They came in their thousands, queuing through the night to secure one of the coveted wristbands offering entry into a strange parallel universe where medical care is a free and basic right and not an expensive luxury. Some of these Americans had walked Full Story »
Posted by Derek Hawkins - via Drudge Report
I heard a radio report on this clinic. They said they turned away almost as many people as they treated. One doctor compared it to clinics she's done in rural India. The radio reporter noted that many of the patients had insurance, but couldn't afford the deductibles. Just as this piece notes that many are employed. Both pieces interviewed patients to tell their sorry story.
I was at a healthcare forum yesterday. The man next to me said he recently got pneumonia while visiting the U.K. He received prompt, thorough treatment for almost nothing. In fact, the treatment he received was much more comprehensive than what they did for my insured housemate in the U.S. When he offered his U.S. insurance card, the U.K. clinic said that, since the visitor was over 60, it was covered--even though he wasn't a resident. And the clinic offered him bus fare back to his hotel. This explains why everybody was so puzzled when I didn't go to a doctor when I became ill in Scotland. It honestly never occurred to me that I could. It might have cost me something though since I'm not yet 60.