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Nice parents! But what if you were born into a family that were not able to look out for you? From the sibling comments I get the feeling that people in count
by Theodores 7y ago
Nice parents!
But what if you were born into a family that were not able to look out for you?
From the sibling comments I get the feeling that people in countries where private health insurance is needed that the concept of healthcare for all is not imaginable. I was writing in the context of the NHS, as introduced by the Labour government in the post WW2 UK when Britain was broke and broken.
It goes against the NHS ideal to have some patients be able to pay for an upgrade, you get what you are given. There are no up-sells.
In recent years the neo-liberal politicians have chipped away at the NHS, slashing budgets and outsourcing services. Now that I consider what people in the USA get for healthcare I wish to take back all of my grumblings about the UK's beloved NHS! Sure it can be improved on but the values that go with it - universal and for all - are important to me. I would not feel happy paying for a better bed than the next guy or being the person that can't pay for that better bed. I have a sense of fairness that this goes against. I imagine I would not have that 'survivors guilt' feeling if private healthcare was all I knew.
- arethuza 7y ago"There are no up-sells." That's not completely true - when our son was born we paid for a private room in an NHS hospital. Mind you that was ~20 years ago don't know if they still do it.
- NLips 7y agoThey still do, or did in 2015 and 2018. We were lucky enough to not need the doctor-led hospital unit - using the midwife-led maternity unit instead (where private rooms are standard). However, we were moments away from foreceps being used - a doctor-administered intervention - for the first birth, which would have necessitated a move downstairs to the hospital wing, and thus a ward or payment for a private room.
- Theodores 7y agoForceps? I thought that forceps had been replaced by sink plungers. Obviously not the sort you buy in the DiY store but the expensive medical grade. The same principle applies though, suction cup goes on baby's head and with one pull the baby is born! I thought the suction cup approach was standard now with the benefit to the technique being no birth marks.
- NLips 7y agoYep - were going for forceps instead of ventouse.
- Theodores 7y agoI was wrong about the forceps. But there is now a new rabbit hole I need to go down - birth marks and what causes them. Plus this 'ventouse' gadget and the merits of it compared to ye olde forceps. Haven't got time for this rabbit hole now, I might save it for when I meet someone with skin in the game!
- lazyasciiart 7y agoAustralia has publicly funded healthcare for all. If my parents hadn't been able to pay for extra, I would have had the same operation in the same hospital in a room shared with someone else.