries and fuel to get to work and back or medical. That is our predicament. Before, at our other job, it was $1000/mo per person and we made $1500/ person. Rent is $650/mo in the worst apt in our city. Do the math and quit judging me. The last thing we need is people to judge us. I guess you will tell us that you say the same thing to the person whom cancer runs in their family that its their fault? We were poor from the start and the system does not cater to everyone here.

I have nothing against immigrants either, but the illegals who cant get real jobs are a huge issue here in the charity organizations. They take most of the funding because the have no documented income. But many here make more money than we do under the table. So we didnt get the care we needed through charity. So, how is one supposed to take care of ones self on a meager income and no health care?

[MOD NOTE]

Leave the discussioin of immigrants, legal or otherwise, to another discussion please.


And let's everyone else remember that we're talking to real human beings here and that while we may not agree we can at least be nice.