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Twitter: #WeLoveTheNHS

Posted by DarrenG on August 13, 2009

avtar-nhsHeart warming to see the #WeLoveTheNHS hashtag has attracted over a million posts following the US political criticism of our NHS system.

One of President Obama’s pledges was reform of the US healthcare system  which is built upon insurance funded health-care.  Those of us lucky enough to live in a country where health-care is free to all cannot imagine what it must be like to worry about what is and isn’t covered under your medical insurance policy and worse still what you do when you cannot afford to have insurance at all.

Now I’m about to undergo surgery next week on the NHS, surgery that will cost many tens of thousands of pounds but I know that I don’t have to pay and that all the treatments, after-care and follow up is free.  I frequent a usergroup where others who have had or are having this procedure (the ilizarov or TSF) can discuss their progress and some of the stories are truly frightening.  Imagine having an operation but being told that the follow up care wasn’t covered and would be billed, or that despite being unable to walk your policy would not cover you!  One family had even contemplated re-enlisting in the US Army so the wife could get medical care that she needed but was not available on insurance.

Yes at times our NHS isn’t perfect but I’ve always had a very positive experience and given the option of NHS or insurance based care I’d choose the NHS each time.  I don’t want a board of insurance assessors choosing what I need and if one thing is clear from the US example, there are a lot of very rich medical insurance companies and doubtless a fair number of senators who continue to get their backs scratched by them as they fight to maintain their position.

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