Brits rally to defend health care system
TEXT OF STORY
Bill Radke: President Obama will probably run into protestors today. He’ll go to Montana for a town-hall meeting on health care.
Have you noticed people who don’t like the idea
of government-run insurance will often point to the U.K. as an example of what not to do. Well, that’s got the British on the defensive. Christopher Werth reports many Brits are rallying to defend their National Health System, the NHS.
Christopher Werth: Kate Spall was interviewed about her negative experience with Britain’s public health system for a documentary earlier this year. The video actually ended being used for an ad paid for by Conservatives for Patient’s Rights.
That’s an American group lobbying against a public health care option that’s been favored by President Obama. At last count it was running about a $20 million dollar campaign.
Spall set up the Pamela Northcott Fund after her mother died of kidney cancer. It advocates for better access to innovative treatments in the U.K., which her mother was initially denied. But Spall says her views were misrepresented in the ad.
KATE SPALL: You know I am somebody who fights for those that are the vulnerable people in society. So to ally myself with an organization that’s against universal health care is the polar opposite of what I believe in because I believe it’s a human right.
The U.K.’s Department of Health has issued a three-page rebuttal to the Associated Press to clear up any misconceptions about the British system that Americans may have.
There’s even a Twitter campaign called “We Love the NHS.” It’s now reported to have more than a million followers. Both Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Conservative leader David Cameron have tweeted their support.
In London, I¹m Christopher Werth for Marketplace.
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