https://twitter.com/KwasiKwarteng/status/1550081224890351617

  • star_wraith [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Brits seemed to shrug off concerns about NHS privatization back when Corbyn was running. I got annoyed by that because it was almost as if Brits just had no concept of what an absolute horror show private, American-style "healthcare" really is. They're like sweet summer children who think the shit we put up with here in the US is just some Grimm's fairy tales, like it's not real. Like American parents just tell their kids "Sally was naughty and stole candy from the store, the candy made her sick so she went to the ICU for 5 days and had a bill for $150,000".

    (I use that example because my friend's dad spent 5 days in the ICU and got a bill for $150,000).

    • Ericthescruffy [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      Even a lot of Americans probably feel like its overblown...because it just seems like it can't actually be real until you actually have to finally engage with it. Until you experience it yourself or know someone who has it almost feels like no society could possibly tolerate such a thing.

      • ShittyWallpaper [they/them]
        ·
        2 years ago

        I was finally able to afford decent insurance after a decade of no insurance or barebones insurance. Suddenly a $400/month prescription was $20/month. It’s not like they put the insurance bill on your receipt. Anyone with good enough insurance who doesn’t read through their itemized insurance statements has no clue.

    • sima [she/her]
      ·
      2 years ago

      it doesn't help that the government been intentionally underfunding the NHS for years, so that privatisation can be sold as "fixing the NHS"

      • BigLadKarlLiebknecht [he/him, comrade/them]
        ·
        edit-2
        2 years ago

        :100-com: it’s a brutally effective strategy.

        And although nowhere in the same league, it’s remarkable how the Tories have united the nation in calling for the destruction of the BBC due to the manipulation of editorial policy and governance. I won’t argue against their news always being imperialist, bourgeois garbage, but I will feel sadness when it’s privatised and the UK’s largest employer of musicians is thrown to the dogs. I can’t see Rupert Murdoch wanting to keep five symphony orchestras on the books…

    • ShittyWallpaper [they/them]
      ·
      2 years ago

      I remember all the on-the-street interviews that came out a few years ago of Brits trying to guess how expensive US healthcare stuff was. The general public has no clue