FCC and the internet

[Graham Todd]

On Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:05:26 -0400
Douglas Pollard <dougpol1 at verizon.net> uttered these words:

>     I wonder what percentage of Governement it will take to manage
> and run health care? I wonder what percentage in Europe , England and
> other countries where vast hoards of bureaucrats inhabit the halls of 
> government as in our own.   Is there a human cost to having some well 
> populated organization determine the conditions under which you live
> and die.
[snipped]

Since the matter of the National Health Service has been raised (which
not only works in England, but in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland
too) let me chip in with my three ha'penceworth.

The original design of the NHS was to provide a health service from the
cradle to the grave, free at the point of delivery and use.  The
"philosophy" behind this was to increase the healthiness of the nation
so that it would become more productive and less of a demand on health
services. There was deep resentment in the way that some health care
professionals refused to treat ill patients without first getting
paid.  And there remains a deep resentment against specialists who
continue to treat private patients as well ans NHS patients - which
almost brought the whole NHS to a stillbirth at its inception.

Having had epilepsy all my 63 years, and now suffering from diabetes
and an inability to walk, I KNOW that had I not been treated for
diphtheria, scarlet fever and other childhood illnesses I should have
died, and gave me the opportunity to campaign for the rights of those
disadvantaged by illness. Access to healthcare via the NHS surely did
keep me alive to become (hopefully) a productive and civic member of
society in a way that my parents couldn't have afforded pre-World War 2.

It isn't just a matter of money, its a matter of governmental
commitment to keep the "private sector" out of public provision.  It
wasn't until that public sector started making inroads into our NHS, or
we took public housing well away from local authorities, that the
service started to deteriorate and the number of administrators
increased. In the same way, the Blairites have become merely
administrators for the world of private capital and we have seen the
gulf between poor and rich ever widen, and our parliamentarians even
more corrupt.  I have spent years as a local Councillor to now be told
by the young that it does not matter which group of "suits" you vote
for, they all say the same and don't have any clearly different
philosophy to make our conditions better; these are our leaders of
tomorrow when I am dead and gone.

Isn't about time we had a philosophy which we are going to introduce to
make the people more healthy without charge at the point of supply.  It
is certain that this would cost money but what better way to make
people more productive?  It hurts me that in the USA you have not even
tried (with the exception of the Clinton years, perhaps) to grant all
your citizens the most fundamental of health care, freely and as a
right.

-- 
Graham Todd
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