Sunday, October 04, 2009

FROZE MY WHATSITS OFF

It was very cold and windy and although I wore my thermal vest and hose, I froze. The judge wasn't enamoured with Whitney and she was 4th. That is the way dog showing is. Up one minute, down the next. Not all judges know what they are looking at.

My comment re the USA health care drew only one outlandish and angry comment. Not bad going is it that! (as they say up north).

How it works here: those who work all pay National Insurance. The more one earns the more one pays. It doesn't break anyone. And EVERYONE gets medical care and drugs. No it isn't perfect, but we do not have people go bankrupt to pay for treatment, no one is denied treatment, no one is afraid to go to the hospital or doctor for money reasons.

The imperfections in our system, the idiocies, the unfairness, and all of that, exist, but they are nothing compared to what we know of the USA system-from Americans who have suffered through it or because of it.

There is nothing intrinsicly wrong with everyone who works contributing to healthcare for themselves and everyone else. John has paid the contributions all of his life. He is now 62. Until recently, he never took any benefit from it because his health was always good. I on the other hand have never been well enough to work and have not paid any contributions but have received much healthcare provision and financial benefits. some people object to that strongly. I can only assume they think people like me should be put down.

What about those born with longer term health issues, Cystic fibrosis for example? Here they would still live a good life and would not be broke paying for treatment, or not get it because they could not afford to.

John cannot pay insurance for me as someone suggested. Even now that we have Civil Partnerships (marriage under another name), he still couldn't.

I cannot get private health insurance because of my health problems. Even if I could, it does not cover the cost of drugs.

The person who suggests I know nothing of the USA system knows nothing about me. I know it is true that millions have no healthcare provision. I personally know Americans who go without medical needs because of the lack of money and also those who go bankrupt due to health costs. Not everything about the USA is wonderful and to suggest that those of us who see that are mad, bad, and dangerous is plain silly and does nothing to enhance anyone's view of the American people. I know for a fact some of you are quite nice with working brains. ;-)

In a private email, I was taking it all in until it got the part about Mr President Obama being a Marxist.....then I sort of got that look one gets when one realises the person one is talking with is away with the fairies.

Do try and play nice if you are going to leave comments. As the top of my blog page says, I don't censor if you have a different viewpoint. So when some choose to make claims that I 'won't publish this' they do so in the certain knowledge that they do not know me but make assumptions anyway. Really, if you are going to make judgements about me, one should at least have a rudimentary knowledge of me! Don't you think? I will censor if you are abusive, make ad hominem attacks, and some sail pretty close to the wind in that respect. I don't find it necessary to attack you in order to share my thoughts,or disagree with you, so please feel free to do likewise.

I am so glad I do not suffer from Patriotism. The one indoctrination I managed to escape. It is, like all indoctrination, nothing but harmful.

I heard someone say yesterday that all human beings are the same, it is only our beliefs that separate us. How true and simply put. I also liked Yarnhog's 'the difference between conservatives and progressive's is that conservatives base their politics upon the fear people are bad, and that progressives base theri's on the hope people are good.' Short and to the point. Thanks Yarnhog.

6 comments:

Yarnhog said...

You're welcome. I hope universal health care will one day make its way to the US, but I doubt it will happen anytime soon. We are fortunate to have private insurance (we're self-employed, so we don't get group insurance), but we pay nearly $1000 a month for it. I don't think many families can afford that much--it's hard for us and we are pretty well off. I don't know what other people do when they get laid off and lose coverage, or work but don't get health benefits. Medical care should not be a privilege, but a right.

Lucy said...

I just stumbled across your blog by accident whilst looking for sock patterns. Well said!

Brigitte said...

What other people do is "go without". Even group plans are costly at times and my step-son-in-law (yup, patchwork family) muddles through without health insurance. His wife and kids are taken care of by the group plan of the wife's employer but he has a bad back (as in surgery a couple of years ago and a brace). They struggle to keep their house, so he goes without HI. Last month he took his back out (must have made a wrong movement) and took OTC pain killers that the pharmaceutical industry had a field day. Advil is cheap here.
I agree with Yarnhog, universal health care will not arrive anytime soon. Functioning big systems develop out of functioning small systems, and American (most of them) are too conservative to throw the whole mess out.
BTW, I also agree with Yarnhog's other assessment ( 'the difference between conservatives and progressive's is that conservatives base their politics upon the fear people are bad, and that progressives base theri's on the hope people are good.' ) but would like to add that in both cases, it's "projection" ;o)
Brigitte

Margie said...

Hi Colin, As an American, I can assure you that your insights are very accurate. My best friend had insurance and became extremely ill. (He went from 200 lb. to 119 on a six foot frame.). His bills AFTER insurance for one year were $200,000. He lost everything, including his house and his marriage (she couldn't cope with the situation). He is in his mid-forties and is living in the spare room at a friend's house. At least he has medicaid now so he gets his meds for free. ($46,000/yr. if he had to pay for them.) He isn't allowed to work by the MD's but the government won't give him disability so he has to work some hours so he can eat. His housemate does not charge him anything. (Bless her!)

The good news is that he is only 25 lb. underweight now and the markers the doctors have been following in his blood have been zero for almost a year, so they think he is probably free of the disease. He does have some residual problems as a result of his illness that he will probably have to some extent for the rest of his life. But eventually we hope he will be able to resume a pretty normal life.

I lived in Germany and had access to German medical care many years ago. I can assure everyone from personal experience that this fiasco would not have happened in Europe. I might add that we have the lowest life expectancy and highest maternal and infant death rates in the developed world and worse rates than many developing countries!

Indigo said...

Indigo Incarnates

The American healthcare ssystem is *generally* pretty good, but where it fails, it fails miserably. I don't think it would take that many tweaks to bring much better health care to a much wider range of people.

Anonymous said...

I must disagree with Yarnhog's description. Conservatives believe in individual responsibility, individual ability and the capacity to do either good or evil

Progressives, however, believe in the collective. They believe in pulling down top individuals in order to pull up those from the bottom. Personnal responsibility is diminished because Progressives depend on others and government institutions for a safety net thereby, abrogating their responsibility to provide for themselves.

The more Progressive (Socialist) a society, the less upwardly mobile it is. It is a soup of mediocrity from which the successful flee and the rest wallow within.

Even the Chinese have figured out that it is best to unleash the power of the individual rather than propogate the collective.

Fear is a double-edged sword which can either spur an individual to be productive or can paralyze him and make him dependent on government largesse.

Politicians of all stripes unjustifiably peddle fear.