News
Having just read Richard Nishman's letter of June 24 I felt, as a Brit, the need to defend a nationalized system.
My first daughter had a skiing accident at the age of 7 whilst we were on the top of a mountain in a small ski resort in France. She was helicoptered to the nearest hospital where it was found that she had a broken tibia and humerus, the latter so badly broken she needed surgery to repair it. She spent one week in the hospital. As we had driven there and she could not travel back in the car my daughter and I were flown back home, accompanied by a nurse who had been flown to France to assist her. Upon arriving back in the UK she was taken to hospital for continued, excellent care.
Our cost for the above? A $40 travel insurance policy bought in the UK.
My second daughter had congenital heart disease which was diagnosed during an extensive examination by a paediatrician on the day of her birth ( a caesarean which was free). She spent the first two weeks of her life in intensive care. She was then allowed home with weekly checkups until she was 4 months old and considered mature enough to go through the open-heart surgery she needed to repair the pulmonary stenosis. She had one of the top surgeons in England, at the best cardio hospital in the country. Follow up appointments then occurred weekly, monthly and yearly up until the time we left the UK.
Our cost for the above? Not a penny. I am quite sure that if my daughter had been born in this country that we would have been bankrupt by now.
Mr. Nishman talks about a lack of care for the older generation. My father-in-law who had dementia lived the last five years of his life in a mental hospital and then a care home. During his last year he had a fall and broke his hip. He was given an immediate hip replacement and several weeks care in a hospital.
The family's cost for the five years treatment? None.
My 73-year-old mother came to visit Summit County for the first time last winter and unfortunately slipped on ice. She was in great pain and when I contacted a local MD I was told that it was $1,000 just to get her to the hospital for an examination. She did not have an extensive travel policy and so chose not to go. She insisted on suffering in pain for three days before her flight back home was due as she knew that as soon as she returned to the UK she would go to her doctor. This she did and found that she had broken her hip and wrist. She was given an immediate hip replacement and treatment for her wrist.
Her cost for the above? None
All of the above people (my husband and I included) had paid their national insurance contributions all their working life and so were fully entitled to treatment, without I might add, losing their bank accounts and homes. In my opinion this treatment contrasts greatly to the treatment that we have experienced since moving to this country. Here, the criteria is all about being able to afford a hefty insurance policy that equals your mortgage payment!
One last thought. If you have a non-emergency treatment needed in the UK and may have to go on a waiting list you then have the choice to use a private health care provider and short circuit the system. Your choice.
My first daughter had a skiing accident at the age of 7 whilst we were on the top of a mountain in a small ski resort in France. She was helicoptered to the nearest hospital where it was found that she had a broken tibia and humerus, the latter so badly broken she needed surgery to repair it. She spent one week in the hospital. As we had driven there and she could not travel back in the car my daughter and I were flown back home, accompanied by a nurse who had been flown to France to assist her. Upon arriving back in the UK she was taken to hospital for continued, excellent care.
Our cost for the above? A $40 travel insurance policy bought in the UK.
My second daughter had congenital heart disease which was diagnosed during an extensive examination by a paediatrician on the day of her birth ( a caesarean which was free). She spent the first two weeks of her life in intensive care. She was then allowed home with weekly checkups until she was 4 months old and considered mature enough to go through the open-heart surgery she needed to repair the pulmonary stenosis. She had one of the top surgeons in England, at the best cardio hospital in the country. Follow up appointments then occurred weekly, monthly and yearly up until the time we left the UK.
Our cost for the above? Not a penny. I am quite sure that if my daughter had been born in this country that we would have been bankrupt by now.
Mr. Nishman talks about a lack of care for the older generation. My father-in-law who had dementia lived the last five years of his life in a mental hospital and then a care home. During his last year he had a fall and broke his hip. He was given an immediate hip replacement and several weeks care in a hospital.
The family's cost for the five years treatment? None.
My 73-year-old mother came to visit Summit County for the first time last winter and unfortunately slipped on ice. She was in great pain and when I contacted a local MD I was told that it was $1,000 just to get her to the hospital for an examination. She did not have an extensive travel policy and so chose not to go. She insisted on suffering in pain for three days before her flight back home was due as she knew that as soon as she returned to the UK she would go to her doctor. This she did and found that she had broken her hip and wrist. She was given an immediate hip replacement and treatment for her wrist.
Her cost for the above? None
All of the above people (my husband and I included) had paid their national insurance contributions all their working life and so were fully entitled to treatment, without I might add, losing their bank accounts and homes. In my opinion this treatment contrasts greatly to the treatment that we have experienced since moving to this country. Here, the criteria is all about being able to afford a hefty insurance policy that equals your mortgage payment!
One last thought. If you have a non-emergency treatment needed in the UK and may have to go on a waiting list you then have the choice to use a private health care provider and short circuit the system. Your choice.
