Steph's hospital experience recently has lead to many things; worry, hopes, fears and at last relief at the success. However, we now have to deal with something that as an English person makes me incredibly angry - the utter immorality of the US healthcare system.

We are lucky; there's no doubt that we would have to pay much more money had we not been sensible and taken out an individual health insurance policy. But in a so-called first world country, there should be no need for health insurance. And those who qualify as doctors and take a hippocratic oath to treat those with sickness, the amount of money they take home in their paycheck - funded by patients, many of whom can ill afford the payments - seems to me to be obscene; far more than they need to live on. And yet nobody complains. Perhaps it should be renamed the hypocritic oath.... it seems that healthcare is in fact about making profits as opposed to healing people. It's not just that though - you pay the hospital for the bed, the anasthaesia company for that procedure, the doctor for carrying out their duties, and then any specialists you may see AS WELL!!!!! Obscene.

Ah, I hear you say, but everyone has to pay premiums. It's not selective, it's equal! Utter rubbish. How many people do you know who hold down a terrible job simply to get benefits? How many "fat cats" do you know who have far more life and health insurance than they need provided by their employers free of charge, when they are some of the few who can afford premiums on their own? And how many people do you hear of from the lower social demographics, where disease is more prevalent, where money is tight (if there is any at all) and where people die (yes, die) because they don't have health insurance, and get refused treatment in hospitals.

Stephanie also related to me how many people have their entire life savings wiped out in retirement if they or their spouse become seriously, even terminally ill. To add insult to injury, as it were. Medicare is clearly an empty political gesture.

Of course, your government does nothing about this; I wonder why. I think Hilary Clinton once tried, but it backfired and her husband got smeared. Hmm I wonder who could have been behind all that. Could it be something to do with the fact that pharmaceutical companies have donated a total of $80,207,725 to political parties since the year 2000. (see http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.asp?Ind=H04 ). These figures seem mysteriously to increase in election years.

So it is with healthcare. Socialised medicine is a pragmatic solution to a daily problem. People get sick in all manner of ways and shouldn't have to pay for treatment other than through taxes. This by definition a fair way to fund it as you get taxed based on your earnings. It is a social responsibility to live in a country and abide by its laws, pay its taxes and become part of a contributory framework. Taxes get taken from everyone and the proceeds used to do all manner of things: among other things, to maintain roads, pay for armed forces (more valid than healthcare?), culture (at least, until the armed forces budgets took over) and fund schools. Incidentally, surely it's more "dangerous" to have state-funded education? More potential for indoctrination there than in hospital....

Why not fund healthcare as well? It happens in England, France, Germany to name only a few. We have the longest-standing and most advanced parliamentary democracy in the world, and it works because tied in with democracy is a strong sense of social responsibility, both within our nation and in relation to other countries. That's why we signed the Kyoto agreement on environmental issues. Just recently there have been enormous problems in Britain because the Labour party failed to disclose loans (at normal commercial rates) from individuals, totalling around $25million. That's accountability. How can you possible expect an elected person or body to be impartial and offer the best advice if they've taken nearly $100million and not called to account for it? If I were president I'd find it hard to buck that trend.

What's more, because care of patients is paramount in our system, we have drugs in Europe that are far more advanced, approved more quickly for patient use, and our doctors are not prevented from making correct diagnoses by virtue of pressure from lobbying companies. There are no lobbying companies, and doctors get paid the same (and still well above the national average) whatever drugs they prescribe or whatever diagnoses they make. Let me give you an example. Stephanie's recent troubles were all caused because she went onto a drug that messed up her hormone balances and caused tumours to grow. Did the doctors admit this? Privately, yes they did, and she had this confirmed by several healthcare workers. Publically - YOU MUST BE JOKING!!!! So the game goes on. Why does this happen? Step up the pharmaceutical lobbyists and the well-paid doctors....

Stephanie also told me that many people in the US are afraid that socialised medicine is a sign of communism. Now, during the height of the Cold War I could agree that the US had relatively sensible policies in terms of trying to deter people from communist ideals (although only relatively sensible - there is nothing sensible in attempting to brainwash and shock a population into fear of a perfectly valid political concept. I don't agree with it, but to ignore it and dismiss it out of hand is simple ignorance). But come on guys - the war's over, and we won!

I hope if you read this you will develop a desire to know what's going on inside your political funding process, realise that it's your right to question the way policy is formulated, and although it's a slim hope, maybe the US will enter the 21st century and get public healthcare one day. But for as long as greed is the name of the game, it won't happen.