Emeritus Prof Christopher MayFor those who think that the US #healthcare system somehow holds the answer to the current #NHS crisis, there is only one fact you really need to appreciate:
No-one in the UK has ever been bankrupted by the costs of their #cancer treatment....
Countess _Katheryn _Boheme
CatMom916@ChrisMayLA6 I've posted this more than once on various sites: I am an American with good health insurance. I'm lucky. But I pay abt $300/mo for it. It doesn't cover every thing I need. I pay a part of my prescriptions. I pay in part for tests like the MRI I got ($200). And, if I have a serious illness or accident, I pay 20% of the entire bill. If you are a UK citizen, you need to fight for the NHS.
DJDarren@CatMom916 @ChrisMayLA6 This is what I find so mad. Just looked at my payslip from last month; I paid £575 in combined tax and National Insurance. It came straight from my wages, I didn't see that money at all, so I don't mourn its loss.
I pay £10 a month for my ADHD medication, and nothing to see a Dr.
I genuinely don't understand why working and middle class people like me would call for the US system of healthcare.
vilejelly@DJDarren @CatMom916 @ChrisMayLA6 I went to the pharmacy recently to pick up my meds, & I don't have to pay anymore because I turned 60 😀
SamuelJohnson@DJDarren @CatMom916 @ChrisMayLA6 Why pick the US? There are dozens of closer countries with better health systems than the US.
@samueljohnson @DJDarren @CatMom916
ah yes, but possibly none that are so profitable for the private providers?
Ben Evans@samueljohnson @DJDarren @CatMom916 @ChrisMayLA6
Do you really think that's what the Tories have in mind?
They want a US system. That's what they mean when they say "insurance based healthcare". It's what they keep banging on about in badly written articles in right wing magazines such as the spectator.
StuartB@DJDarren
@CatMom916 @ChrisMayLA6
Most of the non-politicians I've seen calling for the NHS to be scrapped and replaced with a US -style system are those who could least afford it - people working short hours on barely minimum wage rates.
In the US, it seems that the more you earn, the better the insurance package your employer provides, while those who earn the least either provide their own cover or go without and hope for help, and the same would happen here.
And it's not worth it.
@CatMom916 @ChrisMayLA6
Most of the non-politicians I've seen calling for the NHS to be scrapped and replaced with a US -style system are those who could least afford it - people working short hours on barely minimum wage rates.
In the US, it seems that the more you earn, the better the insurance package your employer provides, while those who earn the least either provide their own cover or go without and hope for help, and the same would happen here.
And it's not worth it.
@DJDarren
@CatMom916 @ChrisMayLA6
It's also notable that the US system doesn't save the government sny money - Federal funding on health care is at pretty much the same level per capita as UKGov spends on the NHS, the rest is just pure profit for the private companies involved.
This is why health care is the leading cause of bankruptcy in the US, but is nonexistant in the UK - corporate profits aren't being underwritten by the government, at the cost of peoples lives and livelihoods.
@CatMom916 @ChrisMayLA6
It's also notable that the US system doesn't save the government sny money - Federal funding on health care is at pretty much the same level per capita as UKGov spends on the NHS, the rest is just pure profit for the private companies involved.
This is why health care is the leading cause of bankruptcy in the US, but is nonexistant in the UK - corporate profits aren't being underwritten by the government, at the cost of peoples lives and livelihoods.
@DJDarren
@CatMom916 @ChrisMayLA6
Look at the trains here - UKGov per capita spending on rail transport is nearly as high as before privatisation, but we also have some of the highest fares and worst services in Europe.
cf also electricity, gas, water, and everything else that was privatised.
@CatMom916 @ChrisMayLA6
Look at the trains here - UKGov per capita spending on rail transport is nearly as high as before privatisation, but we also have some of the highest fares and worst services in Europe.
cf also electricity, gas, water, and everything else that was privatised.
the clue is in the word 'privatised' - as you sort of imply, there needs to be headroom in the budgeting for the withdrawal of profit(s).... and of course some of these monopolies (not so much the railways) have been making what we might identify as 'super profits'