Today, the House of Representatives had a moment of silence, to honor the death of Michael Jackson. I‘m not even sure they did this for Elvis. I suppose that‘s what bothers me the most about it. And on that note, this week‘s edition of the Friday Afternoon Moment of Whimsy takes a look at how these geniuses might deal with a national health care system.
By the way, we here at mwbh would love to hear from both our British and Canadian readers, about the respective programs they have in place. What does your experience tell us about what we in the States could expect from a similar plan? We have heard good things about one of them. The other, well, not so good.
Well?
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2 comments:
Our National Health Service here in the UK (or more properly, our four National Health Services, since England, Wales, Scotland and NI each have one) is one of the most complained of institutions in our country; but when any of us stops for a moment and thinks about the alternative, she or he is profoundly grateful.
As one who has more reason than some to share that gratitude, I just want to say that, with all its faults, our system of health care is one of the finest things about our nation. If we could export one thing worldwide that would truly bring mercy and hope to people everywhere, it would be the NHS.
That a person's access to health care should depend upon their access to money is surely the most enormous injustice. I cannot imagine how a country that considers itself Christian could continue to operate that way even for a month.
As a senior citizen on Medicare, I have had a running battle with the system we presently have. I went to an emegency room suffering chest pains and other symptoms of a possible coronary problem. After making sure I had some kind of insurance or money with which to pay, they ran a psychiatric test. Finding that I was "normal", they had a battery of x-rays made. Being late in the evening, there was no radiologist on duty so the ER doc and I looked at the films, and saw that there was no heart problem but that a couple of neck vertibrae were dislcated, pinching a nerve. I was told to take aspirin and see my regular doctor "next week". During the past year, I have been seen by eight doctors, had the same battery of x-rays done, and gotten a large bill for services from a radiologist in a distant county. This week, I was allowed to visit a chiropractor who in minutes realigned the offending bones, and the pain is gone.
One more example of the skewed system we already have. A friend was taken to the ER of the largest hospital in the area with a tiny piece of metal in his eye. To their credit, they took care of the problem first. Then they asked him to fill out a stack of forms in order to bill his insurance company. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a roll of large currency and asked, "How much?"
They had to call the hospital administrator to determine whether he could pay cash for medical services.
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