US Adverts on National Healthcare

Yeah, no luck discussing this one with family. They are all uber-conservative and not too open to any of that "socialist stuff."  I do try to point out the good treatment I have been getting and try to point out the scarier parts of the current system in US and why it desperately needs improvement, but they never listen. My mom actually told me that Obama is planning to "stop people from going to the doctor."  Probably gets her info from these stupid adverts. Grrrrrr. I'll have to stop talking about this now...

My dad said to me this week that he has heard that if you are elderly on the NHS, you won't get the same treatment as a young person. He said he was very concerned about this...I told him it simply was not true. I am so concerned that people are just making stuff up and throwing it out there. It makes me feel very sad.

and he thinks Medicare is so much better?  Elderly people are on Medicare because no private insurer will take them.  My parents are, of course (they do have supplemental insurance for prescriptions, thankfully), but you should hear my mom go on about 'socialized medicine' when she's on a government-funded healthcare programme.

For the life of me I just don't get that!

All my family say is that 'we'll have to pay more taxes if this goes through' and I just say '...and how much do you pay out of your wage for health insurance every month?'

I love the NHS and think its disgraceful the amount the US charge for healthcare and perscriptions.  It scares the heck out of me that my little sister has been without healthcare for a year because she's a hairdresser and her job doesn't offer it.  She makes to much to be eligible for free govt healthcare and too little to be able to afford it on her own.  One broken leg or car accident could land her over $10,000 in debt 

I had to go off on my uncle on facebook the other day about this.

Here's the excerpt:

Me: hates waiting 6 weeks for an initial consultation with a specialist for your kid when you just want something to be taken care of. They will take a look and send information back to the dr/insurance asking them to approve what they already sent you there for in the 1st place! Aargh.

Uncle: IT'S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE WITH SOCIALIZED HEALTH CARE
(yes he types everything in all caps!!)

Me: I lived in England for a year and I have to say that I'd get faster care than this and wouldn't have to pay a dime other than the taxes (unless I wanted to go to a private dr, which is still an option in all socialized medicine countries, as is private health insurance on top of the gov't provided services).

I think people don't realize that we're already a social democratic country. People are so traumatized by the word socialized. We already have socialized health care. Its called medicare/medicaid. We already have social programs such as unemployment, disability, food stamps, welfare, WIC, etc.

When I was in england I always got same day appts with the dr, never had long waits at the ER (3 trips for our family in total) and never paid a dime out of pocket (other than taxes). What you didn't have was people who avoided taking care of themselves and seeing the dr because they were afraid of going bankrupt or dying because they couldn't afford lifesaving treatment.

End Excerpt. Its ridiculous. The older generation was so scared of the soviets that the word socialism makes them think we're all going commie.

It seems to me that people are going to wait either way. At least in my experience, going to see my thyroid specialist. I went to go in June, for my first visit with a new doctor, going from a children's doctor to an adult one. I was filling out the paper work in the lobby area, while overhearing a receptionist(?) talking to a possible patient over the phone. It's early June by the way.

"You would like to schedule an appointment? We can do that....*checks the schedule* the next one I have is Monday, September 21st.... No, there isn't anything earlier then that, but if you call and check up every one in a while, there are often cancellations..."

It's still a bit to wait for, and this person is paying for private care. I also witnessed this sort of thing when we were trying to book an appointment for me. We had just gotten the blood tests back and they insisted that I go see a specialist and when we were trying to book an appointment in December, the earliest they could do was April  No system is perfect.

End Excerpt. Its ridiculous. The older generation was so scared of the soviets that the word socialism makes them think we're all going commie.

I agree.

Every time I tell my mother we have to visit the GP or any other medical/dental thing, she always asks how long we had to wait for the appointment.  Like, I had a horrible ear infection, and she asked if I was waiting for days for the appointment.  She sounded really disappointed when I told her I waited a few minutes as a walk-in.

When Mr. A. had to do physical therapy, she made waiting 6 weeks sound like waiting 2 years.  I don't think that it would be all that unusual to wait that long for physical therapy in the US in some areas, depending upon the urgency.

My dad is supporting reform, no matter the reform.  He worried too much about me, my sister, her kids, my other sister who has MS, and his step-daughter (my half-sister who had to quit a well paying job to qualify for funding for life-saving treatment that her insurance wouldn't cover when she got breast cancer).   My mom will always run a lot more conservative than dad.

The adverts are not only inaccurate, they are disingenuous in comparing the US to the UK in the first place. Public provision of the actual health services a la NHS simply isn't on the cards in the US. It wold be far more honest to compare against countries like France and Switzerland, countries that through government intervention have ensured that almost all of their citizens are insured and have access to largely privately-provided health services. The problem for the advertisers is those countries regularly wipe the floor with the US in studies of comparative health systems.

That can't be the full document she's quoting. In its .pdf form, that one is only 30 pages and she refers to to well over 500 pages -- though I'm dipped if I know how you'd get the full, page-numbered text. I wish mainstream media sites were better about cross-linking their articles to their sources.

The bill referred to in the article is H.R. 3200.  Here's a link to the full text: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h3200ih.txt.pdf

Don't forget the Veterans Administration.  Damn socialist system taking care of all those military vets... shame on them!  Let them fend for themselves!!!  What do we owe them???

(I am being VERY sarcastic here....)

I am feeling decidedly pro gun right now and that's just so I can shoot the TV every time I see an AD or Fox news...

The bill referred to in the article is H.R. 3200.  Here's a link to the full text: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h3200ih.txt.pdf

Thanks.

Really surprised my faux-news watching father hasn't brought this up... probably will when we talk on Skype tomorrow 

Fair enough if they don't want a British model or a Canadian model, if they are starting up then they are in the ideal situation to look around and pick out the best in various countries models to create a system - it doesn't have to be 1 or the other.
But it won't happen and they'll end up with an half-assed system.

I agree. I've written to my state reps and suggest you tell your US relatives to do the same.  We have the perfect opportunity to set up a great system by learning from other countries successes and failures. 

i just got a letter from my employer (one of the largest employers in my state) that informed me they were doing away with the option to keep our healthcare plans when we retire.  this means that no one will be able to retire before age 65 unless they want to risk not having coverage (and can you imagine what it would cost to purchase your own health insurance at age 60?) 

My sister, who has been made redundant, is now going to be paying for health  insurance for her and her husband the equivalent of my entire net salary at my last job in the UK.

She's very lucky that she can afford to do that for now. There are people who wouldn't be able to.

(Her husband doesn't have his own health insurance  because he was made redundant a year before he would have retired.)