{"id":44344,"date":"2014-08-14T06:49:01","date_gmt":"2014-08-14T12:49:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/14\/an-er-visit-abroad.html"},"modified":"2014-08-14T16:37:19","modified_gmt":"2014-08-14T22:37:19","slug":"an-er-visit-abroad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/14\/an-er-visit-abroad.html","title":{"rendered":"An ER Visit Abroad"},"content":{"rendered":"
This person's experience with the NHS mirrors mine from a few decades back. I was in the UK, fell and seriously injured my hand, and we decided that I really needed it looked at and to get a tetanus shot.<\/p>\n

We found a local hospital where we were staying. I was seen reasonably quickly, the hand was cleaned and bandaged, a shot was received, and I was sent on my way … without being charged.<\/p>\n

Yes, the service wasn't "free" — the British taxpayers footed it. But it was good service, and a tremendous relief (especially given my financial status at the time, and on the trip) to know that, if injured, my concern could be about my health, not my balance sheet.<\/p>\n

(Meanwhile, on the hypothetical UK equivalent of Fox News, the chiron is reading "FOREIGNERS SPONGE OFF BRITISH TAXPAYER — TOURISTS DEMAND FREE HEALTH CARE".)<\/p>\n

The NHS has is problems, and you can probably find countervailing anecdata to my own or the poster's below, but it seems that most of the problems I've heard of stem from the costs of the NHS are clearly externalized — government budget line items — and thus subject to debate and discussion and partisan wrangling, while the costs of our own system, even under the ACA, are largely internalized (employers and employees and insurance companies doing little dances in the dark), and therefore subject to far less scrutiny (and, when such scrutiny is mandated, subject to much partisan posturing).<\/p>\n

Nor is it clear that an NHS \/ nationalized medical care system is necessarily the best target. There are advantages (and disadvantages) to a Canadian-style single-payer system.<\/p>\n

We've taken a step forward under the ACA. But as long as what people most worry about when sickness or injury strike is not "Will I get better?" but "How will I pay for it?" (and as long as so many other people's main worry is not "Will they get better?" but "Why the hell should I care?")\u00a0then I think we have a long way to go.<\/p>\n

Reshared post from +Les Jenkins<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

I really wish we'd go to a single payer system comprised of the best parts of other countries' systems. This is how healthcare should work.\u00a0\ufeff<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\n \n <\/div>\n

An American doctor experiences an NHS emergency room<\/a>
\n You know it\u2019s going to be one of those days when one of the first tweets on vacation inquires about the closest hospital. Victor, one of my 11-year-olds, had something in his eye courtesy of a big …\n <\/p>\n

View this post on Google+<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This person's experience with the NHS mirrors mine from a few decades back. I was in the UK, fell and seriously injured my hand, and we decided that I really needed it looked at and to get a tetanus shot. We found a local hospital where we were staying. I was seen reasonably quickly, the … Continue reading “An ER Visit Abroad”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,134,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts","category-health-care","category-travel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":51819,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/07\/23\/the-unspeakable-horrors-of-british-medical-care.html","url_meta":{"origin":44344,"position":0},"title":"The Unspeakable Horrors of British Medical Care","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 23-Jul-15 10:40am","format":false,"excerpt":"Or, not.As an N+1, my own after-hours experience after stupid hand injury on a vacation in the UK many years ago, echoes this. It wasn't bright and shiny and beautifully decorated, but the hospital I visited (for a tetanus shot, mostly) was efficient, effective, and (also to my surprise) free\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39317,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/10\/23\/us-health-care-from-foreign-eyes.html","url_meta":{"origin":44344,"position":1},"title":"US Health Care, from foreign eyes","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 23-Oct-13 12:31am","format":false,"excerpt":"Per Digby (http:\/\/goo.gl\/W33oci):\u00a0_I honestly don't think that Americans, most of whom don't travel outside the country, understand just how unusual it is to be petrified that you are going to go bankrupt or be denied care due to money. \u00a0The rest of the developed world has found a way to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15584,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/08\/14\/universal-health-care-terrorism.html","url_meta":{"origin":44344,"position":2},"title":"Universal Health Care = Terrorism?","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 14-Aug-09 11:19am","format":false,"excerpt":"Wow -- the crazy and the xenophobia just keep on rolling. \u00a0 As far as I can see, the argument (via James Cavuto and Jerry Bowyer) is: Universal Health Care\u00a0-> Britain's NHS\u00a0-> budget cuts -> low-paid doctors -> doctor shortage -> recruiting of foreign doctors\u00a0+ anonymous post-office-like bureaucracy where nobody's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fourth Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Fourth Estate","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/fourth-estate"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43120,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/18\/it-cant-be-a-great-health-care-system-if-its-socialist.html","url_meta":{"origin":44344,"position":3},"title":"It can't be a great health care system if it's SOCIALIST!","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 18-Jun-14 10:26am","format":false,"excerpt":"Phillip Klein in the Washington Examiner labastes a Commonwealth Fund study (http:\/\/www.commonwealthfund.org\/publications\/fund-reports\/2014\/jun\/mirror-mirror) which puts the US health care system at the bottom of 11 other developed countries. His critiques:1. The study lauds the UK, when \"everybody know\" that the UK's NHS sucks, because, well, everyone knows.2. The study emphasizes equity\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15440,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/28\/the-government-and-first-class-health-care.html","url_meta":{"origin":44344,"position":4},"title":"The Government and “First-Class Health Care”","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 28-Jul-09 11:33am","format":false,"excerpt":"Courtesy of Jon Stewart, getting conservative pundit Bill Kristol to first admit the government can provide first-class care, as it does to our military ... but that the rest of the public doesn't deserve it. \u00a0 A few highlights, as cited by ThinkProgress: Why is government-run health care \u201cgood enough\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics & Law"","block_context":{"text":"Politics & Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29107,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/08\/02\/protecting-the-health-insurance-companies.html","url_meta":{"origin":44344,"position":5},"title":"Protecting the Health Insurance Companies","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 2-Aug-12 10:44pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Two observations on Rep. Flake's comments:1. \"If individuals are allowed to access health care services only when they are sick or injured, there is no reason for anyone to have insurance.\" Yes, which is the reason for the individual mandate. \u00a0Did you miss the last couple of years, Congressman?2. \"If\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/images0-focus-opensocial.googleusercontent.com\/gadgets\/proxy?container=focus&gadget=a&resize_h=100&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthinkprogress.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F08%2FFlake_1335206280-300x200.jpg","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44344"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44376,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44344\/revisions\/44376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}