Red And Health Care

Every corner offers something. Today at the Hayward Gallery where we await a bus, I meet a Uruguayan group photographing a pair of healthy legs. I don't really know why since I wasn't especially focused on that (Sonnet: "do you have to act like you're in college?"). We eventually take a double-decker and cross Waterloo Bridge admiring Parliament, Big Ben and the London Eye, which are all at the edge of my photograph. On our way to the British Museum.

I am no expert on health care but as a consumer, I have never been disappointed in Britain. Leaving St. Mary's with a healthy boy and girl and never receiving a bill nor administrative delay remarkable. The NHS does a fine job for primary treatments. If not sufficient, we have comprehensive family insurance for £145 per month, which seems reasonable. So government sponsored health care works - here, the health care cost is aprox. 10% of GDP while providing 100% coverage (by comparison: Switzerland is 10.9% GDP, Germany 10.7%, Canada 9.7%, and France 9.5% according to the OECD. All these countries provide full coverage for their citizens). The US stands at 15% and forecasted to rise to 20% by 2017 (Keehan, S. et al. “Health Spending Projections Through 2017"). This while 50 million go without insurance. No wonder Obama taking on the status quo - it is otherwise totally fucked. And these Republicans led by the louse Billy Crystal who hoisted Sarah Palin on us, wacked for going against the President to regain a political foothold rather than on merit. The so-called Blue-Dog Democrats are also nuts. As Krugman points out, the US government already all over health care. The US military has the best service of anybody and administered by Uncle Sam. Medicare ensures the over-65s covered whereas >40% of this bracket uninsured before the program in '65. Rather than use these models, or other countries, as favorable examples for change the Elephants spread fear of socialism and other nonsense. I'm not going into the four components of the Obama plan, but suffice it to say that doing nothing also a collective decision. Unfortunately we know the outcome of this one while the clock ticking.