Conservative Group Misuses UK Critics of NHS to Attack Health Care Reform in U.S.
One small backfire in the right-wing project to kill health care reform (emphasis is mine):
Rick Scott’s Conservatives for Patients’ Rights (CPR), a rather sleazy outfit trying to rally opposition to health care reform, is airing commercials featuring criticism of England’s NHS from two British women with bad experiences within the system.
The women, Kate Spall and Katie Brickell, aren’t happy with the developments, and believe their words have been twisted by the far-right group. (via Atrios)
Ms Spall and Ms Brickell both agreed to appear in a documentary on healthcare reform. But neither knew that the footage would be used as part of a TV advertising campaign carried on US networks.
Ms Spall, whose mother died of kidney cancer while waiting for treatment in the UK, told The Times: ‘It has been a bit of a nightmare. It was a real test of my naivety. I am a very trusting person and for me it has been a big lesson. I feel like I was duped.’
Although standing by her views, Ms Spall said she was horrified by how the CPR had used her words.
‘What I said is what I believe, and I stand by it, but the context it has been used in is something I was not aware would happen,’ she said. ‘The irony is that I campaign for exactly the people that socialised healthcare supports. I would not align myself with this group at all.’
Ms Brickell, who was diagnosed with cervical cancer after being refused a smear test because she was too young, said her words had been ‘skewed out of proportion’ by the CPR.
She told The Times: ‘The NHS let me down and I just wanted to make the point that people should not rely solely on it. But what I said has been skewed out of proportion… My point was not that the NHS shouldn’t exist or that it was a bad thing. I think that our health service is not perfect but to get better it needs more public money, not less. I didn’t realise it was having such a political impact.’
8 Responses to “Conservative Group Misuses UK Critics of NHS to Attack Health Care Reform in U.S.”
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Amazing the lengths the opposition is having to go just to gain a scrap of credibility for their argument. As the President destroys myth with each public healthcare event, opposition desperation grows. I predict that the oppositions lies, lies of omission, misquotes and misdeeds will decline into aliens have taken over the White House kind of stuff.
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Please, someone make up the t-shirts!
“Give up on my government health plan? You first, Congressman!”
Better yet…
“How many bureaucrats stand between a congressman and his doctor?”
Honestly, in most cases, I'd hate the idea of more government, but there are some cases in which I think they're perfectly capable of providing a quality plan– if they want to. And the Congressional plan is proof. The fact that other countries can do it is proof. And I think if people try a quality (note: “quality” is not perfect, there is no perfect plan), they'll like it. And I think that's what the private insurers know and want so badly to not happen.
I can just imagine how this opposition argument would go if we were discussing socialized police protection. “They will be thugs, and there will be brutality.” “Your taxes will be higher.” Both true (and rare), but can you imagine if we DIDN'T have them?
Ms Brickell's comment in the article above actually DOES support the conservative argument that the cost of a govermenment run health care system is much greater than being advertised, if quality health care is of any concern. She indicated that in her opinion more public money was required to make it a better system, which in her case would have meant receiving the doctor recommended cancer screen
The biggest problem with trying to point to the UK or Canada as an example — whether by supporters or opponents — is that neither case is particularly useful when applied to the structure of the US.
Not only do we have an entirely different government (via our Constitution and history), the sheer scale of a US health plan makes the comparisons a tad ridiculous. Our population, at ~300 million, is (roughly) 10 times the size of Canada's, and 5 times the UK's.
Even if those systems were working perfectly (and it's clear that they aren't, even in this article) — they would look MUCH different if implemented here.
The Public option is already dead Democratic Senator Kent Conrad and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius pulled the plug on it already. Sorry Katty but your side lost.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090816/D9A40N…
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/sen.-conrad…
Start calling your representatives now and call the Whitehouse about demanding there be a public option. Because the finance committee consists of senators from states that are conservative and also only make up 2% of the population of the United States, how is that fair or representative of what the American people want which is a strong public option.Health care reform will be in name only if this is dropped and we the American people will suffer greatly for it. Stop voting and protesting against your own best interests!
Here are the numbers for the switchboards of the Whitehouse and Congress
These are the white house numbers and the fax. Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
switchboard for congress. Call and then have them connect you with your representative
202)224-3121