Tag Archives: United Kingdom

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Health care policies in the UK and in Ireland

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Over on Health Care BS, they reported the results of an Healthcare Commission investigation of Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust in the UK. This foundation runs the which runs Stafford and Cannock Chase hospitals.

Excerpt:

If you have a friend or loved one in an NHS hospital, make sure to send them flowers. They may have to drink the water out of the vase to avoid dying of thirst.

…The Prime Minister apologized and claimed that this was an isolated situation. Oh, really? Tell that to the NHS patients who starve to death in your hospitals. Tell that to the patients who die of cancer because the NHS won’t pay for their treatment.

Tell that BS to the patient on whom NHS surgeons insisted on operating despite the dead rat in the OR.  Tell that to the emergency patients stacked in ambulances in the ER parking lot. If they could hear, you could tell that the patients waiting for hearing aids.

Scary stuff! And this is what Obama wants for us, because then everyone will be equal, regardless of their ability to pay. Should individuals be left free to choose how much health care they need based on their own lifestyle choices? Obama says no.

On the other hand, the Stockholm Network reports that Ireland raised their co-payments for ER treatment, in order to encourage people to use managed care instead. (H/T State Policy Blog). They reduced their ER demand by 5%.

The 2009 Irish budget, presented by finance minister Brian Lenihan, revealed that charges for A&E services would rise from €66 to €100, if the patient has not been referred by their GP, or if they do not hold a medical card.

The revised tariff came into force on 1st January and …saw 4.5% less people attend A&E in January 2009 than in January 2008…

There is a myth on the ignorant left (and in Canada) that Americans are dying in the streets because of private medical care, that emphasizes personal responsibility. Actually, ER medical care is free in the USA, and maybe we should start charging something for it like Ireland is doing.

I posted before on the nationalized health care, the exploding health care costs in Massachusetts, and on health care problems in Sweden. Also, here is a funny video from a Canadian-raised comedian on single-payer health care.

UPDATE: John Lott has a post on how 9 people accounted for 2,678 ER visits over 6 years in Texas, costing taxpayers 3 million dollars.

News

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown excoriated over massive debt

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Spotted this awesome video over at The Anchoress. This is a MUST-SEE video. If only someone had the courage to take on President Teleprompter and the economic-illiterates who voted for him, like this British MP takes on Gordon Brown.

The Anchoress has a bunch of great links there, as well.

Excerpt from her post:

Here in the United States, land of the First Amendment and free speech, it is right now unthinkable that anyone would stand up in a political chamber and speak so forthrightly.

I mean…can you imagine someone in our Congress or Senate actually standing up with a chart like this, and daring to talk to Obama about his “inherited” debt?

Michele Bachmann could do it. Also, here’s the chart that she mentions from Ace of Spades: (watch out for vulgar language!)

Obama's projected deficits
Obama's projected deficits

Gateway Pundit has more here:

President Obama expects the deficit level to be 12% of GDP this year.

America is actually in worse shape than Great Britain.
According to Heritage, Obama has already helped quadruple the deficit with his stimulus package.

Hot Air has links to the MP’s youtube page and blog. Apparently this is normal for him, although Hot Air says he isn’t a solid conservative.

Here’s his YouTube page, chock full of more in this vein, and here’s his blog, in which he marvels at the ability of the ‘Net to turn a backbench parliamentarian into an international fiscal conservative hero overnight. Exit question: We’re all agreed that Hannan gets to deliver the GOP’s response to next year’s State of the Union, yes?

Some people who voted for Obama told me during the election that Obama would be much more fiscally responsible than Bush and Reagan, because Republicans are all big spenders. They couldn’t stand the 550 billion we spent securing our liberty in two wars against radical terrorism. Obama is going to run the national debt up to over 20 trillion by 2019. Which amount is greater?

I asked 2 of my Obama-voting friends today how much the 2 wars cost, and neither of them knew. They did not even believe me when I showed them the actual numbers. What do they do in the evenings? Why, they watch Family Guy, Rachel Maddow and sports. One of these people actually told me that Rachel Maddow was a centrist. The other one is the more ignorant of the two.

Lastly, two of my fundamentalist Christian friends told me that Obama was more pro-life than McCain. Yes, they really said that! If you have a story about someone who voted for Obama who ought to have known better, please put it in the comments!