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The UK still allows private healthcare so those who really want to pay extra can do so. In several areas, for instance emergency medicine, there isn't a private
by cmdkeen 10y ago
The UK still allows private healthcare so those who really want to pay extra can do so. In several areas, for instance emergency medicine, there isn't a private offering and others the NHS has the centres of excellence available to all based on need.
While our emergency system is often at the point of creaking it at least isn't anywhere close to American levels of having to deal with what should be primary care problems. There's also the massively real hazard of what happens when you have a large proportion of the population who can't access basic healthcare, for instance a greatly increased communicable disease risk. Then there is the economic cost of people unable to work, or work as well, due to potentially treatable medical conditions or bankrupted by medical bills. On a purely economic basis there is a case for universal healthcare.
- ZeroGravitas 10y ago"While our emergency system is often at the point of creaking it at least isn't anywhere close to American levels of having to deal with what should be primary care problems." How much of this "creaking" is intentional underfunding or political meddling by politicians looking for a payday from American medical insurance companies when they ruin another nations healthcare is debatable. It's very similar to recent Trump moves of putting people who hate what a government department does in charge of that same government department. Jeremy Hunt the former Health Secretary previously called for the NHS to be replaced with an insurance system. So how can you trust that he's not trying to achieve that goal by crippling the existing system?
- oldprogrammer2 10y agoI can't speak for Trump's motivations, but I've noticed something similar in the corporate world. If a capable executive is particularly critical of an aspect of the business, he may (inadvertently) find himself put in charge of it. It's a method for breaking status quo. And just because this new leader starts as an outsider doesn't mean he stays an outsider after becoming intimate with all the invisible challenges facing that business unit.
- philipodonnell 10y agoI think this kinda describes Trump himself pretty well. An outsider who's initially critical without understanding the nuances of how something works, but after finding themselves on the inside develops an appreciation for why things are like that.