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 anada   "Oi,                                                     #          
 204        Madonna"                   +###           +###    +####    +###  
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 01                      Schoolboy   #    .#  ## #  #    .#  #   .#  #    .# 
 nov                                  *###  * #   *  *###  * *###  *  *###  *
 2000 .+#################################################################.net

        Just before giving birth to her son (Rocky--what's going on there?)
 Madonna said on an American radio station that she was going to have a child
 in a US hospital despite living in England.  She claimed it was because we
 have old, decrepit hospitals whereas the US has gleaming, well-equipped
 ones.  Fair point.  Or at least a factual point.

        The problem is she just not comparing like with like.  In the US if
 you have no health insurance and get a kidney infection, you go into debt to
 the tune of thousands of dollars.  If you can't afford that, you die.
 Simple as that.  You can't pay for treatment, you don't get any.  Nice.  In
 the UK, we have the National Health Service (NHS) which provides full,
 unlimited healthcare to anyone free at the point of use.  No matter what
 your class, race or nationality, you will be treated for free.  Really nice.

        It costs us Britains 100's of millions of pounds to fund it but the
 NHS is fair.  The US system simply isn't.  The private hospitals in the
 States are nice because of the huge profits made by healthcare providers
 while in Britain we have many Victorian buildings shoring up the NHS because
 it's 100% funded by taxes and everyone HAS to be treated.  The French and
 the Germans have a similar system but have traditionally had stronger
 economies which lead to better funded and therefore "nicer" treatment
 centres.

        The NHS isn't just hospitals, A&E services etc.  It's also
 Doctors/GP's in every community.  Anyone can, for no fee at all, visit a
 locally accessable doctor in a fully equipped clinic and be examined and
 given prescriptions.  He'll refer you to specialists (who'll also treat you
 for free) should it be necessary and purely on clinical grounds, not on the
 status of your health insurance.  We do have to pay separately for
 prescription drugs but at a flat £5.95 (about $8.50) price regardless of the
 commercial value of the drug and a sizable proportion of people are exempt
 from paying anything.  We also have District Nurses who carry out home
 treatment like Insulin injections and basic medical care.  For free.

        A private health industry does exist.  Bupa is the market leader and
 is not a business as such--all its profits are re-invested in its services
 because there are no shareholders.  Some companies provide this private
 healthcare as a perk but the vast majority of people still use the NHS.

        So Madonna pissed me off when she ripped into our NHS.  It's the
 pride of the nation, began in the late '40's, that, although its funds are
 spread very thinly, is a much more morally robust system than in the US.
 For Madonna to get such nice hospitals hundred of thousands of financially
 unfortunate people have had to receive inadequate treatment to fit their
 budget or run up debts larger than any mortgage over the years because even
 in hospital, the Dollar counts.

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 anada204 by Schoolboy                                               (c) 2000
 ###################################################################anada.net
