someone please take care of us
i finally got a chance to sit down and watch michael moore’s movie “sicko” – his scathing indictment of the healthcare industry in america.
and it is scathing. is it manipulative, simplistic and cheaply sentimental? of course. but that doesn’t detract from the single most pointedly undeniable fact: in the one country in the world which has enough resources to take care of every citizen, people routinely die from lack of basic healthcare and/or corporate greed by insurance companies.
once you’ve lived somewhere where healthcare is considered a basic human right – irrespective of age, employment, finances, medical history – you can never go back to looking at the madness of hmos and medicaid and insurance claims as “just the way things are”. socialised healthcare has its problems to be sure, but i would never want to live without it.
and as someone who once spent 2 months uninsured, praying fervently that nothing bad would befall me in that 8 week time period, i realised that probably the single biggest benefit of becoming a british citizen, is that i will never, ever have to be in that position again. no matter what happens to me throughout the rest of my life, i can always move back to the uk and receive medical treatment.
there’s a part of the movie where moore is meeting with american citizens who live in france, and they’re discussing the socialised healthcare there. and one woman talks about how she feels guilty that she enjoys the security of free healthcare, and the rest of her family who live back in the u.s. do not.
and i feel the same. i know people who’ve stayed at shitty jobs – the kind that make you cry every day – because they needed the insurance. i know people with serious health issues, who get bottom of the barrel care and are grateful for it, because they have no money. i know people who would never be accepted under any private policy because of their pre-existing conditions. i know people who’ve been pregnant and uninsured. and i feel guilty that i’ll never have to be faced with those problems.
it’s insanity. it is the sign of a terminally sick society when someone has to choose which severed finger they can afford to have re-attached, and which one they can do without (as someone at the beginning of the movie had to do).
and i’m so lucky it will never be me.
the star spangles – take care of us
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Comment by Charlotte
14.01.2008 @ 05:55 am
It is sick that capital rules healthcare, and that life or death decisions are made on the basis of much an operation will cost. I have lived in England, and appreciated the NHS. I now have state medical aid in Germany (it’s possible to have private) and have never been less than impressed by the quality of care that my family receives. Over the years, my kids have had three stays in hospital and we have paid Not One Cent above our monthly payment.
Comment by Miss Welby
14.01.2008 @ 12:41 pm
hello Jen, I’m an Italian expat living in London, so my blog is a mix of English and Italian. I’d love to exchange links with yours and I already did. Visit me and HNY! ciao
Comment by noble savage
14.01.2008 @ 22:01 pm
yeah, i can’t imagine going back to the us health care system. it leaves much to be desired. i was uninsured for years and was lucky enough to never need medical care in that time. as many faults as the nhs has, it takes care of its citizens and that means more than perfection.
Comment by Nicole
15.01.2008 @ 13:59 pm
ditto-
I didn’t have insurance for two years in my 20’s and I was so lucky nothing happened.
Is one one the major reasons I will never go back
Comment by christy
25.01.2008 @ 22:36 pm
hello jen. i am an american nurse who has worked as a nurse in London. I am returning to work. I feel I have very much of an insider’s view on this. I haven’t seen the movie, but here’s my thoughts. There’s good & bad about both systems. The QUALITY of care in the UK is appalling compared to the US. If I got sick/injured there, I would want to be shipped back home asap. The UK doesn’t understand the concept of prevention. You have symptoms, you feel ill, you go to the doc. This is why the cancer survival rate in the UK is so poor (30%). Yes, it’s expensive in the US. But, I have worked at state-funded teaching hospitals who cannot deny anyone, whether they can pay or not….including state prisoners, bums, drug-addicts, etc. The quality does NOT vary & I as a nurse never knew who was “paying” or had insurance or not. Everyone there was given the same care. Also, because hospitals are seen more as a “business” in the US, that creates competition…everyone wants to be the best….which drives the research, the strive to be the #1 hospital in the respective city. The UK lacks the intensity. There’s no reason to strive to be better, other than find ways to save money. And, on that note, the NHS is BROKE. It feels like a time-warp, right back to the 1950’s in a UK hospital. The equipment is rusting, the staff are overloaded with work, etc. But, as I mentioned, there is good & bad about both! I love working within both systems & wrangling these thoughts in my head. Great to have these discussions! Christy