Musings

Uh huh.

Wise cousin.

But Dumb didn't get a chance to run in the November elections because his two terms of office had rendered him ineligible ...

I am glad to know that the looks of the doctor did make all your senses respond ! thats an instand MRI in my books!
as for the medical system,
from 8 years of the Clintons and the additional 8 years of G.W. Bush we ended up to have 16 years of medical nightmare,
lets give Barack a break,
he is not in office yet and for the 16 years to be corrected it can not be done over night!
the American people have to remember,
He is not the one that brought this country in this mess...the responsible should thank him for even willing to try to clean their s@@@...

so David,
tell me more about the hot doctor

If I knew the name of the doctor I would tell where she is from.$1,700 is 85,000 Rupees.

You have a wise cousin

I hope we have a follow up on your medical bills progress...

and I also hope we all work together
Republicans/Democrats for a better tomorrow... again!

And this little experience is a snapshot of what is wrong with our healthcare system in the USA

Folk over here on this little island grumble about our national Health Service (started in 1948) but when they go visit other countries they see the comparitive difference and they remind theselves that we here have a "free at source" health system that is nothing short of marvelous. Oh sure, the politicians play football with it when they want to support their time in office and tell us all how much money they are putting in to it, and this is particularly so of any opposition party - i.e the party not in power at any given time - because it makes for good "...we can do better than you and we will save the national Health Service from your budget cuts when we get elected!..."

I'm sure you know what I'm saying. Rhetoric is the stuff of politics.
But none of this takes away the fact that compared to your country - and also some of the countries in Europe, we here in Britain have a remerkable and exceptionally good health service and it does not rely on private insurance or any medical teams that look as if they work in ER and murmur, to the duty nurse, "but does this patient have any insurance?"

The UK's NHS is funded by the contributions deducted from each working person's salary by the employer and then passed on to the Government department concerned. Every person has an NHS registered number at birth and this is retained for their entire lifetime by the NHS system. No one is ever refused medical attention. There are occasions when a local Health Authority - devolved from the center - will say it cannot supply a specific drug because of the 'cost' but such refusals are not usual and when they come to light there is publicity in the national and local press and on tv & radio, and sometimes even a furore because of a perceived 'injustice 'and an inquiry is made to determine the why's and whats of the local decision. There are cases where the decisions are overruled by central government and the expensive drug is allowed. But medical help and attention and assistance is free at source. There is an age group band that must pay for drug (medicine) prescriptions but such things are not very expensive. Over 60s are not charged for any prescription.

Im proud of what we have and I wish a mighty nation like the USA - the world's strongest economic power, among other things, would realise that one of the marks of a civilized country is to have a National Health Serice - a service for the national health of all its citizens and it is not a mark of a "red under the bed" as so many right wingers and neo-cons have it - spreading such vitriolic nonsence to frighten the public and to bolster the vested interests of the Insurance companies who all have a strangle-hold on keeping the status quo in place.

Best wishes,

Kavita is an Indian name for girls meaning 'poem'.

"I have heard from my Canadian friends that a similar system there results in long waits to get doctor's appointments, required lab tests, and so forth. I was also told that the medical services provided were mediocre. That might be simply their implementation of the 'ideal' system."


I can't speak for the Canadian system but it sounds a lot better than the USA system where Insurance is the difference between good healthcare if you can afford to pay the insurance premium (and am I right in suggesting that 40 million cannot?) and no care, or care under a 'pro-bono' system or in a charity-hospital that will, in an extreme emergency, treat those who would otherwise die. The UK system is never mediocre Dave. See my previous comment. We have had a national health system long enough (60 years) to show that the theory works well in practice,QED. Dave, respected friend, I would not wish to insult you by implication and I do not intend to and hope I will be seen not to be doing so, but your reply suggests to me, if you are typical of part of public opinion, that this part of your society's approach to the idea is not to give it a try but to find always a reason to refuse to even consider it. Experience is the key, Dave, I met Canadians in Cuba earlier this year and they were happy with their service and said they didn't envy the US system and were glad to have a national system of healthcare. This is anecdotal of course, because I have no personal experience of the Canadian healthcare system, but I'm willing to bet that most Canadians would not swap it for the USA one.

In my case and in my life's experience I can say to you without hesistation that if you lived here you would not have the same dilemma that you so eloquently describe in your blog. If you wanted to you would always have a complete choice and individual freedom to pay for your own private medical healthcare scheme here because this is an option for those who can afford it in my country's democracy - we have a 'free market' economy - and many thousands do take this option (but many millions, the vast majority, use the resources of their NHS), but no private scheme over here supplies 'general practioners' or pays for patients to go on regular visits to a GP whenever a patient feels the need to do so (a 'GP' is a doctor who is in a shared practice, with other partners, and is contracted to provide medical service under an NHS contract - they are not employees of the NHS, they are each individual contractors to it and are paid accordingly under whatever their contract terms stipulate, although I simplify my statement here) for consultation.

When it comes to the crunch the most urgent or emergency operations under private practice are often carried out in the hospital that comes under the umbrella of the NHS, even if the physicians are being paid, in these instances, through a private insurance scheme. That's a working partnership based on the private sector paying the NHS hospital for the use of its superior and extensive resources.

Best wishes, Dave

"...nor am I attacking socialized medicine. "

Hello again Dave,

I accept what you say in your response but you may wonder why I quote, out of context, part of your first sentence. The psychological 'key' in the USA to any fear of a 'nationally' funded system, in this case we are speaking of healthcare, is that word "socialized". In dictionary definition it means "organize according to the principles of socialism". I try not to 'split hairs', or to move 'off-topic' so to say, but the deep seated understanding of some (many?) americans would be to believe that this is what care by a national system actually is and, overlooking and forgetting or being in ignorance of McCarthy, one can understand why such a term feels like a spoonful of 'ashes' in the mouth, for some americans.

I would say that in our mutual democracies we have nothing to be afraid of apropos a 'national health system', for which we would (and do in the case of my country) be prepared to pay for by the sort of contributions I have described. There is never a 'free lunch' any where but I do think that what we have over here is as fair a system of universal "free at source" healthcare as can be devised in a democray that embraces the 'free market'.

Dave, thank you very much for allowing me to exchange views with you in this, your excellent, blog. I am enriched by this exchange

Poetry in motion eh?You are already healed,pal.
Please remind her her country and send her back.I want to marry her.
You said her surname is westernized,she has probably married a local there.I want to move to America to marry an American girl in compensation.

Berebers in Africa? Explain please.
I will marry a girl only if she loves me so no bride price and that too for an already married woman.She is in the US by her choice.She won't come back.
The idea of bride price is good though.If that tradition started in India people would do male foeticide in stead of the female foeticide.

The article http://www.africa-ata.org/mc_berbers.htm says,
"Many Westerners think that Moroccans purchase their wives at the fair,but in truth,marriage depends on mutual consent and family approval."
Btw,I would be glad to meet her beautiful friend.

Thank you,David.

Hello David. Oh to be a fly on the wall during your examination. I assume the prostate exam went well, or do we even want to go there? S.

David.... Why would she have to chase you around the room????? Goodness, I would have thought you would enjoy such an exam by the oh so HOT doctor. S.

Now bend over, love. S.