I've just spent sometime tonight watching another Michael Moore documentary/film. This time it was SiCKO which got a look in. After watching the entire 2 hours I really am amazed at the state of the American health care system.
 
You had some people who had sold their homes, been dumped by a taxi outside a free hospital. Not because they had been frivolous with their money or been picked up by a kind taxi driver. In the first case the medical bills were so extreme even though they had insurance, they had to move in with their daughter. In the other case the woman was unable to pay her hospital bill, she was turfed out, put into a taxi and dumped at the nearest free hospital.
 
I thought the US was supposed to be the most advanced country in the world, from what I can see this is not so.
 
Michael Moore also visited France and the UK to see how healthcare was done there and here respectively. For me it raised an interesting question. For many years now I have wanted to stay for a short/long/permanent time in the US. Really is this what I want? Having seen how things are done in France it seems I have overlooked what is literally on my doorstep. I've more or less overlooked Europe having been so focused on the US.
 
It also highlights something else for me, if I need medical treatment I don't think about it, I call up my GP or visit the local A&E, something I've not needed to do in a while. I take all of these provisions for granted. A 9/11 ambulance technician/EMT Technician had to pay $120 for an inhaler due to respiratory issues brought on by 9/11. I can remember when I was younger requiring an inhaler these were provided free of charge. Along with any other apparatus that I required. I also remember a small operation I had whilst still in Primary School, it just happened, their was no worries about can we afford this.
 
When you see that US President Barack Obama is trying to like Hillary Clinton did 15 or so years ago and push through healthcare reform, people are resisting. Banging on about how it restricts choice or means you'll get poor service. Well the toddler who died because her mother went to the wrong hospital and not one run by her own insurance company, that's restricted choice. As for poor service, what about the guy who could only afford to have one finger re-attached. Poor service? Restricted choice? With the NHS neither would have had the problems they did, both fingers would have been re-attached and the mother wouldn't have had to worry about which hospital.
 
I leave you with the parting insult for American Citizens. Another woman interviewed for SiCKO was in a head on car crash, understandably the ambulance arrived and brought her to a hospital. She was fully insured so paying was not much of an issue. To find a few weeks later the ambulance had not been "pre-approved" and she was to be billed for this. Pre-approved!