Writer's Block: Health Care

[rebness]

[Error: unknown template qotd]It's a fookin' right. Who the hell needs to even ask this question? The entire concept of classing universal healthcare as a privilege maddens me and makes little veins pop in my eyes (which I can get seen to by my excellent doctor, no charge).

Haha whut. >:|

*pop*

Comments

[moon-chylde.livejournal.com]

Guess it's a good thing you don't live in the bad ole US of A. You'd be popping out all over.

[rebness.livejournal.com]

I honestly don't understand how some people are so self-righteous and think leaving the poor, the elderly, hell... anyone who doesn't have the means, without proper healthcare. And the thing is, so few Americans seem to agree with it! I really hope it changes.

[ozfille]

I guess it was an American who asked the question since their system is so bad. I've been lucky too, other than for a few things at the outset, over the last two years I've had excellent care all paid for by the Government.

[rebness.livejournal.com]

Yeah, true.

Exactly. I know that at least the British health service has some problems, but I cannot fault the care they have given my father - there is absolutely no way that, if we had had to pay for the treatment, my family could have afforded it for him, even with all of us clubbing together. It makes my blood boil to imagine people with chronic illnesses having to suffer or die because of unavailable healthcare.

[saffronlie.livejournal.com]

Gaah, I know. Or people who complain about their tax dollars going to help people on welfare? Like we should just let everyone starve and/or die in the street? It's called common decency!

[rebness.livejournal.com]

Dude, that's exactly it. Anyone who believes that people should be left to suffer for want of money is a complete asshat.

[funnynamehere.livejournal.com]

State-subisidised healthcare in the UK actually consumes a smaller percentage of GDP than the astonishingly inefficient private healthcare in the US. An economic argument for a mixed healthcare economy, there.

[rebness.livejournal.com]

The strange thing is that I was reading through other answers to this question and people who opposed universal healthcare were convinced it was all a socialist plot that brought governments to their knees through heavy financing. It's just not true!

[pandorasblog]

Fucking idiots. I especially love the person who constructs a great big argument and goes on forever about it, then says at the end that people should get help from their church, their family, their community. Breathtaking privilege, assumption and entitlement, right there. I hate to say it, but I often wish embarrassing incurable conditions on people like that.

[rebness.livejournal.com]

Ack! That one! What a serious fucking idiot. They bang on and on about fending for ourselves then tell us to ask our local church? LOLWUT.

I am absolutely seeing red on this issue. It seems to be all the selfish, greedy asshats against it. Why is taxation for the NHS or what have you a bad thing? The effect on my payslip is near-neglible and it works. I can go years without needing healthcare, but when I needed an operation, I got it in a timely manner. And thank God I didn't have the extra stress of worrying about the costs! And when I broke my finger -- imagine being more worried about the going rates for an X-ray and not, you know, the blood pouring from the wound!

I do not resent ANYONE deriving benefit from the taxes I pay to the NHS. It's a noble ideal and every single citizen of the UK should be entitled to it. Of all the things we have introduced, I think the NHS is the most worthy - why America, which is a great country in so many ways, doesn't have this basic need is beyond me.

Finally (I'm on my soapbox), I'm glad that I can't meet this internet asshats in real life - if anyone tried to tell me that my dad didn't deserve palliative care because he's on very low income, I would honestly rip their face off and fuck up their health insurance. :p

[pandorasblog]

And I would be there to stuff rabid weasels up their butt afterwards.

*deep breath*

This morning on the Nolan show they talked about how we're the only UK region where cancer patients still have to pay for their prescriptions (and that England has only just waived that rule after years of fighting from patient support groups), and how some people are going to pharmacists and asking, "Which of these is most essential, since I can't get both?"

So the NHS may not be perfect and may sometimes deliver considerable cruelty in its rationing, but it's operating from the basic premise that people should not die coughing on a sofa just because they can't afford antibiotics. I think that thinking also has an effect on how we, as a society, think about other issues, so it's good for us beyond the recipients of healthcare.

In the end, a society that can conceive and continue consenting to socialised healthcare is saying, "I believe that benefits accrue for me beyond things I personally receive," and also "I believe that we're all impoverished if some people are suffering," and that's a very simple but very powerful moral shift.

I remember that when they had the celebrations of the NHS anniversary earlier this year, one of the surprising things to come out of that was the fact that quite a few doctors were against it back in the day. Perhaps they couldn't forsee how it would turn out. I don't want to believe that those doctors were just so cold-hearted that they didn't care about all the people they couldn't save for one reason or another, including money.

So what I'm thinking is that this may be part of why some Americans can't accept the idea. It's so alien to the current system that it seems like there must be a catch. People are suspicious of big changes that reach into the way a society thinks about itself...

(I still have this bag of weasels, should my ability to speak rationally about this diminish again...)

[mothergoddamn.livejournal.com]

How weird, you think Brown arranged that question? Because he more or less said it in his speech. Maybe he was double checking with you first!

But onto important matters-is this the layout you want me to fix? It's nice!

[rebness.livejournal.com]

Perhaps. By God, I hate that man.

Yeah! There are tiny things about it pissing me off. Namely, the way the text won't wrap on some comments!

[mothergoddamn.livejournal.com]

Go look at mine? Like the design? If yes message me password and colour you want and I'll change it. I don't know how to make one from scratch though.

Mood theme good for Sunday, bb?

[rebness.livejournal.com]

Perfecto, bb!