Is the NHS an out-dated whimsy?

[Ozymandias]

Well, it came up in a debate at school today. I figured that I'd post it here.<br><br><br><b><u><span style='font-size:11pt;line-height:100%'>Do we have the right to Healthcare?</span></b></u><br><br>Do we have the right to healthcare, no matter how rich or poor we are? Or is a publically funded health system a bad idea in general? Is it unfair in any ways? Does the NHS really work? What alternatives are there?<br><br>-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-<br><br>The sheet was really just meant to be a starting point to get you thinking, rather than direct questions. That means anything that you think is related to the advantages and disadvantages of public healthcare is on the cards, though centering around the NHS (or Medicare) may include more members.<br><br>I won't tell you which side I had to take, and I will post myself after some opinions have been expressed on the matter. A lot of us were unable to go much deeper into private healthcare than I'd've liked to see, but then not a lot of us in the UK use private healthcare (unless you're rolling in it...which nobody I know is...). So if you can shed a little more light on that matter, I'd be most interested.<br><br>Whatever you do, though, be sure to back up personal specture with cold hard truth. I forget who said it best with "Everyone's entitled to their own opinion. Nobody's entitled to their own fact."

[DesertFoxCat]

This might make more sense to have in world events, but whatever.<br><br>No matter how much money it uses, publicly funded health care is the right thing to do, even if it is just a short cut. Not everyone is poor because of their own laziness, and those that aren't probably have a bad enough life as it is. Helping them stay healthy is the least we can do.<br><br>But such programs should only be available to the middle and lower classes. The rich have the money, so let them pay.

[Ozymandias]

Hm. I'm against a lot of the "let the rich pay" because chances are they worked hard in life. I think that if we spent less on war and more on the poor then Britain at least would be a better place because of it.

[Gizensha]

Well, the NHS itself isn't one of the better public healthcare systems in the world, but it's better than America's.<br><br>It needs improving, yes. Reinventing, maybe. Scrapping alltogether, not a chance.

[Rooster]

What Giz said. I have an NHS dentist, and the guy is a genious.<br><br>And when I broke my colalr bone, the NHS ward was great. Nice people, freindly staff...but then that might just be Macclesfield General.

[Paul.Power]

I've never had a problem with it, although admittedly I've never been anything more than an outpatient.

[Ankaris]

NHS eh?<br><br>I think the idea is good in principle, but poor in execution.<br><br>*puts on abestos suit*<br><br>Personally, I think that there should be healthcare for all... so long as you don't expect it to take care of you if you purposely do damage to yourself.<br><br>By which I mean, treating smokers for smoking-caused health problems, alcholics for liver disease etc.<br><br>However petty it may seem, I don't want to pay for the healthcare of people who don't want to take care of their bodies.<br><br>As for specific current UK NHS problems, I don't think they're intrinsic to a national health system, and really should be fixed.<br><br>----<br><br>As a personal anecdote, I had surgery on my toe 2 months ago. I had to have it done with BUPA (private healthcare in a public hospital) because I would have had to wait far too long, otherwise.<br><br>Went well, and it wasn't too expensive, but I can see that a sizeable proportion of the population couldn't afford it on a consistent basis.