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beccatoriaSo I watched Michael Moore's "Sicko."
Medicare took great care of my grandpa when he had a stroke. But I was also viscerally reminded of the incomprehension and fear that hit me when one of my favourite people in the world told me her husband (who had also had a stroke) had a set time by which he had to return to work, or he'd no longer be covered by his insurance and she wasn't sure he was going to make it. And that he had a set amount of money his policy would pay out for medical bills over the course of his lifetime, and, at fifty-something, he'd already eaten half-way through it.
I want to move back to America someday; at least for a while. But this film scares me. And leaves me in bewildered confusion. Because America has always been, in my experience, a vastly generous and welcoming nation. In Britain I see people misunderstand their approach to capitalism constantly because in Britain we think, there's only one pie, and if I have a bigger slice, that's less for someone else. America, founded on frontier mentality and a sense that you'd never actually get to California, seems to believe in an infinite number of pies, if only you're enterprising enough to walk down to the pie shop. If only you're ingenious enough to set up your own pie shop. And that's a kind of boundlessly hopeful and loving capitalist philosophy that encourages everyone to take risks and be responsible and dream big; in Britain we don't really get the American Dream. It's just a phrase, and insult, often enough, for driving big, honking poluting SUVs and being too fat.
And I'll always love America for that; because I'm left-wing, I'm pro-union and pro-welfare state and pro-free university all those uncapitalist things. But America teaches me that there's nobility and positive attitudes in capitalism too; that it has inspired people to extraordinary things.
Lincoln was a total dude. And I can't imagine him approving of all this.
But the healthcare system stands out, glaringly, as a throwback to the worst kind of capitalism, with no adoption of any suggestions from any other political arena. Unlike free education, free police protection, fire departments and judicial system.
There were parts of that film that made me want to cry. Like when that woman found out the inhalers that cost her between $120 and $240 a month out of her $1000 benefits would cost her ten cence in Cuba.
I'd use this opportunity to make some comment about how we Brits should stop whinging about the NHS, but I think that would miss the point. It's noted that perhaps in France (which kicks Britain's ass in both healthcare, childcare and education) the system is so good because the government is afraid of its people, not vice versa. Because the French will protest anything.
So I think I'll be grateful that we care enough about the NHS to think it should be better and to demand that it perform at a higher level.
Though I think I'll take a break from that for just a minute and *hug* it; and not just because it pays me every month. I remember when Kev had an allergic reaction to some antibiotics he got given - didn't really know where he was, was nearly too weak to stand. So I called NHS direct, who got a doctor to call me back within half an hour, who spoke to Kev and me and gave me great advice, and arranged for an alternate prescription (this is at eleven at night, mind you) to be waiting for us at the local hospital late-night dispensary. Which cost us £6.65. And I was scared enough, and I didn't have to be scared to call a doctor/take him to a hospital in the first place.
Thank god we care too much about the NHS to let the government do it what it did to free university education. Not even Margaret Thatcher was that ballsy.
Losing about a third of my paycheck to various types of taxation and pensions doesn't seem so bad on days like this.
Medicare took great care of my grandpa when he had a stroke. But I was also viscerally reminded of the incomprehension and fear that hit me when one of my favourite people in the world told me her husband (who had also had a stroke) had a set time by which he had to return to work, or he'd no longer be covered by his insurance and she wasn't sure he was going to make it. And that he had a set amount of money his policy would pay out for medical bills over the course of his lifetime, and, at fifty-something, he'd already eaten half-way through it.
I want to move back to America someday; at least for a while. But this film scares me. And leaves me in bewildered confusion. Because America has always been, in my experience, a vastly generous and welcoming nation. In Britain I see people misunderstand their approach to capitalism constantly because in Britain we think, there's only one pie, and if I have a bigger slice, that's less for someone else. America, founded on frontier mentality and a sense that you'd never actually get to California, seems to believe in an infinite number of pies, if only you're enterprising enough to walk down to the pie shop. If only you're ingenious enough to set up your own pie shop. And that's a kind of boundlessly hopeful and loving capitalist philosophy that encourages everyone to take risks and be responsible and dream big; in Britain we don't really get the American Dream. It's just a phrase, and insult, often enough, for driving big, honking poluting SUVs and being too fat.
And I'll always love America for that; because I'm left-wing, I'm pro-union and pro-welfare state and pro-free university all those uncapitalist things. But America teaches me that there's nobility and positive attitudes in capitalism too; that it has inspired people to extraordinary things.
Lincoln was a total dude. And I can't imagine him approving of all this.
But the healthcare system stands out, glaringly, as a throwback to the worst kind of capitalism, with no adoption of any suggestions from any other political arena. Unlike free education, free police protection, fire departments and judicial system.
There were parts of that film that made me want to cry. Like when that woman found out the inhalers that cost her between $120 and $240 a month out of her $1000 benefits would cost her ten cence in Cuba.
I'd use this opportunity to make some comment about how we Brits should stop whinging about the NHS, but I think that would miss the point. It's noted that perhaps in France (which kicks Britain's ass in both healthcare, childcare and education) the system is so good because the government is afraid of its people, not vice versa. Because the French will protest anything.
So I think I'll be grateful that we care enough about the NHS to think it should be better and to demand that it perform at a higher level.
Though I think I'll take a break from that for just a minute and *hug* it; and not just because it pays me every month. I remember when Kev had an allergic reaction to some antibiotics he got given - didn't really know where he was, was nearly too weak to stand. So I called NHS direct, who got a doctor to call me back within half an hour, who spoke to Kev and me and gave me great advice, and arranged for an alternate prescription (this is at eleven at night, mind you) to be waiting for us at the local hospital late-night dispensary. Which cost us £6.65. And I was scared enough, and I didn't have to be scared to call a doctor/take him to a hospital in the first place.
Thank god we care too much about the NHS to let the government do it what it did to free university education. Not even Margaret Thatcher was that ballsy.
Losing about a third of my paycheck to various types of taxation and pensions doesn't seem so bad on days like this.
