Daniel Hannan - Universal Health Care in the UK

[TheRedflagflyer]

Fuck you Hannan, we love our NHS, it has saved my life.

[HuxleyWasRight]

the NHS is good at distributing health care, you will get the care (eventually) but it's not good at distributing GOOD health care, for the large part it's sub-standard.

Lets call it what it is, a rationing of health care, the NHS has a budget and will make calls on priorities, which means they will let old people die rather than treat them.

Under a free market health care system having more patients would be beneficial, under a NHS it's a burden.

[MsZeitgeist85]

Anything Hannan says about health care is a crock of shit and that cancer survival rate is not even a valid argument when you are comparing a handfull that get tretment in the US with the whole population of a country.

[dannydannyl]

5.25 his real opinion slips out. in fact it is privatised healthcare that leaves the poor to die. money should never dictate the standard of healthcare you receive. fuck you daniel hannan

[julebuggy]

@dannydannyl Money dictates the standard no matter whether it's nationalized or not.

[redwarrj1]

bollox. He's a tory, so probably doesn't use the NHS anyway

[toeblarone]

@redwarrj1 But still pays his tax for your health care, as well as having to pay his private.

[davijeph]

@toeblarone He does not "have" to pay for private insurance he chooses to. He also, if he chooses, gets all the services and care opportunities that any UK citizen can avail themselves from the NHS. It is interesting the while Hannan tries to do a hatchet job on the NHS during the interview with Beck about his "friend" who no doubt like Hannan also had expensive private health insurance his friend uses the "free"emergency services of the NHS not his insurance.

[redwarrj1]

@toeblarone My tax and national insurance cover my health care (as well as his!!). Private health care is also paid for via insurance schemes, so he also pays for other people using private medicine...

[davijeph]

IF you are really interested in understanding the US health care debate please look at “The U.S. Healthcare System in International Context:” Articulate, knowledgeable, unbiased, truthful.

[TWIZZLEism]

Recent Bill Signed by Obama = Not Universal Healthcare

[rumco]

@TWIZZLEism It's more of a fascist care.

[Priestley848]

Joey3469 = NHS administrator, contributes little and is accountable to nobody.

[joey3469]

Aneurin Bevan = Hero

[joey3469]

Daniel Hannan = Rightwing tory scum, who doesn't give a toss about the british lower classes who would suffer with out a socialised healthcare plan,

[rumco]

@joey3469 Scum are those people who steal from others using government's hand, be they rich or poor. Hannan makes the most sense out of all the rotten politicians in UK, Tories or whatnot.

[RMMHS4RP]

It sounds like the National Health is to the U. K. what public education is to the U. S.: a huge lobbying and voting bloc that lives off the public all the while masquerading as a public service.

[swordhunter12]

@RMMHS4RP Don't be fooled. Most Brits support the NHS, have found it to be a great help and would rather see it improved rather than privatized.

[imre1000]

@swordhunter12, I'm sure some of the people in the queue for medical procedures aren't so quick to support the NHS.

Good intentions don't put food on the table and certainly don't produce a better level of healthcare.

The problems in the US are also due to Government, you can see more in this video by John Stossel: /watch?v=aEXFUbSbg1I

[swordhunter12]

@imre1000 Many people who have problems with the NHS still want it to stay. Say what you like about our healthcare system but, in my opinion, it works as private businesses also exist with better funding. The idea is to give people the choice between buying healthcare and getting it without the need for immediate payment. Also just about every systme has a waiting list including the USA private companies.

[imre1000]

@swordhunter12, when something is given away for free - there is no incentive to cut costs or be more efficient.

If a set amount of resources (money) is allocated to the NHS, and not used efficiently - there are less services available (used up by admin) and more queues.

You obviously have a right to support the NHS, all I want to do is encourage you to explore the alternative.

Stossel's video about Government intervention in healthcare is a good place to start: /watch?v=aEXFUbSbg1I

[swordhunter12]

@imre1000 Not only am I willing to consider private healthcare (assuming that's what you mean by "the alternative") in fact I would recommend a private company OVER a national company if you can afford to do so without ending up in the red zone. However I still think a something like the NHS should exist for the people who can't afford it for certain reason e.g: cash flow, bank foreclosure, low pay etc. I'm not against private healthcare I'm against it being the ONLY option.

[swordhunter12]

@imre1000 I have just watched the majority of it and he makes some good points but I still support free healthcare. Personally I'm fine with my country's system because we have a private sector AND a public sector. While I did think Stossel made good points the moment he said "what if we had free market insurance?" my head could not have hit the desk faster. The hospital is NOT a supermarket. Granted you need food to survive but food costs much less than private healthcare.

[imre1000]

@swordhunter12, food costs less than healthcare mainly because of open competition. This is not an idea that's easy to grasp and it's unlikely I will change your mind in a youtube comment.

In Venezuela, people pay 30% of their income on food. In some coutries in Africa it's higher.

You're taking your low food costs for granted, and your high medical costs for granted.

Here's a bit more on this: /watch?v=BY6oRtM6NzI - it's only 6 mins.

He explains healthcare costs pre-Government intervention.

[rumco]

@swordhunter12 And why is it? Why does food cost less? Food costs a lot in poor countries, never mind non-existent health-care. How did Western society become so rich that food is so cheap, yet health-care is still expensive and raising? Do you see the difference between the state and free market?

[rumco]

@swordhunter12 Same old statist tune: Just throw more money at it, it will work!

[swordhunter12]

@rumco I never said that. In all honesty many of the stories told about the NHS are exaggerated or misunderstood, for example: the NHS only rations/denies treatment that is either regularly ineffective or obsolete.

[rumco]

@swordhunter12 And of course there is only ONE authority to say what is ineffective or obsolete. You don't get variety, different approaches. You get uniform, bureaucratic process. NHS only exists because of WW2.

[swordhunter12]

@rumco Yes you get only one authority to say what is ineffective or obsolete BUT the decision is made based on clinical trial. I highly doubt the authority will just come out and say "okay we're gonna class this treatment as ineffective/obsolete just because we can" it'd be more like "we're gonna class this treatment as ineffective because we tested it 50 times and it only worked 5 times". Yes the NHS STARTED because of WW2 but it exists TODAY because the people value it.

[swordhunter12]

@swordhunter12 Part 2: With all the problems the NHS has I will always defend it to the death because without it you are basically telling EVERYONE that they have no right to live which is an absolutely despicable notion in my eyes and come to think of it telling ANYONE they don't deserve to live is a very dodgy opinion in our enlightened times. If I see a beggar I won't go up to him and say he deserves to be in this situation because I don't know him, I don't know who he is, what he's done,

[swordhunter12]

@swordhunter12 part 3: and even then I don't know what he'll do in the future. There are so many possibilities. He could save a life but still be a beggar in the streets, THEN would he deserve to live? Even if you DO believe that not everyone deserves healthcare that doesn't mean NOBODY deserves it and that's what a solely privatized system tells us. Because of this nothing you can tell me can prevent me from supporting the NHS.

[rumco]

@swordhunter12 They value it because there is no alternative. If you pay for NHS and have to pay extra for private care, who can afford it? From my own experience, and from the experience of my friends, even Central European countries such as Poland or Slovakia have better health service (with much lower budgets) than NHS.

[Nimbology02]

Semi-Privitise the NHS!!!!

[SteenErik3000]

Oh god how typical of Fox jurnalism...

Bring in a random English man to inform on how healtcare is working in England - then treat him as an expert.

Daniel Hannan is a HUGE critic of the healthcare system, altough the majority of people like it in England... But of course Fox brings him in to represent the English, wanting to make a point on how bad unniversal healthcare is

[zBloodD3monz]

@SteenErik3000

I agree with you. The majority of Brits support the NHS.

[davijeph]

While in the UK Daniel Hannan, if known at all, is for the most part looked on has a joke .His extreme far right views born out of his childhood spend in extreme wealth in Peru.A well educated man being sent to the most exclusive and expensive higher education institutions in the UK. Has never used the NHS in is life.Almost everything he says is lie, selective truth or just plain stupid.Fox News should be ask why given all the Brit's they could ask about the NHS they choose this extremist .

[mautofiedd]

@davijeph yeah.. he spent his time living on a big farm in peru, sounds like the high life, lmao..

[Nintendomanwill]

It's simple: bureaucrats don't help people, they do their jobs. If I ever become MP (and I don't see any reason why I shouldn't, compared to the idiots presently in the Commons) one of my main goals would be to crush the expensive, tyrannous bureaucracy.

[soc2day]

the NHS is the most ethical healthcare, all pay, all recieve rich/poor. When you have heart attack you want an op not an ins.form. The most christian healthcare is NHS "Jesus heart NHS"

[MissMaria10]

The only experience I have with NHS in England was when I had to see a doctor during a vacation there. I was mortified. The examination room was the doctor's office with food and drinks all over the place. I left without treatment. I took my chances because I did not like what I saw.

[inewa7819]

Unless there was a medical emergency, you didn't have any experience with the NHS in England. Perhaps you had experience with a GP who sees private and NHS patients?

FWIW, I've been to two (private) consultants during my stay in the US, and they both examined me in their offices. Not sure whether there was any food around - fairly sure I'd have noticed e.g. a chocolate cake but I might have erased the memory of, say, a jar of sweets for kids, as I'm fairly sure they pose no threat to my life.

[MissMaria10]

The doctor had cereal bowls with milk sitting around his office and boxes of ceral.

[pandabead]

I am against the federal reserve. No group of businessmen should have that much power.

[ItsAllAboutGuitar]

Daniel Hannan is great!

[daryl4classic]

The NHS is ace, never had a problem, you americans musnt listen to this traitor, does he know the conservatives hate himn now?

[theporksicle]

Huh? I've been quoted 5 weeks for an appointment with my GP, if my stomach pains had been stomach cancer I'd probably have been dead within that time.

Same story with Canada.

As for me, I'm all for a fairer, less arbitrary system.

[inewa7819]

Uh, you're aware that all English NHS GP surgeries are required to have someone see you in 48 hours, right? Did you ask for an appointment on the day?

I had bouts of cholecystitis and the first time I decided to contact a doctor with what I described as severe upper abdominal pain, I was referred for an evening GP appointment within a couple of hours. I was checked in to the hospital to eliminate pancreatitis etc within an hour after that.

I've since had gallbladder removed on the NHS.

[theporksicle]

Yes, emergency situations, mine was not an emergency.

The point is that when they fear losing your money/custom they are made to be more efficient.

[inewa7819]

No, it doesn't need to be an emergency to get a 48 hour GP appointment: just ask. If there's an emergency, you go to the nearest A&E. If you're not sure whether it's an emergency and there's no open GP surgery, i.e. you'd like to discuss symptoms immediately, you can call your out-of-hours number or 0845 46 47.

Or have you already been diagnosed and are complaining because it's going to be 5 weeks until your next check-up? If that's the case, you already know it's not "stomach cancer".

[herbs814]

Conservatives love Daniel Hannan. He speaks the truth that more people should be saying.

[Sam26100]

watch?v=q2jijuj1ysw

this video shows what socialized health care looks like. No he said/she said, just plain guerilla style documentary showing the gruesome reality of single payer healthcare

[herbs814]

NHS is a pyramid scheme. The entire faulty system is a problem. It steals from the productive to fund a corrupt vote-buying scheme for politicians and bureaucrats. Those it supposedly helps receive a fraction of what was stolen from them.. or what a voluntary private system would provide. NHS will collapse from its own wickedness.

[richardblogger]

Gosh, I bet you needed a sit down after spewing all that nonsense.

[herbs814]

NHS is an evil scheme that robs from the people to support corrupt politicians and politicians. There is nothing about nationalized healthcare than any moral or rational person should ever accept.

[inewa7819]

For a greater variety of emotive set phrases for the modern ideologue, you might want to pick up a copy of Izvestiya. Remember, there is no Pravda in Izvestiya and there is no Izvestiya in Pravda!

[richardblogger]

Beck gives made up statistics. The NHS wait times are actually less than wait times in the US!

[bgayle924]

I had a bad disk in my back and went to the doctor, and when I decided to get surgury, it was sceduled for the following week... How can you be faster then that?

[richardblogger]

Dunno, I've not had any experience of that.

But my neighbour had a problem with her hip (she's 86) saw her GP and had the hip replacement by the NHS the following day. She left the hospital the following week and the hospital provided a team who went into her house and adapted it so that she could get around.

She had the hip replacement in a NHS hospital, but the NHS would also have paid for a private hospital if the waiting list was too long.

[herbs814]

Nobody believes that NHS would ever have less wait times than US. Why don't you try telling us the moon is made of cheese.

[Elasaltaculos]

source?

It sounds to me like you are spewing made up bullshit.

[richardblogger]

Glenn Beck gives a figure that says "5% of Americans wait more than 4 months for elective surgery". The figures Beck gives are from a survey in 2003 (ie not current) of 1000 people (ie, not all cases) by a healthcare insurance company (ie biassed source). So the figures Beck gives for the NHS are incorrect.

[memama2]

Watch the magnificent Speech on YouTube video:...........Peter Johnson Jr. : Prescription For Truth...........

[pandabead]

If Dan Hannon becomes prime minister I am moving to UK. He is more American than our politicians here.

[Elasaltaculos]

He should become an American President. After all, we don't need our presidents to be born within our borders anymore, do we?

[rickinnev]

When you have some maggot like Ted Kennedy supporting this crap, the Clinton theives, and now this criminal with no Birth Certificate in the White House trying to jam this up your ass, you have to be one hell of a damn dummy to think there is anything good with this crap of Universal Health Care.

[hyylo]

ron paul does not like chris dodd because chris dodd voted for the bank bailouts and voted for bush to go to war.

[hyylo]

END THE FEDERAL RESERVE

RON PAUL for president

Support Peter Schiff and Rand Paul for senate

put bush and obama in jail

no more war. bring our troops home

[pandabead]

I have always believed in liberatarian views and never knew it until I saw Milton Friedman speak. I agree with him 100% and Ron Paul

[hyylo]

Hi

Also watch the video by PETER SCHIFF and Rand Paul (ron pauls son).

Peter Schiffs dad was sent to jail because he tried to protest against the federal reserve and the income tax.

[Elasaltaculos]

Friedman's school of economic thought believes in the Federal Reserve. There is where I deviate from Friedman. He is a great man nonetheless.

[Libertarian71776]

thats not true. they are against the FED. friedman states is not politically feasible right now to abolish it, so these are the policies we should follow if we are gonna have a FED. if you read his writings and watch his videos on here you would know this.

[Elasaltaculos]

watch?v=9V5OP-VmXgE

[usgop]

The Obama healthcare plan is a way of cleanzing the country..how many people die waiting in line to see the doctor in countries like Canada, England, etc.??

Universal healthcare is a very bad idea.

[daryl4classic]

Wanna know how many die waiting for NHS in "Britain!", less than people who die falling down stairs. Which is LOW

[usgop]

That's not what we hear and we don't want to take a chance on it. We like our healthcare just fine the way it is.

[herbs814]

NHS is a corrupt pyramid scheme that steals from its citizens. NHS should be ended ASAP!

[Maltiman172000]

You make me sick! How dare you say anything against one of the best healthcare systems in the world. Wether you are american or British, keep your trap shut and your conservative, selfish opinions to yourself!

[herbs814]

NHS is evil. Anyone who condones something as EVIL as NHS is sick.

[richardblogger]

Since we get healthcare based on clinical need and not how much money is in our pockets, it is no wonder that we Brits love it.

I do not want the US to have an equivalent of the NHS because then it will be one less thing to poke fun at you yanks about.

[bmtimv]

arrrgh! dissent must not be herd!!!

[Elasaltaculos]

source? numbers? some solid information please?

Yes we want to know, so why dont you enlighten us?

[inewa7819]

In England, you always have the opportunity to see a private doctor in England. Or anywhere in the EU, without any immigration issues. Or, indeed, in the USA.

The only choice you're losing with a national health service is the choice to not care for a poor, sick person. You've already lost the choice to not protect those who cannot afford private security from being beaten up: why are you not protecting them from being sneezed on?

[usgop]

We Americans like our healthcare the way it is! I saw a video on yt of a man in England who broke his arm TWO years ago and he is still waiting to see a doctor to have it set! NO THANK YOU to NHCS!

[inewa7819]

1. Many Americans disagree with you, otherwise this debate wouldn't be happening.

2. Cite a reliable source for your anecdote (youtube isn't one).

3. Anyone can see a private doctor in the England if they want to, just as in the US. Anyone is welcome to get private health insurance in England if they want, or indeed to get private health insurance in the US if they consider its healthcare system better (what's the cost of 1 return flight compared to healthcare?). That choice is not taken away.

[usgop]

The last poll I saw stated that 89% of Americans were against NHC. You people may enjoy paying for illegals but WE DON'T!

[theporksicle]

The choice is not taken away from us in the literal sense, in that I can have BUPA or I can go to a Harley Street practice and see a leading cardiologist or other specialist physician.

HOWEVER the fact is I am still forced to contribute to the healthcare costs of other people even if I don't rely on the NHS, that is what is unfair.

[paranoidgoldfish]

unfair in what way exactly?

[theporksicle]

Healthy people or those who have private healthcare are forced to contribute to other people's healthcare, unfair in that way.

[paranoidgoldfish]

unfair because you don't want to help other people be healthy?

[mlukhman]

@theporksicle Your paying for insurance for when you will need the NHS.

Why not tell what would happen if you suffered a heart attack on the street, where would you go first? Or indeed if you came down with a chronic condition?

[theporksicle]

@mlukhman

I may not need the NHS, isn't it a better idea that people pay for it when they need it rather than in case they need it?

[mlukhman]

@theporksicle No

It wouldn't work. The disaster that is the US system shows that.

PS A spell in ITU/CCU would soon eat through most people savings.

[theporksicle]

@mlukhman

It would eat through most people's savings hence insurance, just like if my house burned down I wouldn't have enough cash to buy another house the same, which is why you have house insurance. Same principle.

You can hedge against rises in ANY good's cost by buying index-linked securities or shares, broadly speaking the more crude oil and refined products cost the more money BP or Exxon Mobil makes, so if you own a few shares or an oil index it will offset the rise in cost.

[mlukhman]

@theporksicle

You do have insurance, its called the funding the NHS. Copying the European or USA models would entail wasting resources on administration.

[theporksicle]

@mlukhman

I'm saying you should be able to opt out of the NHS and not pay for it. A foolish risk to take perhaps, but still one you ought to be able to take.

[paranoidgoldfish]

I saw the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, doesn't mean i'm going to get ripped to shreds with a chainsaw if I go to texas...

[usgop]

What are you talking about???? Your comment does not make sense.

[paranoidgoldfish]

it's the idea of watching a video and taking it out of context.

[usgop]

I didn't take anything out of context..we don't want what you have. If I break my arm I want it set immediately..not two years later.

[paranoidgoldfish]

I don't want what you have, which seems to be complete ignorance about what the NHS is like. It's like me getting all my information about Texas from watching the Texas chainsaw massacre.

[usgop]

Maybe its just me but I just don't see how your comments relate to mine..scratching head....have a good day ya hear!

[paranoidgoldfish]

Let me spell it out. You should do more research before you criticize the NHS, as one video is clearly not representative of the whole system, especially of a man with such a ridiculous case. If healthcare was like that in the UK there wouldn't be such unanimous support for the NHS, as there is. If you are a product of the US education system, then maybe this needs to be looked at also.

[usgop]

I have done research and found many more videos about healthcare in England and Canada that convinced me that it wouldn't be good for my country. Our educational system is a problem but you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out when something is bad. No more comments..I don't have time to waste on an upstart such as yourself. Go find someone else to hurl insults at missey.

[paranoidgoldfish]

I'm male. And even though the healthcare system being proposed for the US is nothing like Britain or Canada's, it's good to know you have no idea that the reforms suggested will make no difference to you, whilst helping the least privileged of your society. Well done to your education system, well done to your unfree media.

[usgop]

Pardon me..you sound like a girl.

Reforms suggested will make plenty of difference to me..its coming out of MY pocket! I have NO obligation to provide HC for anyone except my own family. I'm certainly not living a priviledged life by any means. All this HC plan is really for is to insuremillions of ILLEGALS!! When you move here and start supporting all the deadbeats then you'll have a right to voice your worthless opinion!

[theporksicle]

Precisely, this is the point I'm making and I am on the inside looking out. America's system is not perfect, there are 50 million people without health insurance at a given point by some estimates but don't think our system is any better at providing care itself.

So everyone has healthcare but then they don't because what's the point in being entitled to an operation if you can't get it while it would be useful.

[usgop]

The majority of this country is AGAINST Obummer's healthcare plan. I don't think its actually 50 million but even if it were..

how many of those are in this country ILLEGALLY? And you know who gets to pay for their healthcare..the TAXPAYING legal citizens! Some things you just can't explain to people such as the fish.

[theporksicle]

I think the 50 million statistic is deeply misleading, the liberal media on both sides of the Atlantic often say 50 million without healthcare. In fact its 50 millon (at the very most) without health INSURANCE, most of them are covered by the medicare and medicaid programs, many others by the church and those who don't have it are often only without it for a small, transient period of time (e.g. in between jobs).

[usgop]

We already pay throught the nose for Medicare/Medicaid programs..with those and welfare paid for by taxpayers.. why would anyone have the incentive to work and supply their own coverage? If this HC becomes law..don't be surprised if civil war breaks out in the states..the unrest here is at a peak.

You have good comments..full of common sense.

[Halbared]

Haha, this chap is funny. Cameron said he has bizarre ideas. No wonder he isn't an MP but can only get through on the MEP ticket:D

Even the Tory leadership now acknowledges that the NHS is great and needed. This chap has confirmed his wilderness status in the Tory party:D

[Cyrus992]

Why cant people understand. Government should NOT help people, it should preserve the rule of law and peace. Its great to help people, but when government does things there is no compeition and it wont expire when it fails. THIS IS WHY WE HAVE LIBERTY. TO ESCAPE THESE GOOD INTENTIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT.

Everyone in America, say the pledge of allegence and think about what this country stands for.

We can look at our education system. Filled with government mess and neglected young people!!

[inewa7819]

A free country with a pledge of allegiance? Quite.

At least it wasn't written with Christianity and socialism in mind, though. And it comes with a very American salute (I wonder whether turncoat David Bellamy is related?).

[paranoidgoldfish]

So you have liberty so that you can deny others health? Is that what America stands for? A neglected 'underclass', left to rot?

American people don't understand how incentives work. Deterrence, such as the death penalty or denial of healthcare in order to drive up employment doesn't work. Neither crime nor employment figures are any better for them, whilst crushing the people who can't help themselves.

[theporksicle]

Deny others healthcare? I have no duty to provide anyone else with healthcare, that is their duty or their families.

Otherwise there's no incentives, which is why so many people are on benefits. If it was a choice between work and starve I think we would see different unemployment statistics.

[paranoidgoldfish]

you have made the very american mistake (ironically) of misunderstanding the nature of benefits. benefits aren't made to act as incentives, they're made to act as a support to those who need it. I'm very sorry you feel others are scrounging off yourself, but that's only because you see the situation through your self-interest rather than experiencing the bigger picture.

[theporksicle]

Its not an 'American' mistake, I think you'll find there has always been a core of libertarian Brits who have favoured private charity as a method of meeting the needs of the unfortunate over benefits.

Benefits is basically A (one party) and B (another party) getting together and deciding what C (the taxpaying working person) should be forced to do for D (the unemployed benefits recipient). Need does not entitle you to something.

[paranoidgoldfish]

It's not that simple- for example, benefits rely on jobseeking, rather than unemployment. Private charity of itself achieves very little without a government which is best placed to understand what is necessary for whom.

Private charity is misplaced if it disregards the need of others, as you seem to.

[theporksicle]

You're factually correct but missing my point, which is at the core of welfarism as a philosophy.

Private charity involves those who earned the money deciding who to distribute it to, so its fairer than a government employee taking it from you (tax) and then doling it out to various needy people, you have no say under that system.

Needs, just because you need something does not justify stealing from other people to provide for that need.

[paranoidgoldfish]

Having money doesn't mean you have the wisdom to understand how to use it.

[theporksicle]

Yes it does because its your money, who are you to tell me how I should spend my money? By default how I spend my money is the correct way because there's no wrong way if I'm spending it (buying drugs etc being exceptions).

[paranoidgoldfish]

What if my exceptions are different than yours?

[theporksicle]

That's what we have the law for, I'm personally not opposed to people buying drugs for them to use- their body after all.

I'm not an anarchist, I'm not advocating we abolish the state I'm saying there should be less coercion and you should have more choice over your own healthcare than we do. The NHS in its current form is unfair, if we were to have an insurer run by the state as an option that would be fine.

[paranoidgoldfish]

Which is the system that Obama's looking to introduce here, right?

[theporksicle]

I don't know what Obama's doing, I think he will have a "public option" which will basically just act as competition to private insurers- if that is all he's doing I don't see why they hate it so much but I suspect its because Obama has more plans up his sleeve.

Its worth remembering any state run insurance policy would not be more than 3%or so cheaper than privately run insurance schemes.

[paranoidgoldfish]

As far as I can understand, a fair bit of it is scaremongering on the part of the media- emphasizing the fact Obama said once that if he could "start again" his healthcare system would look more like the NHS. Of course he can't, rendering it a rather obsolete argument. All in all I reckon Obama will simply be happy with enabling many millions more to health insurance.

As such, it strikes me as odd and slightly foolish that Hannan is equating UK and US systems of universal healthcare.

[theporksicle]

Millions more, lol, not by a long shot. The public option thing will be run separately from what they receive in taxes, so if they get $100 bilion from people taking out insurance policies they have that to spend, they can't dip into taxpayer funds.

HMOs typically make about 2-3% profit, so that means if you run it as a non profit the most you'll take off the cost is 3%, so not many more people will have access to it than before.

[theporksicle]

And whereas a normal HMO can exercise discretion in who it insures, the so called "pre existing conditions" which prevent many Americans from getting insured, the state run one will not be able to so its likely its operating costs will far exceed any revenues. It will become another loss making venture run by a gov't and they'll end up bailing it out with tax money.

[UcanbeGOD]

The last point he made was the most important of all. Its a hell of allot harder to take it all away once its here. Government is like a fucking tumor!

[Federalist306]

Dan Hannan IS THE MAN!!!!!

[AEVautomatic]

aha i can see scars where to you it looks natural because you dont know what to look for.

[AEVautomatic]

omg flen bech gas a bioplasty look at the line where they changed the scar for a line under his eye.

[AEVautomatic]

i cant see the face lift scars but hes going bald so its obvious.

[AEVautomatic]

wow plastic fantastic

[LibertyOrBust]

Interesting interview. Of course any type of complete gov't "takeover" of health care in the US will APPERA to work well at first because we have such a better infrastructure right now than these other countries. It will take a while to degrade and not be replaced.... then the lines will begin to form. But 2-3 years in the gov't will say "look no problem, the critics were wrong" Typical short term thinking.  By the time the bad effects appear it will be the fault of capitalism :-)

[ntn1987]

Nothing is free, why is that so hard for people to understand?

[trent310808]

Yes, the interview on ReasonTV was awesome.

[Scoforever]

Did anyone else see the interview on ReasonTV.

[bittergunowner12]

I did, it was very good.

[szol2005]

Go Daniel, + 5 *

[whoo689]

It's a breath of fresh air to see a sitting parliamentarian in the UK actually speak out AGAINST socialized medicine.  Of course, the pathetic thing is that even most British "Conservatives" won't even consider or say they'll gut the NHS in their platforms. More Brits need to wake up and listen to him rather than Gordon Brown and the idiots from Labour. Bigger gov't and a "global new deal" will not solve the Brits' economic situation.

[Maltiman172000]

No one cares what you think, I'll vote labour till I die because i know that the marvellous NHS will be safe that way and that the Conservatives are kept from puking that selfish matter from thair public school boy mouths.

[richardblogger]

Hannan is not a "parliamentarian" he is a member of the European Parliament elected through the appalling Party List system. In other words the people vote fior a party and then the party choose who should be the MEP. The people did not choose Hannan, his party did.

hannan is a coward. If he really believes in his opinions about the NHS he would resign as an MEP and stand as a Westminster MP. Westminster elections are first-past-the-post where voters actually vote for an individual.

[whoo689]

What saddens me is that Glenn Beck is one of the few talk show hosts out there that will actually host great minds like Hannan and Ron Paul, even though Beck is a HUGE ultraconservative at heart and not really much of a libertarian. He just claims that cuz he likes people like Hannan and Ron Paul and Penn Jillette. But sometimes on his show he seems a little too far to the right for even the GOP.

[LeGioNoFZioN]

I agree wholeheartedly

[inewa7819]

In what way is Ron Paul a great mind? His position may be fairly unusual in US government, but his ideas are not new. He's a spokesperson for an existing movement, but he hasn't done much to evolve that movement.

[theporksicle]

I suggest you read The Revolution: A Manifesto by Ron Paul, you will see he is a visionary in terms of modern America.

We have nobody quite like him in the UK, probably because we lack a codified constitution to adhere strictly to.