Reply #18: My take

[supernova]

The UK system has its problems to be sure. And most of them derive from chronic underfunding which we all know conservatives of various stripes are exceedingly good at. Here's the thing.

- I'm a fan of Sean Bean. What's that got to do with anything? Well, a few weeks ago he was in his hometown to kick off a fund drive for the local hospital. A young man who was being treated there for leukemia thought it would be nice to update the rooms on his ward to have, among other things, internet access, just so your stay would be a bit more pleasant and homey, and less antiseptic looking. These types of things are important if you have to be there for a while.

- Have you seen the movie Calendar Girls? It's about a group of women who want to raise money, again for the hospital, to make the patient families' waiting room more comfortable. It became a movie because they succeeded beyond their wildest imaginations.

It's right and just for the government to provide the basic structure and equipment and let the local communities dress it up with niceties and luxuries any way they want. This seems a fair compromise to me. It's a hell of a lot better than the boutique hospitals/hotels that are springing up here. What's the point of that if your ins. co will simply turn around and deny the claim, anywhere from 50% to 100% of it? And don't get me started on people without insurance. Do you honestly think they will get through the front door of such a place, instead of being fobbed off on the county hospital down the street? Those boutique hospitals are chasing an ever smaller, ever wealthier demographic. They are affluenting themselves right out of relevance. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow. But 20 years from now? 100 years? And they are so busy pursuing the bottom line, I challenge the idea they are doing useful research. R&D is most of the time a loss leader. You have to fail many many times to get one success, something business shy away from. It's simply not profitable.

And ugh. I cringe at the very thought of calling human beings as patients "consumers." They are "Patients." "Consumers" are commodities, the access to which is to be bought and sold. It is the language of marketing, public relations. It's a vile word when talking about absolute necessity of human health. Anybody using corporate america business speak when talking about health care sends up huge red storm flags to me. And I know whereof I speak. I've spent my professional career churning out such gobbledygook. And been very well paid for it. Business speak is all about divide and conquer. The focus for the health care debate, really needs to remain on the human and humane plain, our common humanity. Do not let the repubs control the language we use.

In order for universal health care (not universal "insurance") to work in this country, we will have to make it part of the "third rail" that includes social security. I.e., you talk about cutting it or gutting it or in any way minimizing its importance, you lose your seat in office. We need decide that as a people.