Wernham Hogg Forum

RChappo · Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 7:17 am Post subject: Sicko.

Just saw this tonight. It probably won't mean a lot to you Brits that have the NHS, but to Mrs Chappo and I who find ourselves with no health insurance and living in the USA it was a real eye opener.

I know people in the UK complain about the NHS all the time but it's only since I moved here that I realised just how much I took it for granted.

I honestly don't know how we'd cope if either myself or my wife got seriously ill. It would bankrupt us for sure. And even if you have insurance you are still not guaranteed to get your treatment covered, because they wriggle out of their contracts using any means they can. It sucks. It's a scam basically.

Over here if you can pay you are ok...but if you can't you're fucked.

I have to take tablets every day. Since our insurance ran out my tablets now cost me about 4 times more than they used to, even though our income has dropped by a significant amount as Mrs Chappo is unemployed. And if I go to the doctor (which I am scheduled to in January) then the cost to me is 5 times more than it would have been. Usually I'm at the doctors for 10 minutes while he checks my blood pressure, weight and height. I am going to cancel my appointment because the cost is ludicrous for a 10 minute appointment. I just hope my doctor will renew my prescription for my meds without seeing me for a check up.

And Mrs Chappo and I are relatively well off compared to a lot of people.

The film has seriously made me think aboiut moving us back to the UK...MRSA and all I don't care. And if myself or Mrs Chappo got ill long term I would DEFINITELY move back (I've paid NI contributions!!). At least there is a health system who's prime concern is to make you feel better...not rifle through your wallet while you're on the stretcher.

Actually it made me want to move to France more than anything. :)

Anyone else seen it?
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Daniel · Sexmonster Joined: 21 Nov 2007 Posts: 88

Is that the Michael Moore thing? He usually has good points but he always goes overboard, usually distorting the truth to make his already solid-enough claims more sensational.

I do find the US health care system a bit weird, though. I just can't believe that a country that prides itself on being so free, fair and developed would limit basic health care to the employed and the bourgeoisie. It's the same with education, isn't it? After high school you have to pay through your nose to go to university. This is what confuses me, all we hear about the US is that it's the land of opportunity and the rewards are there for anybody who wants to work at it, but how much work are they talking? It's like those scratch cards that tell you you've definitely won a holiday to New Zealand, then in small print: "must catch boat and work on boat gutting fish for 28 days before arrival"

When weighing up where I'll emigrate to after uni, I've pretty much ruled out the US for those reasons. Canada looks much more appealing.

RChappo · Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 2:29 pm Post subject:

I agree with you about Michael Moore and his methods but this one seemed less sensational than his other films. It basically confirmed everything that I already felt myself was wrong with the US health service. The thing is that it will NEVER change. They could never establish a national health program here even if they wanted to because generally people here would not want to pay for something that may not necessarily be used by them directly. I've heard more than one person say something like "Why should I pay for someone else's treatment?" whenever I've tried to explain how the NHS works in the UK. They just don't get it and the mere hint of something "socialist" sends them into a panic. One fella I spoke to earlier this year basically lectured me on how bad an idea he thought the NHS was and how bad the treatment was and how crappy the hospitals in the UK are, and how much better and well educated the Docs in America are etc etc. He'd never been to the UK and didn't believe me when I said that I'd always had good treatment and experiences. He also was the son of a multi millionaire and so I would imagine that he would be fully medically insured and had been for his whole life. Twat! I could have punched the cunt! He also went quiet when I mentioned that even having insurance was no guarantee of having your treatment covered.

Oh yeah...the education system is shite too. The standard of the actual education is very poor from what I've seen and most of the "good" schools have sky high tuition fees and seem to care more about their beloved college football and basketball teams than anything else (it's a real money spinner and the atheletes get a free ride through the school even though the vast majority of them are as thick as pigshit!). I shudder to think that a kid of mine would have to go through that system...not just because of the cost but because of the cockeyed view of the world that would get battered into them.

...ok....I'm tired and cranky..been working a lot of overtime lately...sorry to vent...! :)
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Elliott · Sexmonster Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 396

He did seem to magically find the perfect NHS hospital. A few people saying "I had to wait around for five hours but I am alright now" would have been nice, as well as mentioning how National Insurance works at all.

What I got from the film was basically insurers are driven by profit, and obviously can increase this by paying out less, and when that's made by denying medical attentio to sick people...that's a bad thing.

I can't remember if it's in the film, but there's a recent clip of Bush decrying some Democrat scheme as it's the first step towards "socialised medicine".
How that is an argument in itself is beyond me - I know there's a dislike of communists, but really, every thing that's is a bit socialist is bad, no further argument needed?

Whatever people say about how bad this country is, it's still a lot better than most.
(I of course don't include canada and some of the nordic countries, those guys are awesome)
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RChappo · Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 7:56 pm Post subject:

Right. I thought the same thing about the NHS hospital shown in the film too. It looked very modern and well appointed. Most NHS hospitals I've been in are mainly "functional" and don't looks so shiny and new....not that that is really important if you're in need of urgent medical attention.

The medical insurance companies here make record profits year after year and yet there are thousands of people who pay their premiums and have their treatment denied. It's ludicrous.

The reason that they fear "socialism" so much is because they don't understand it. Many Americans were brought up during the Cold War and were fed all the propanganda of the time. They still fear the Russians and Cubans etc. So any system stemming from any of those cold war foes is immediately met with suspicion and paranoia. They don't seem to realise that you don't have to become a 100% socialist country to implement a health care system like the NHS.

I never realised how much I took the NHS for granted when I was in the UK and how much "peace of mind" it gives you.
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nospam · Sexmonster Joined: 03 Nov 2006 Posts: 674

thank god i had travel insurance that time.
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RChappo · Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 5:42 pm Post subject:

nospam · Sexmonster Joined: 03 Nov 2006 Posts: 674

it did!
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