*waves*
Hello there, all you lucky people going to writerconuk - hope you all have a fabulous time! I wish I was going, of course, but on the other hand I'm getting an Anna on Monday (a royal one, no less!), so I'm not complaining. Quite the opposite in fact! (Squee! Anna! We shall talk fannish things, and watch Twilight, and I shall bask in her glow of pure loveliness!)
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Not sure I have anything to say about the healthcare debate in the US, so I'll share some links:
curiouswombat (community nurse specialist here in the UK) wrote a Public Information Announcement. (Go look at those statistics!)
liz_marcs (as ever at the forefront) has a post where she collects stories from the US, and from countries with national health care. Go, read, share.
Via missmurchison You Do Not Have Health Insurance. (This should be forwarded to every single American.)
And finally, something I bookmarked *months* ago: An International Update on the Comparative Performance of American Health Care. (Despite having the most costly health system in the world, the United States consistently underperforms on most dimensions of performance, relative to other countries.)
I THINK THAT IS ALL.*ponders* Actually, it's the nay-sayers attitude that I just can't wrap my head around. These are clearly the same sort of people who have bumper stickers saying 'Honk if I pay your mortgage'. Because the logical conclusion to that is 'So you want people to be homeless? What is WRONG with these people? Oh, that reminds me of another post I wanted to link:
selenak says it better than I could.
ETA: The NHS isn't perfect. This is obvious, and the papers are regularly full of stories about incompetence. However. When Miss M was 2 she had a prolonged fit. We had to call an ambulance (didn't own a car), and she spent 2 days in hospital having tests done. At the time we had little to no money, and if not for Working Family Tax Credit wouldn't have been able to make ends meet. She has since had two more fits, but further tests revealed that her condition is something she'll grow out of, and she's been fine for years. They still arrange for us to see a consultant once a year to check up on her.
My m-i-l had cancer a few years ago, and my b-i-l's wife was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after discovering that she was pregnant. The baby is now 16 weeks, gorgeous, and b-i-l's wife has just finished chemo. These are just a few stories from my most immediate family. All treatment was free. We are now much better off financially, and I am *happy* to help pay into the system. Also, and this is something a lot of the rabid right-wingers can't seem to grasp, it is our NHS. It belongs to the people (or at least it ought to), not companies looking for profit.
And now I will shut up. Have a nice day!
ETA2: Via Petzi, a post by kellyhk about those 'Death Panels'. (I didn't think Sarah Palin could sink any lower. And then she did! What America needs (as far as I can tell) is a genuine debate, not scare mongering.)
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Now I shall go try to entertain the children, which basically means 'getting them out of the house whilst Darcy re-arranges a few walls'. (Yes, I mean the wall-thing literally. And the hoover just broke so there is dust & dirt EVERYWHERE! Oh joy!) (Anna, if you read this, you don't mind a little dirt, right?)
~~~~~
Not sure I have anything to say about the healthcare debate in the US, so I'll share some links:
curiouswombat (community nurse specialist here in the UK) wrote a Public Information Announcement. (Go look at those statistics!)
liz_marcs (as ever at the forefront) has a post where she collects stories from the US, and from countries with national health care. Go, read, share.
Via missmurchison You Do Not Have Health Insurance. (This should be forwarded to every single American.)
And finally, something I bookmarked *months* ago: An International Update on the Comparative Performance of American Health Care. (Despite having the most costly health system in the world, the United States consistently underperforms on most dimensions of performance, relative to other countries.)
I THINK THAT IS ALL.*ponders* Actually, it's the nay-sayers attitude that I just can't wrap my head around. These are clearly the same sort of people who have bumper stickers saying 'Honk if I pay your mortgage'. Because the logical conclusion to that is 'So you want people to be homeless? What is WRONG with these people? Oh, that reminds me of another post I wanted to link:
selenak says it better than I could.
ETA: The NHS isn't perfect. This is obvious, and the papers are regularly full of stories about incompetence. However. When Miss M was 2 she had a prolonged fit. We had to call an ambulance (didn't own a car), and she spent 2 days in hospital having tests done. At the time we had little to no money, and if not for Working Family Tax Credit wouldn't have been able to make ends meet. She has since had two more fits, but further tests revealed that her condition is something she'll grow out of, and she's been fine for years. They still arrange for us to see a consultant once a year to check up on her.
My m-i-l had cancer a few years ago, and my b-i-l's wife was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after discovering that she was pregnant. The baby is now 16 weeks, gorgeous, and b-i-l's wife has just finished chemo. These are just a few stories from my most immediate family. All treatment was free. We are now much better off financially, and I am *happy* to help pay into the system. Also, and this is something a lot of the rabid right-wingers can't seem to grasp, it is our NHS. It belongs to the people (or at least it ought to), not companies looking for profit.
And now I will shut up. Have a nice day!
ETA2: Via Petzi, a post by kellyhk about those 'Death Panels'. (I didn't think Sarah Palin could sink any lower. And then she did! What America needs (as far as I can tell) is a genuine debate, not scare mongering.)
~~~~~~
Now I shall go try to entertain the children, which basically means 'getting them out of the house whilst Darcy re-arranges a few walls'. (Yes, I mean the wall-thing literally. And the hoover just broke so there is dust & dirt EVERYWHERE! Oh joy!) (Anna, if you read this, you don't mind a little dirt, right?)