Surgery, and the 'socialist' implications

It only seems natural to put recent events into perspective, entwining both the personal and political.

During my wonderful* 24 hour stint in the hospital, a 4-inch gash where my appendix was had suddenly appeared, along with the bewilderingly morbid sense of satisfaction that I had finally been subject to some surgery. But the realization* of how extortionate and inconceivable the cost of health care was in the US had also played on my mind.

As this was the first surgery/hospital visit/illness I had since I arrived in the states, it was a chance to see how its 'all done' over here in comparison to the UK. And besides the pleasant yet obvious high standard of treatment in hospitals here, (think accommodating restaurant waitresses handing you something to pee in), the raw ethic remains the same - Fix this person, and get him out of here.

The UK's National Health Service since its inception in 1948 has been loved and hated by general British groaners, but has always remained to an extent a free service you can rely on if something bad happens to you. For example, if your appendix is about to burst. The nice thing about this is, that when your lying in your hospital bed awaiting your surgery, your not ambushed by some drone asking you future payment options for your impending service whilst handing you a pile of paperwork. This can get tricky.

If like me and millions of people across the US at this particular moment in time you DON'T have health insurance, you run the risk of this happening to you. The average cost for a appendectomy in the United States without health insurance to cover you will cost in the region of $19,000-$24,000. The average cost for this in the United Kingdom, is a tenner for a taxi fare.

And now this becomes slightly* political.

President Obama, is as I'm sure your attention hasn't been able to escape is attempting to push through a health care reformation for the United States to stop exactly this type of occurrence from happening;

- You cannot afford health insurance.
- You have something wrong with you, and if left untreated has the potential to kill you.
- You are screwed.

And in the midst of this struggle to persuade Americans that health care has gone beyond the reach of 47 million people and is need of a shake up, Adolf Palin decides to attack the reform bill by blurting out ill-informed accusations/myths that citizens aged over 65 will be subject to 'Obama's death panel'. It was later discovered that she, like many other Republicans had not even read the proposed reform bill in its entirety...and she would have been Vice President.

This isn't even where the most boorish of Republicans are at their most ignorant. At the height of heated town hall debates across the country on health care, they then decide to attack the UK's national health service, by denouncing it as 'socialist' and immoral!

OK now they have just passed the threshold into stupidity and insecurity.

This as a result has led to yet more unfortunate lowering impressions of the US, and even led Twitter to briefly crash because of an unprecedented and overwhelming influx of 'supporting tweets' for the NHS by the British. The general feeling is that Americans have no right to say this about the health system of the UK, and should realize that this is the 21st century and progression is needed if a system is failing, and if your scared of a new way of thinking, don't be ignorant enough to call another country's loved institution 'Socialist'.

No matter what reservations some may have over the NHS, it has worked for us for 60 years. It has guaranteed people of a lesser income health care if it is needed, without worrying about shelling out thousands upon thousands to pay for it.

I think I know which route I would rather.