Thanking Our Lucky Stars We Have NHS

A decade of running down the NHS has come back to kick this Government in the butt and that is worth remembering when a Government Minister is on television bleating about the NHS under strain due to the lack of beds and hospital places, it was them who underfunded it by raising the NHS budget by 1% each year since 2010 rather than the historical 4% it requires and making £22 billion worth of cuts and closing 44 hospitals and treatment centers with a loss of 15,000 beds.
That the NHS has kept going at all is an achievement and that is despite this Government rather than because of it so it is right that we cherish it and the NHS workers because if the NHS was to go, what we would have in its place is an American style Health Care system and the Coronavirus outbreak is showing just how awful that system is.
Whereas in the UK with our free NHS, we can go to the doctors and if needed, be treated for free, in America it is very much not the case with the high cost of treatment leaving many reluctant to get tested or seek treatment, worried about getting large medical bills even when they have health insurance.
An assessment by S&P Global found that 54%, of Americans are not financially able to handle a contagious disease like Coronavirus and a report from CNBC and FAIR Health report the cost of doctors, hospital stays, testing and medication ranges from $1,300 to $20,292 depending on your level of insurance and how serious a case you have.
'The problem is that if people know they face hundreds or thousands of dollars in bills, they’ll hesitate, they’ll wait and see' said consumer advocacy group Families USA.
The NHS we have in the UK may be creaking after a decade of Conservative Cuts but we can thank our lucky stars that we have a free Health System paid for by our NI Contributions and not what America has which is what the Government are desperate to achieve and this pandemic is a shocking reminder why we should resist that with all we have.