blamebrampton (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
blamebrampton) wrote2008-12-28 02:47 pm
blamebrampton) wrote2008-12-28 02:47 pm
A side note
Dear Americans,
Outside of your strange, strange country, most of the developed world has this marvellous thing which we like to call health care for all. I'm reading an interesting mpreg (that will teach me not to read the warnings!*) story from hd_hols and the poverty-stricken pregnant one is in despair as his health insurance will not cover it. On the off-chance it was written by someone on my flist, the good for society news is that in the UK, this is not the problem you might think it is! And I have my fingers crossed that in the US, it won't be for much longer, either.
(And if anyone is planning to respond telling me that socialised healthcare is evil, I will LAUGH AT YOU, and then I will QUOTE REAMS OF STATISTICS until you FLEE.)
* And yes, my dislike of mpreg is not supported by the excellent writing that occurs within that genre and the imaginative plots that many superior writers bring to bear on the concept. But I still don't like it!
Outside of your strange, strange country, most of the developed world has this marvellous thing which we like to call health care for all. I'm reading an interesting mpreg (that will teach me not to read the warnings!*) story from hd_hols and the poverty-stricken pregnant one is in despair as his health insurance will not cover it. On the off-chance it was written by someone on my flist, the good for society news is that in the UK, this is not the problem you might think it is! And I have my fingers crossed that in the US, it won't be for much longer, either.
(And if anyone is planning to respond telling me that socialised healthcare is evil, I will LAUGH AT YOU, and then I will QUOTE REAMS OF STATISTICS until you FLEE.)
XXX
BB
* And yes, my dislike of mpreg is not supported by the excellent writing that occurs within that genre and the imaginative plots that many superior writers bring to bear on the concept. But I still don't like it!
no subject
Hmm. If that's the hd_hols fic I'm thinking of, I kinda read it as the wizarding community introducing a law to deny DEs treatment, not as a lack of universal health care (more a retraction of it for a certain segment of society). And given the person, he wouldn't know about the UK Muggle system, nor could he go there because he's a guy, and he required magical treatment. So it didn't throw me out at all.
** END SPOILER **
As a Canadian, I can't imagine having to pay for healthcare. It's just something that's always there. Is it mis-managed? Hell, the finances are run by the government. Of course it is! But are people dying from waiting too long? I don't believe it. I haven't seen evidence of that, despite some rumours. Do mistakes happen? Sure they do. Is it devastating for those involved? Of course. But I don't see a direct correlation between UHC and that.
I've known many people who've been treated for cancer, etc., and have received phenomenal treatment here. Without having to go south of the border. Occasionally, the wait requires treatment elsewhere (out of the city/province/country), but in my experience that's the exception, not the rule.
I won't presume to know how the US system works, but the idea of going broke, losing my house, or losing all I've worked for just to stay alive/healthy is scary to me.
no subject
It probably is the same fic, and that is an interesting interpretation of the idea. What pulled me up was the word 'insurance', if they had said that the character would not be able to afford to pay, I don't think I would have had an issue with it because I'd have probably made the same reading leaps that you did. I'll go with yours!