Quote Originally Posted by JMS View Post
This passage I find interesting as I had just recently heard it reported that A larger percentage of people do not survive such operation in Canada and the UK than in the USA! and that was based on the patients who actually made it to the front of the line before keeling over!
Hey, all I wrote was "excellent healthcare", not "the best healthcare in the world" or "healthcare that's better than in America". I'm sure the US has a good record for triple bypass. Excellent news for those who can afford the procedure, for sure! Of course, I don't have to 'afford' my healthcare -- it's there if I'm coining it in and paying taxes, and it's there if I happen to be jobless and therefore paying no taxes. Whatever life throws at me in my career/work does not affect my right to treatment. I find that very comforting and worth some taxes.

As an aside, I'm sure the stats did not include those who were uninsured or without means to even discover they needed bypass surgery? With a national health system, I can call on the full resource of the hospitals whether it turns out to be angina, heartburn, or a dodgy ticker, even if I were jobless with no med insurance. Give me a queue (and for conditions like bypass it's pretty short over here) any day over the hopeless situation I'd be in if I found myself without the NHS or insurance.

Whichever way you dice it, I'd rather live in a governed state than the wild west. But I do appreciate that's not for everyone.