“Our policy is to create a national health service in order to ensure that everybody in the country, irrespective of means, age, sex, or occupation, shall have equal opportunities to benefit from the best and most up-to-date medical and allied services available.”
– Winston Churchill
OH MY GOD Churchill was a communist!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Or not. Actually, definitely not. Unless you’re a conservative American. If Obama had said what Churchill said, Glenn Beck’s head would have exploded live on TV.
Historic day for America. Obama’s healthcare plan passed. Which means more than 30,000,000 more Americans will be insured; insurance companies will no longer be able to oppressively discriminate on any basis, and best of all; Republican and conservative Americans hate it. They seem unable to differentiate between slightly left of centre beneficial policies, and Stalinist Communism.
Obama was absolutely correct when he subtly digged at the Republicans for their appalling use of fear tactics to attempt to win this argument. They should be ashamed of themselves. They, in my eyes, are comparable to those who opposed the Civil Rights Act in ’64.
Obama said:
“We didn’t give in to mistrust or to cynicism or to fear. Instead, we proved that we are still a people capable of doing big things.”
Whilst the Republicans continue to complain about the evils of Socialist medical care, I thought i’d sing it’s praises.
We in the UK have a National Health Service. It is a single payer system. It is government run. It would, in short, make Glenn Beck’s face explode in rage.
According to the World Health Organisation:
In short, whilst Republicans keep complaining about how awful Socialist medicine is……… we in the UK will continue to enjoy it, whilst living longer.
For a World superpower that basis itself on freedom, I’m not sure how they can justify being so terrible in the healthcare rankings. The US even ranks below Singapore for infant mortality. That’s appalling. But, apparently allowing more children to die than 35 other countries, is far more Constitutional (as is sending the living children to war on the basis of a lie, when they’re older), than giving them a better healthcare program safety net. In fact, half of all personal bankruptcies in the USA are believed to be partly the result of ridiculously extortionate healthcare costs.
Republicans and the Tea Party movement is simply a movement to protect the profits of American insurance companies. To fight against a bill that prevents insurance companies from turning down insurance for patients with pre-existing conditions, and cancelling insurance when people get ill, on the ideological basis that the new bill is “big evil socialist government” is pathetic. I cannot believe insurance companies have been allowed to get away with their utterly immoral practices for so long.
In fact, I watched Republican John McCain tell a room full of people live on Fox News that the British NHS refuses to treat patients over 75. The extent of this ridiculous lie was rendered even more ingenious given that on that very same day, my 83 year old grand mother was being treated on the NHS after having a heart attack. They saved her life. The irony of John McCain’s position is, most of my family, if we lived under the current US healthcare system, would not be able to afford healthcare, and the rich conservative and Republican anti-socialised medicine brigade would have no problem denying us care.
To deny people the right to healthcare whilst you yourself can afford it, in my opinion, is no different to me blocking the road when an ambulance needs to get past. I’m fine and healthy. I paid taxes that went to fix that road. So fuck them!!! That’s the attitude. The “individualist” attitude plaguing the West. The Republican attitude. Today, it was defeated. My face is one of complete smugness today.
McCain today argued that the bill promoted big government. I’d argue that is irrelevant. Our British NHS has survived for sixty years, and whilst it has it’s issues, it is better than the American system. Big government or small government is not the issue. It is the equivalent of approaching an uninsured suffering child and saying “We wont help you, because, erm, well, BIG GOVERNMENT!!!!” Perhaps an injection of big business to curb the excesses of big insurance and big business, is not such a bad thing. I fully support it.
My only issue, is that the bill doesn’t go far enough. After eight years of Republican misery, the fact that anyone actually pays any attention to those lunatics amazes me. President Obama didn’t seem strong enough. He allowed Republicans to populate their lies and fear tactics; the same tactics they used for the war on terror. It has to stop. The Republicans are an international laughing stock. And yet, their usual cry of “SOCIALISM!!! HIGH TAXES!!! BIG GOVERNMENT!!! COMMMUUUUNIIISSSM!!!! NO STIMULUS!!!!!” against anything slightly left of Reagan, seems to generate sympathy in America. The rest of us look on in amazement. Today, that horrendous and selfish tactic lost.
I look forward to watching the psychotic Glenn Beck tell everyone America is now Soviet Russia.
Futile Democracy 
Your use of figures hides the true horror of the US system, because the rich and middle class actually get a really good system, but the poor get a 3rd world system which if anything is getting worse and they are actually getting cases of leprosy in america… a disease which can be treated with pills costing pence per week.
Excellent post – the sad part of all this is that those Republicans who could actually read and understand this argument, would decline the opportunity. In a debate with an American friend once I challenged him to take an hour or so to watch Michael Moore’s ‘Sicko’ – but he refused point blank to do so. There is somewhere deep in their psyche a deep fear of ‘the other point of view’ Go figure… as they would say.
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Cad & Bounder, that would be because doing so would require broadening their horizons and the possibility that they may be wrong. Republicans will never do that.
@ Ushiku – you are exactly right – this friend is no redneck – he is an airline pilot and thus presumably well educated
I love how the government will now be able to force us to purchase something even if we don’t want it. It also violates article 1 section 7 of our constitution. forget about our 10th amendment. our freedoms are eroding and you in the UK sit there thinking this is going to make all things better? i AGREE that healthcare needs change but not THIS change.
British NHS succeeding doesn’t equate to that type of system working here in the US. Even Canadians have complained about their national health care system and doubt it will work for a country like ours. This is not a one-size fits all type of care.
Shall we recap?
America stopped making products and started outsourcing. It then went tech crazy and built a market that IMPLODED. From there, Wall Street created a brand new product called the “credit default swap” that wasn’t really a product at all. We engaged in wars that we should NOT have, spent billions that we could NOT afford and now China is worried about its sizeable investment in the US bond market. So, if the health care bill is a well-intentioned debacle, i guess we should just bat our lashes and resume with our lives, eh? Because we have so many reasons to believe in our liberal-politico-halves?
Also, medicare is in the red, postal service is failing, they did away with banking regulations which caused us a financial NIGHTMARE and now the government wants to run our healthcare?
Even doctors are ready to LEAVE because once this bill goes into affect and we find that we will not be able to get reimbursed enough for the care we render to our patients to cover our debts, employees, malpractice insurance, and to feed our families, do you think there will be physicians to care for any of the sick in this country who now tote this great healthcare?
The middle class is doomed because of Liberal Utopians. Their foolish altruism will destroy this country. Because of Obama, we will be more subservient to the Govt each day and I’m sure someone like you who LOVES authoritative figures would think that’s a GRAND idea. Right?
This President is what ignorance will get you when you have an uneducated and viscerally motivated voter. As of this week, the constitution means NOTHING. It was never about health care but about them gaining more control of our lives. If you’ve actually read through what I had posted, you’d realize this IS something we should consider instead of blinding believing and following in the footsteps of a socialist do-nothing president. and no, I didn’t vote for john mccain.
As for the comments above, please don’t peg us Republicans/ Conservatives as such and such based on the likes of one John McCain and a pilot who won’t watch a Michael Moore movie. He’s a piece of shit anyway. Not looking into our views of what this means for us because of your stereotypes only makes YOU look narrow-minded in the end.
You’re right. We can’t justify being so terrible in the health rankings. It’s because the lot of us are a brain-washed band of idiots eating the fast food, drinking the punch, believing the news. To be frank, we have no culture of health in America. A spicy chicken sandwich and a bottle of pills is healthy here. Get it?
Try living here.
If you lived here you’d have realized that we entertain a DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC instituted with limitations. These limitations are called the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Americans are born with a right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Sound vague? It should. It’s given to us by God. NOT Government. That is why government may never create a law that abridges these things.
This bill makes the Life part an issue of government policy. That is precisely the reason we fought a war with England – because the destiny of our lives were being governed by a centralized power. The matter of “who-decides-what” is of astronomical importance to America. I mean, we are a bunch of states that are united. We have state government for a reason. I already have access to free health care.
Great arguments on this thread. But there seems to be an overriding belief that the choice is between ‘Government Control’ or ‘Freedom’ – this is palpable nonsense. If you have healthcare of any shade you will be in hock either to ‘Business’ or ‘Government’ – there is no ‘Freedom’ – it is an illusion.
Imagine you are refused cover, caps are put on you and you have to sell your house to pay for healthcare – (half the US bankruptcies are said to be as a result of medical costs).
Who is enjoying Freedom in this case? The American Citizen? Obviously not. Well then, maybe the Insurance Company? .. Yes indeed – they can make money out of you until you become a liability and then they can withdraw.
They trumpet Freedom because it sounds good to you, even though it isn’t – but sure as hell it is a winner for them
Government tries to have a moral dimension, but business is amoral. Business doesn’t give a sh*t about the individual – I know, I run one. (certainly they might pretend to for marketing reasons) They are only interested in one thing – CAN YOU PAY? CAN WE MAKE A PROFIT ON YOUR SICKNESS?
America is one of the last modern industrialised countries to not have a national healthcare provision. Either, all the others are wrong and America is right… or… just maybe…
The Socialist/Statist have no economic sense.
By government fiat, the selling price of a commodity is driven below its cost of production.
Any economic good that is priced artificially low will experience demand to exhaustion.
To fund the shortfall between delivery price and cost, the government must take, by force, monies from the productive to subsidize those that are less so.
As time goes by, as the economic good faces unceasing demand, the demand on the productive increases.
Eventually, the productive revolt against any more taking.
Thus government must curtail its largess.
But, by this time, the People have forgone any alternatives and are wholly dependent on the State for their livelihood.
Any cutback threatens these people.
Thus, the government – unable to fund the outlays either will collapse economically or collapse politically from the revolt of the productive (deny any more funds) and the unproductive (demanding more funds).
As will all Socialist pogrom, it always ends badly.