Send your comments on Clive's blog posts to clivecomments@aol.com
Two more e-mails on the US-vs-UK debate, beginning with the view from California:
And another of my expat friends - an American in Britain this time - weighs in:I was interested in your friend's discussion of the financial problems that would affect his family were he to lose his employer-provided healthcare because, being self-employed, I do not get employer-provided health insurance. I am 51, my wife is 49, we have 2 children living at home and our monthly health insurance bill is $508 - giving us a plan with a $5,000 deductible and no vision or dental coverage. Although not marketed as such, it is essentially a catastrophic care plan with discounted fees - since the insurance company has negotiated discounts with providers. I would not describe the cost as utterly unsustainable - although it does serve to remind me how bad the US healthcare financing model is.
As self-employed parents, we cannot contemplate living in the U.S. now as we would not be able to afford private health insurance for a family of five. That is one of the single reasons that I can't even fantasize about returning. My Dad, who is on Medicare, still has to pay something like 20 percent of his bill even as a pensioner. This is no mean feat if you look at the hospital bills (and with congestive heart failure, he's racked up quite a few). They charge for absolutely every single thing used, every needle, every tissue taken from a box, and they hyper-inflate the price of everything. An aspirin might cost $3.00, for instance.Neither country has a healthcare system that works. Personally, I think part of the problem is the public not taking responsibility for their own health. Leave the doctors and hospitals for those who really need it. People have sat in A&E for hours because they have run out of paracetamol. This happens over and over. They should be charged for wasting time. Oh, don't get me started!!!
Blogs: Martin Bright | Alex Massie | Melanie Phillips | Coffee House | Faith Based
Actions: Print this article | Email to a friend | Permalink
Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit
Advertisement
1 Britain’s AWOL ally - Fraser Nelson
2 A phonecall to Kelly looks better than not mentioning expenses - Peter Hoskin
3 Fatal inexperience - Humphrey Carpenter
For the full blogroll click here.
GASCONY, SW France, near Condom-en-Armagnac 13th Century stone house, 21st Century luxury for 12 in 5 en-suites. 50 acres +
IF YOU ARE PLANNING A CHAMPAGNE RECEPTION and looking for some light entertainment, you can now hire London's busiest steel
BOSC LEBAT, SW France. Only 45 minutes from Toulouse Airport with daily flights from most provincial airports avoiding the horrors
Spectator Business | Apollo Magazine
Corporate | Advertising | Privacy | Terms
Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London, SW1H 9HP
All Articles and Content Copyright ©2009 by The Spectator | All Rights Reserved