American Health Care

I have been following the debate on the American health care system over the past few months and thinking about how good we have it in the UK. I know that this is not always a popular thing to say in fact one of our native Conservative MEP's disagrees with this sentiment entirely as shown through his appearances on American TV Daniel Hannan MEP.

At the moment I am sitting watching 'The Rainmaker' a film based on a book by John Grisham one of the story lines the young lawyer in the film/book follows is that of a young man called Donnie Ray Black who has Leukaemia, his insurance company refuses to pay for the life saving treatment because a bone marrow transplant is an 'experimental' procedure the case argues that this led to the death of the young man.

It does show a stark and albeit dramatised version of the American health care system in which insurance companies would decline and dismiss all claims as a first response. I understand the arguments against an NHS style system however, I cannot thank the NHS enough for the amount of money and time spent on treating members of my close family and cannot help but think had we been living in America these individuals in my family would have had a much harder time during their illness and half the treatments and drugs used would have been denied as experimental or too expensive.

I know we don't have a perfect system by any manner of means but it is clearly fairer and looks after those weakest in society where the US system does not, the elderly and poor are left behind. Surely the measure of a just society is how we treat those less fortunate than ourselves, how can we look someone in the eye and say I think it is fair and just for you to die because you dont have enough money to live?

Have your say here in the comments section and on the BBC website.