Bob Martin wrote:
in 1531437 20120701 182850 "HeyBub" wrote:
steve robinson wrote:

Seems people are "forgetting" that there appear to be mechanisms to
get the poor subscribed without taxing them.

Its worked in the UK for years called national insurance

Giggle.

I wouldn't say "it works" in the UK. We frequently see reports on the
ghastly consequences, so much that physicians actually prescribe
water for their hospitalized patients so they won't die of
dehydration!

Here's the biggest difference: In the U.S., virtually all health care
providers have a financial incentive to keep their patients alive.
If alive, they live to be treated another day.

In the UK, if a patient lives or dies, it's no biggie - the doctor,
nurse, or hospital janitor gets paid the same. A recent report
claimed that upwards of 130,000 people die each year in the UK from
non-treatment or poor treatment.

US media propaganda.

Not US media at all. A cursory check, or neutral question, would have
prevented a knee-jerk reaction on your part.

"[LONDON, June 21, 2012] An eminent British doctor told a meeting of the
Royal Society of Medicine in London that every year 130,000 elderly patients
that die while under the care of the National Health Service (NHS) have been
effectively euthanized by being put on the controversial Liverpool Care
Pathway (LCP), a protocol for care of the terminally ill that he described
as a "death pathway."

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/130...top-uk-doctor/

And from a UK newspaper:

"NHS doctors are prematurely ending the lives of thousands of elderly
hospital patients because they are difficult to manage or to free up beds, a
senior consultant claimed yesterday.

"[The Liverpool Care Pathway] is designed to come into force when doctors
believe it is impossible for a patient to recover and death is imminent. It
can include withdrawal of treatment - including the provision of water and
nourishment by tube - and on average brings a patient to death in 33 hours."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz1zT2ujcKn

To my knowledge, we in the U.S. have nothing like a physician writing "LCP"
on the patient's chart. ("DNR" is a completely different critter.)