Thursday, October 8, 2009

And we're live!


For the past few days I've been obsessed with reading blogs, not sure why, well I have an idea, I'm homesick. But in the course of immersing myself in people talking about their normal lives in America I've become inspired. It may not last long, but I'm going to give it a try. I gotta do something. My level of frustration with living outside of the US is ratcheting up. Not quite to the level it was when we lived in London - a truly horrible nightmare - but it's getting up there.

I'm living in the Middle East - Dubai - which is not exactly the most oppressive place in the world, and it is better than London - but it's still the Middle East and women are not sitting at the highest rung on the ladder.

Plus it's not America.

The home of the free and the brave.

Those are no longer just words to me.  It's the God's honest truth.  



I'm not kidding.

Every American who bashes America should have to live, and be localized, outside of the States. I guarantee that it will shut them up. Especially Michael Moore - that man needs to experience the NHS as a local, unable to buy his way to American healthcare. He'd shut down those idiotic documentaries of his pretty quick. You can't ask someone who has never known any other method about how effective they think their healthcare is.

Example:

I have a friend (first hand knowledge) who's sister-in-law cannot get an appointment to have the pins in her leg removed (she was hit by a car). She lives in Canada - it's not considered urgent - so she cannot have them taken out. Even though her GP thinks they should be.

Another example:

I worked with a gentleman in London (again first hand knowledge) who needed heart valve REPAIR - not replacement - surgery. He was put on a 6 month wait period (which is now a 9 month wait period due to lack of money) before they would give him the surgery. His heart stopped between 6 and 8 times while he waited.

Have a look at this article in the UK paper:


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article6806274.ece 

which talks about how the UK rations healthcare and the US does not.

And this article which talks about breast cancer diagnosis

"Despite the poorer survival rates of younger women, Professor Coleman said it would not be justified to extend breast screening to them. Cancer was less common in younger women and screening was more difficult because their breast tissue was denser." http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/breast-cancer-survival-rate-soars-by-20-per-cent-in-a-decade-510422.html

Here is another article about a woman being denied treatment due to cost.


"Despite health officials' contention that decisions about treatment are based solely on clinical effectiveness, critics contend that with drugs growing ever more expensive, cost has become an increasingly important factor. They also say patients are at the mercy of the so-called postcode lottery, in which treatments are available in some postal zones but not others." http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/16/world/europe/16iht-cancer.html

This is what Obama and the Democrats want us to end up like, and quite frankly after living it and being thankful America had a different healthcare system, this really scares me.

I guess I'll get off my soap box now...on a brighter note - I sure do love listening to Willie Nelson, and you can't beat the Apple TV for keeping me up-to-date on US shows!

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