Bouncing Hedgehog

Posts Tagged ‘health care’

There have been many programs on TV over the years that have dealt with accident victims who have fallen into a coma and have subsequently been diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state. Some of these programs have been fictional, some have been factual.

I have always been somewhat pertubed by the willingness of some to “end their suffering” as there’s “no hope of recovery.” I wonder just whose suffering is actually being referred to. I am even more perturbed when organ harvesting is being touted by the doctors. 

I was surprised this morning to read about the case of a Belgian man – Ron Houben – who spent 23 years in a so-called persistent vegetative state after having been paralysed in a car crash in 1983. Apparently he was aware of everything going on around him the whole time. Can you imagine that? The frustration? The pain? Being aware and not being able to communicate? Read the rest of this entry »

It takes quite a lot to actually piss me off but the current debate on universal health care and the large percentage of scaremongers claiming it doesn’t work in the UK (one of their “facts” for maintaining huge profits for the insurance companies and the health care system) has finally managed to get me there.

The number of so-called experts (almost everyone I meet apparently) who feel qualified to pass judgment is quite staggering. Which is really quite strange as not many Americans as a percentage of the population have ever actually been there and of those who have I wonder just how many of them had to use our medical services. Funnily enough 65% of Americans can’t even find the UK on world map. Actually if you think that’s bad 20% of Americans can’t even find America on a world map.

As I said the number of lies spouted as fact has finally pissed me off. American health care sucks in comparison. And yes I do have knowledge of the system here. And in the UK of course, and also Canada, Iceland and New Zealand. Read the rest of this entry »

I was interested to see recently that the CDC proudly trumpeted “Life Expectancy Rises to New High of 75.3 for Men and 80.4 for Women” which works out at an average “all-time high” of 77.85. Interestingly enough the CIA’s website shows the average male/female life expectancy as 78.11. I’m not sure where they got that figure from, do they know something the CDC doesn’t?

I guess this is good news if you’re American. Many other countries wouldn’t be so happy if their life expectancy suddenly dropped to that level.

I was also somewhat perturbed at the naivite and lack of world knowledge of some Americans in the blog that followed the article when such comments as…

Well, it’s probably because the U.S. has the best health care in the world? I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

… appeared. Yes… Of Course America has the best health profit system in the world. Oh, and while I’m at it that hoary old chestnut about America subsidizing the rest of the world also surfaced. Ye gods. I really can’t believe that anyone here still falls for that one as the reason for the highest medical costs in the world. That particular little factoid has been debunked so many times it’s beyond a joke.

Anyway, for all my American friends here is a league table of the top 50 countries life expectancy rates. So before you get too excited at the extra time you now have, take a look and see where you rank. Read the rest of this entry »

It seems the lipsticked one – Sarah Palin – is at it again with her claims of “Death Panels.” Well… this is old news isn’t it? Don’t insurance companies already fulfil that role?

Frankly I’m not prepared to waste my time on this fine example of brain power, suffice to say…

It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you’re a fool, rather than open it and prove it.

This is all about money and profit. Not health care. $1.5 million per day to speak out against the “evils” of universal health care says it all. Is America really dumb enough to fall for this baloney again?

I was absolutely gobsmacked to read that medical bills are the leading cause of bankruptcy in the US. I know of no other country where this is the case.

The figures are really quite staggering. An estimated 1,500,000 Americans will declare bankruptcy this year. Now many people would put that down to Americans chasing the myth of the “American Dream” and buying crap that they really don’t need and certainly can’t afford. A new study (to be published in the August issue of The American Journal of Medicine) however, suggests that 60% of those declaring bankruptcy this year will do so because of medical bills. Read the rest of this entry »

I am sick to death of Americans bleating that their health system is the best in the world and that universal health care in general (and the UK system in particular) is the road to ruin. At least that’s the popular conservative right-wing bleat.

It is, is it? Right, first a short story.

My mother is 75 and her partner is in his nineties and they both live in the UK. Recently he fell and broke his arm. Because of his age and the fact that he’s on heart medication an operation to set the arm was rejected and so he had to spend time just letting it mend having had it set in plaster. Read the rest of this entry »