KnowYourPro

Some people in this country think our health CARE system is just fine. On that point, I'd have to agree. We have a lot of good doctors and nurses, great education, innovations up the whazoo... Sadly, the insurance industry and a bunch of politicians want to prevent ALL citizens from having ACCESS to that system. They want some people to go without, get sick, and claim bankruptcy or just die. Is that hyperbole? Perhaps a little.

My English uncles are visiting, and we had an interesting conversation about their "Socialist" medical care back in England. My mother was present, and if you read my blogs, you know where she stands on this issue. I'll give you a hint, she is firmly planted in the Fox News studios calling Allan Colmes a Communist. She wanted desperately for them to say something bad about the system. Here's how  the conversation went:

'So, what's the system like over there?'

'The care I got for my operation was first class.'

Irate, my mother asks the next few questions.

'Where did you have it done?'

'Barnsley.'

'How long did you have to wait???'

'Not long at all.'

Uh oh... My mom's heart was breaking right before my eyes. How could a 'Socialist' system not kill every last European out there? How in the world was my uncle still alive?

Well, I'll tell you. In reality, where most rational people live, doctors and hospitals don't care HOW they get paid, just so long as they GET PAID. In England, people pay taxes. Some of those taxes go to pay for the roads, some goes towards education (they all get to go to college there, did you know that?), and yet they even have money left over to run the National Health System. I know what you are saying. 'Yeah, but those Socialists don't want to fix you, they want you to die!!! Damn Socialists'. Well, check out their website: http://www.nhs.uk/Pages/HomePage.aspx 

Do they REALLY seem hell bent on killing Brits?

If you get sick there, you go to a hospital, or your GP, get the care you need, and you are done. It's been paid for already, by way of taxation. Amazing, isn't it? Quality care, no worries about how it's going to be paid for. Ah, what a stress-free existence. 

In this country, for some strange reason, people think that this set-up is bad. They think 'government run' means BAD. What I find striking is that there are actually politicians who think government is BAD. Why are they part of it then? Why not allow people who want to operate BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE run things? Why do some people in this country IDOLIZE a person like Ronald Reagan? His faith in government was so low, it may have not existed. "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'

Really Reagan? Maybe we hired the wrong guy? 

I'm off on a major tangent now, but I hope we can actually have a conversation about this one day, without all this 'WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!' crap. Insurance companies offer NOTHING of vallue, and I would challenge anyone to come with something that makes the health insurance industry irreplaceable.



JM