Republicans: NHS is "Owellian and Evil"

Burnsy2023

Burnsy2023

Burnsy2023

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8199615.stm

I know it's far from perfect, but compared to the US health system, it's leaps and bounds ahead. The though of even a hint of socialism scares the crap out of a lot of Yanks.

I know a lot of people do the classic British thing of moaning about everything, but is the NHS a fundamental part of the UK or is it really evil?

I for one think the NHS is a lot better than most people give it credit for.
 
I find it incredible that a free people living in a country dedicated and founded in the cause of independence and freedom can seriously be thinking about adopting such a system in peacetime and massively expanding the role of the state when there's no need.
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The most striking thing about it is that you are very often just sent back to the queue," he told the Glenn Beck programme and spoke of elderly patients "left starving in wards"
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Both my parents work for the NHS and dont have much praise for it.

Doesnt it bother you that a lot of the people it helps dont do much to help themselves, thus mis-using resources. People who smoke X amount a day, drink, dont watch their diet, get in fights etc.
 
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It's America, and we all know that 75% of their general populace is thick as pig **** when it comes to anything outside of their own borders.

Example: http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=333933006516877

Check the Editor's note at the top of the article. This is what the original article stated.

People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.
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The NHS does have its flaws, yes, but it definitely works as well. My experience of it wasn't too bad at all.

It's just the typical ZOMG SOCIALISM kneejerk response from what I can see. :/
 
The NHS is far from perfect.
But it is miles better than what a lot of Americans have, even when they've got health insurance (some of the companies have policies such as voiding insurance for cancer if you don't declare a mistaken diagnosis by a previous doctor, and many seem to have an attitude that makes our car insurance industry seem paragons of customer service when it comes to paying out for procedures*).

The NHS could do with a lot of improvements, but the American system at the moment leaves a lot of people totally screwed for basic, but essential health care (and can end up locking people into jobs they hate because they wouldn't get health care with other jobs, or in people losing health care coverage because they lose a job).
It's scary reading how much some of the people on another forum I visit have to pay in "co payments" when visiting a GP, or getting a prescription, even when they've got fairly good insurance (it often makes NHS prescription charges look tiny).



*I saw some stats the other day that reckoned the US health care system wastes something like 50 billion dollars a year purely because no two insurance companies have the same format for claims forms/payment forms that the doctors have to fill in, and the costs of resubmitting claims because they are "lost" by the company after the doctors submit them.
 
Daniel Hannan has had his 10mins of youtube fame, now he should **** off back to the rock from which he crawled under.

That article has made me really quite angry. The NHS is a fantastic thing.
 
There's nothing wrong with the ideas behind the NHS, its only flaw is the abuse its open to.
Personally i think its a asset to the country!
 
I've had nothing but good experiences with the NHS. My family has fared pretty well too, mostly; although they're less helpful with the elderly.
 
US President Barack Obama has told a meeting of doctors that spiralling healthcare costs could bankrupt the American economy.

The US could "go the way of General Motors" unless the health system was reformed, Mr Obama said at the American Medical Association's annual meeting.

Doctors, along with other groups, are divided over Mr Obama's proposals.

Health reform was one of Mr Obama's key election promises. Nearly 50 million people are without medical insurance.

Mr Obama is proposing a 10-year reform programme, estimated to cost about $1 trillion, that would make healthcare available to all Americans.

'Forcing out waste'

In his speech to the American Medical Association (AMA), President Obama compared the US with the country's ailing car industry.

Massive US healthcare battle looms

"A big part of what led General Motors and Chrysler into trouble were the huge costs they racked up providing healthcare for their workers - costs that made them less profitable and less competitive with automakers around the world.

"If we do not fix our healthcare system, America may go the way of GM - paying more, getting less, and going broke," Mr Obama added.
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Obama warns doctors over reforms
 
The NHS is a fantastic idea, unfortunately in recent times it has become overloaded with non clinical staff with a focus on budgets.

The postcode lottery system is well known, I like the idea of the PCT system over one single NHS behemoth but even this system appears not to work.

Efficiency surely is the way to go, as I think at the minute drugs are purchased by the individual PCT, surely savings could be made by a strategic central purchasing system.

How much money could be saved also by scrapping NHS direct?
 
In my opinion both the NHS and the US system are at the extremes of health care provision.
The NHS isn't the system Bevan planned to introduce just as the Pension system isn't the one he planned. But it maintains a high standard nonetheless. The biggest problem is the divorce of service from cost makes people treat the service with contempt in the misbegotten belief it's free.
The US system ends up with higher per head capita spending on health than the UK and generally is ahead in clinical outcomes but does leave poor people behind for chronic care. No-one however is turned away for emergency care (A+E) no matter what anyone claims.

Social insurance schemes are the norm across Europe and much of the rest of the developed World, only the UK insists on this peculiar brand of health communism. But the sacred cow cannot be culled and replaced because so many adherents worship it.
 
The idea of the NHS is awesome, the reality less so, however for all its flaws and need for reform, it's better than the system the americans currently have.

Unfortunately, many people jump on you when you say the NHS needs reform and accuse you of wanting an american system...
 
The NHS would be a far better institution if we were to get shot of 90% of the useless middle-management paper pushers.
 
The NHS has it's problems but having just had surgery (alebeit pretty minor) I have nothing but praise
 
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