Elaine Giamona, Broker

In an attempt to answer a comment on my blog, I found this Time Magazine article of Augusst 18, 2009. Please repost it, as it contains very excellent and concise comparisons between American and British healthcare systems. http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1916570,00.html?xid=rss-top-aol

Arguments and shouting are all about over healthcare. This normal and healthy with a contraversial issue. I have a firm belief that once A HEALTHCARE BILL is passed, it will take a similar path as all new laws... changes will be made in the future... amendments passed... as it morphs into a form of healthcare that is the pride of our country. This is how Social Security has developed over the years. See

http://www.ssa.gov/history/history.htm

Social Security was not easy to birth. FDR was called a commie and worse. People were up in arms, literally. But they were suffering, and so from that suffering following the Great Depression, came something which now provides income for our elderly, disabled, and orphans. A wonderful, wonderful thing.

I am proud to be an American... and we must join together, educate ourselves and take positions, while realizing only an open mind can learn. No position on a rock can be held if an ocean wave approaches. The same is true with learning. It is only with open minds, and a willingness to learn that our country and its people can progress. It is the key to maintaining our freedom and democracy. Without our participation and help, the government will fall into anarchy. That is the history of all democratic societies.

Quote from Time article (link above):

Like most developed countries, Britain ranks above the U.S. in most health measurements. Its citizens have a longer life expectancy and lower infant mortality, and the country has more acute-care hospital beds per capita and fewer deaths related to surgical or medical mishaps. Britain achieves these results while spending proportionally less on health care than the U.S. - about $2,500 per person in Britain, compared with $6,000 in the U.S. For these reasons, the World Health Organization (WHO) ranked Britain 18th in a global league table of health-care systems (the U.S. was ranked 37th).

This is a direct quote from an article in my local newspaper.

"Even before moving to England four years ago, I often went without health insurance. Self-employed people like me with pre-existing conditions – in my case, a non-functioning thyroid – do not qualify for medical insurance in America. The statistics say nearly 50 million Americans live without health coverage, but I suspect the number is much higher.

In my own circle of family and friends, more than half do not have access to basic health care. They either can't afford the premiums or have been denied insurance by all viable providers. While recent reports calculate that Americans spend 16 percent of their income on health care, my exceptionally hale and hearty parents spend closer to 30 percent of their income maintaining their health. Medicare deducts $96.40 each from their monthly Social Security checks. Their Medicare supplement costs an additional $320.46 a month.

Then there is the prescription plan at $73 a month. You would think with nearly $600 worth of medical coverage, additional out-of-pocket expenses would be minimal, but it's not so. Recently, following outpatient surgery for a torn rotator cuff, my mother had to fork over $156 for the 20 dainty pain pills prescribed by her surgeon. She'll probably have to do it again next week. Her "insurance" refuses to cover her for the post-surgery medication required.

We are so used to living without the option of seeing a doctor when we're sick, without vision-saving tests, without the aid of medication when we're in pain, without lifesaving operations, without the basic human dignity of being able to ask for help when we need it most, that the unthinkable has become the norm. In "the land of the free and the home of the brave," it is the most natural thing in the world to live without health care.

But it is wrong. Dead wrong. Our friends in Europe are incredulous that Americans not only tolerate a system that refuses to provide health care for all but willingly accept this ferocious affront to freedom. My British husband, Richard, often asks, "How can a country call itself free when citizens are denied the dignity of health care?" Good question. Does anybody have the answer?

When I moved to England in 2005, Richard and I looked forward to returning to America within five years. Two years later, he was diagnosed with a rare and deadly cancer: osteosarcoma of the jaw. We spent all of last year fighting for Richard's life. It took all our time, all our energy and enormous resources from an army of nurses, doctors and surgeons to save him. Because Richard worked for a major pharmaceutical company, we had private medical insurance – insurance we could never afford on our own – which we used in conjunction with the National Health Service, the publicly funded health care system in the United Kingdom. But it was the exemplary nurses, doctors and surgeons with the NHS who saved us again and again.

Compassionate NHS nurses came to our home several times a week. Our local NHS doctors made house calls, too. When possible, tests and therapies were done from home. An NHS prescription card, bought for about $50 a quarter, paid for the lion's share of Richard's medications. Our local hospice also provided desperately needed support. I estimate Richard's surgeries and treatments surpassed the milliondollar mark.

Under the NHS, our only co-pay was a few hundred dollars in prescription costs. Last spring, the NHS began providing cancer patients with free prescriptions. Eighteen months after being diagnosed with osteosarcoma of the jaw, Richard is blessedly free from cancer. He suffers from post-chemo peripheral neuropathy and a speech impediment after having his mouth rebuilt from tissue taken from his stomach. But he is a healthy, optimistic, happy-to-be-alive man: a walking testament to the dedicated professionals working for the NHS. Living proof that universal health care is one of the best ways to be truly alive and free.

Had this happened in America, the outcome might have been different. Early diagnosis played a crucial role in Richard's recovery. Treatment was never delayed or denied. Equally important, nobody asked for a credit card to save my husband's life.

America is the only developed country in the world to allow our health to be politicized and commoditized beyond recognition. In the United Kingdom – England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland – all 61 million residents are fully covered by the NHS from birth to death. The U.K.'s budget for universal heath care is 100 billion pounds, or $160 billion. It is funded by our taxes. Any British politician who does not enthusiastically support the NHS is unelectable.

We recently celebrated my father's 80th birthday. Our plans to join him and my mother in Oregon will never be realized without comprehensive, universal health insurance. Many Americans living in Europe find themselves in the same situation. We vote and hope that one day, we might return to our homeland for more than a visit. "

Marsha Coupé, formerly lived in Sacramento, California. She is an entrepreneur living in Kent, England. Reach her at MCoupe@CoupeWoman.com.

This article was published in the Sacramento Bee, September 13, 2009

I love to start a dialogue and debate. Both are vital to our democratic ways. I define the poor as not only the indigent, or homeless, or jobless. I define the American poor as those who work 1 or 2 jobs, still can't make ends meet, have healthcare... BUT if they lose the job, or develop a dreaded "illness", heaven forbid... they will soon be indigent or bankrupt, and possibly dead... due to our current state of health care. Why or why, can someone tell me why, we are the only industrialized coutry which does not provide FREE health care to all its citizens???? (albeit funded sometimes by taxes and sometimes by government subsidies or a combo)

Thirty-nine other countries have for many years provided their citizens with the freedom from fear of getting sick. (including Italy where my brother lives, England where I have cousins and aunts, and Malta where I have many relatives). Getting seriously sick is something that will happen to all of us, ending with the ultimate sick of death. I do not follow the logic of those who say we must not do this. Governments come and go... ours will be around for a long time. We are blessed to live in America, unless you get a terminal illness and have your insurance cancelled. Our lawmakers always seem able to come up with trillions of dollars to fight wars... it will find the money to care for its people. Only if we demand it. Thanks for listening.

Elaine Giamona, Broker, Lincoln, CA

http://www.mccoyreo.com

This diligent and kind ActiveRain blogger and realtor in Texas is spending his spare time reading and reviewing the HR 3200 health care bill, for himself and for us, His new website is very informative. Maybe some of the legislators can use it as "cheat sheets" so they don't have to read it all.

Here's hoping some of you will repost this, so that it is available to others. Some want to read it, others do not have the time. So please share.

http://www.ifcongresswontreaditiwill.com

I so enjoy his detailed commentary, questions, and puzzlement. The savior of democracy is dialogue, discussion and taking a position. If we are not part of the solution, we are part of the problem.

"Perhaps the truest thing I can say about the God of the Bible is that he is for the poor. Not just a little. God appears to be for the poor in a way that he is for no other. Because a disproportionately high number of the uninsured are low-income, knowledge of this simple fact is critical to our views on health care reform.' ~ lawyer and minister Oliver Thomas