I was really shocked to read a supposed journalist comparing the NHS with the American system unfavourably, as I would have thought that a journalist at worst had a tiny idea of the facts. 
(The original blog is HERE)

He painted the American healthcare system as amazing, when it's actually the opposite.


My husband is American, now living here, he loves it here and in his words we are 'spoiled brats'. He has always been amazed at the standard of NHS healthcare and gets really cross when people here complain about waiting lists as if none exist in the US.

The reality is that the waiting lists DO exist there and ordinary people DON'T visit the doctor unless they're at deaths door for fear of being dropped by their insurance companies. You don't always get treated immediately for cancer because the insurance companies take any excuse to drop you. At my son's school I met an American mother there who was married to a man from Norway. Why was she living here? Because she had been dropped by her insurance company after her first set of cancer treatments. My husband got dropped because he had had too many problems with one of his hands - not even anything like cancer! He was awed by the level of care I got when I was expecting our baby - free scans, checkups, bloodtests and eventually a free delivery. He was awed too by the aftercare, a personal midwife making sure everything was ok for 10 days afterwards and unlimited check ups for the baby after that. Americans with sick babies often wait until the last possible moment before seeking medical assistance for fear of clocking up too many unnecessary visits to the doctor. He and his siblings certainly did and they were far from 'poor' people.
 
Like car and home insurance people become uninsurable there and are then are at the mercy of the 'free' hospitals who care for the drug addicts and worse, the many gunshot wounded patients.
 
Yes, the NHS has many faults I know and people do wait for sometimes unacceptably long times on waiting lists and things DO go wrong for some people, but I could write on for pages about the faults and flaws of the American system compared to ours.

My husband says that we don't realise what we have and how grateful he is have the safety and security of the NHS compared to the insecurity and worry that the American system causes most people who have actually had to use it. And I'm talking about ordinary people too not just the 'poor' as your uninformed journalist seems to believe.
 
Thanks to people like him we will lose our excellent NHS and we will pay the heavy price of constant insecurity that most Americans live with - and once gone it will be impossible to resurrect due to the cost'.

i totally agree with everything said.well made. peter

I agree with the comments from Louise.I am an expat from kent and healthcare in the uk is one of the main things i miss

Would it be possible for you to provide a link to the original article?  I'd like to personally read (and laugh at) what this "journalist" has found in the American healthcare system to be far superior to the NHS. 

(Ed: The link is HERE)

The truth of the matter is that we have a system.  It may not be foolproof or perfect but it does work a damn site better and cheaper than American healthcare. 

The one thing we take for granted is the amount of red-tape and paperwork we circumnavigate by having the NHS, closely followed, I suppose, by the amount of money we save in lump sum payments for operations, GP visits, prescriptions etc. 

I find it hard to believe that some people in the UK are so ungrateful for what we have; just consider the alternatives if it helps you appreciate our lot in life a little more.

Friday, December 18th, 2009: 11:35 Hrs. AM PST: RE: "Why the USA may be right about the NHS but no one will ever agree." by 'Yellow Journalist Mr Gary Wright As an un-insured ex-pat of 57 years residing in the USA, I fully support Louise's statements. Louise has her facts straight, unlike complacent Mr. Wright, who, obviously, doesn't reside in the USA! Quite simply I must diagnose & doctor myself for all illnesses whilst I reside here un-insured. In the USA there remains zero recourse for the un-insured should they incur medical bills. Many people have lost their jobs because of ill-health, only to watch their homes seized by the bank and their families driven to roam the streets. Mere words cannot describe the heartbreaking anguish of witnessing the suffering of homeless people --whole families amongst them-- in San Diego California alone. Some of these individuals are already ill and in dire need of care and shelter. San Diego's homeless 'exist' dirty, unkemp; by day lying along roadways populated by every luxury sedan available. Seeking 'shelter' at night in doorways, parks, under bridges and worst of all, 'downtown',where they run the risk of being mugged, raped or murdered. Myraid lines of utter exhaustion of mind, body and spirit are etched on their faces. The unprecedented inhumanity, and sheer numbers, of old, sick and desperate human beings, juxtaposed against the paradisiacal landscaping & backdrop of million dollar mansions in San Diego, California --including the richest zip in the USA: Rancho Santa Fe-- is unspeakably overwhelming. The local shelters remain packed, hundreds have been turned away and it is the same with the churches. Oh, Mr. Gary Wright, look again: There but for the Grace of God go I. Be thankful that the humane prescience of the English foresaw the need for the NHS's inception in 1948. The NHS's comprehensive, egalitarian system you mock with such brevity, was born out the ideal that good healthcare should be made available for all peoples regardless of their wealth, class or position in life. I highly recommended Mr. Wright view: "Sicko" & Capitalism: A Love Story" to obtain a few facts before you consider composition of another attack on the NHS.

I think most have put to bed this shamful statement by a person that has no idea of the past history of our country before the NHS. At 83 I can remember those days. To call a doctor was the last option, unless had something to pawn to pay the bill .British people at times have no idea how lucky they are, but only know the present, which most look on as hard times, to me best time of my life, albeit little money, but the state provided help. Those who do not agree, I think should grow up, or move to the USA , passport stamp "No Return"