NHS

[tanngrisnir]

I might not have been online much in the past couple of weeks, but that doesn't mean I haven't heard some of the grotesque rubbish coming out of the USA about the NHS. You try to ignore it, but the stupid seems to seep through. Of course, the NHS is not perfect; what large organisation is? It certainly wasn't helped by Thatcher's determination to

Comments

[jobob_80]

I probably would believe how your paternal grandmother lived. I *wasn't* born in a Glasgow tenement, but both my parents were. It was my dad's generation that were the first to benefit from the same education policies that you mention here, which paved the way for he and my mum buying their own house. My family were never well off, but we could afford the important things.

The UK would be a very different place today without the NHS. I don't have much experience with US-type health insurance, but my experience of insurance in general is that they're reluctant to cover anything that's likely to happen. So mobile phone insurance doesn't cover accidental damage or theft if the phone is out of sight at the time. Similarly, private health insurance in the UK tends not to cover existing conditions (which leaves me wondering what the point of it is).

Certainly there was a lot of poverty in Glasgow a few generations ago (still is, really), and I don't know many people who'd have been able to afford healthcare.

My treatment on the NHS has always been excellent, although generally speaking I'm fairly healthy. The suggestion that it should be abolished is horrific. Reformed, perhaps... but never abolished. Why would we want to take a step backwards?

[tanngrisnir]

Yes, you probably would. (She lived in one not very large room, with a sink - no hot water - and a small cooker, bed in a recess, a small hallway between it and the door, just big enough for a cupboard for her food, etc.; the toilet was outside, down the close stairs on one of the landings.)

My impression of insurance companies is that they always want to avoid paying out. Also, the cost is much higher: if the US had a sensible, state-provided system it would cost the individual less than those who currently have insurance pay (or have paid for them by their employers).

If we didn't have the NHS, the situation would be that many people would have untreated problems because they couldn't afford the doctor.