Katie Brickell

[dauntless111]

This is a shocking story and of course, horror stories happen in Universal Health Care.

But if I were to count the horror stories overall. There are wayyyyyy more in the Private US System as it currently stands.

Good luck Katie!

[chrisinbarnes]

Stupid bitch may well have cost poor Americans there only chance of healthcare. Happy? Naive beyond belief - next time someone asks for an interview - ask who they represent. Self publicists like you are dangerous

[oneki]

You all should not slag of Katie, she was tricked. Another example how the media gradually is making us all into zombies. What she complained abot was the fact that the system did not extend to her district not that she did not like the NHS. The media are always lying about everything.They have turned us all in sheep. TIME TO WAKE UP. KATIE could have been any on of us.

[hauskalainen]

oneki is wrong. Katie says nothing about her district or that she does not like the NHS, What Katie wanted was a reversal of the decision not to fund free pap smears for people under 25 because the science shows it MOSTLY to be a waste of time and money. Katie is one of those rarities for whom a pap smear under 25 may have prevented a cancer from spreading. Her being the exception does not make the rule. T

he fact is that, as in the U.S. Katie could have paid for a pap smear privately.

[strictlyreadingforum]

What an idiot Katie Brickel is... seriously. If she has a problem with the NHS, a free service for people that can't afford it, why not go private and stop moaning (this applies to everyone). She is hurt and upset and blaming the NHS for her cancer it seems.

Would she rather old people work till they die to pay for health care? Selfish selfish selfish.

[rachellightbird]

honestly, we in the uk can choose health insurance, grrrrrrrrrr..... you in the us ar 37th in the league, we are 18th, neither is good enough, France and Italy are top and they have state funded health care, its just ours needs more money

[mrjonnewman]

Lying fuckers!

[twincrier]

How much does a pap cost? Doctors won't tell us, insurance won't tell us. Healthcare is the only product that we cannot shop for and it's the one product we need most. Can you imagine how cheap medical care would be if patients (consumers) had choices?

[hauskalainen]

In Britain, everyone has choices. There are private hospitals and private insurers. And a free service from public hospitals and family physicians. Katie was really complaining that the NHS would not PAY for her pap test at her young age. Its very RARE to have cancer at that age. She could have paid for a test privately. She was very unlucky. But so are people who are hit by lightning. The NHS draws a line on funding which everyone can cross if they wish.

[dauntless111]

indeed. I would doubt that even a private HMO would allow a Pap test as that age. She would probably have had to pay for it anyway.

This makes the NHS look very bad indeed, but as you say, very unlucky.

[hauskalainen]

For a more balanced view, Google "OECD SURVIVAL AND SCREENING FOR BREAST CANCER" The UK and most socialized systems screen a higher % of women than free market America.

Survival rates are reported as higher in the U.S. but beware! US Cancer registries don't cover 100% of the population as they do in Europe and Canada. Google "Overview of the SEER Program" and you find that US registries cover only 23%. We don't know the survival rate for the other 77% not tracked.

[Julie8040]

Thanks Katie for drawing attention to this & raising awareness for young women to make sure they get tested if they have good reason. I think you are so brave. But I think it's sad to see your case being used in this way to try and restrict health care to young people, do you think you would have been able to afford the premiums for private health insurance at your age? or should the UK be pushing for the NHS to be made stronger so that cases like yours are picked up and treated earlier?

[heyandrew90]

This is why we do not need socialized medicine in the U.S. Obviously the NHS is worthless in the UK and they need to have private insurance instead. Why should we have this in the U.S. private health insurance is the best and if you cannot afford it then too bad. Katie shows us how useless Government run medication is and this is why thanks to her, we will never have any sort of socialized medicine in the U.S. that Katie Brickell speaks out.

Anyone that cannot afford insurance too bad.

[hauskalainen]

For a more balanced view Google the following

"SourceOECD (all one word) Health at a Glance 2007: OECD Indicators"

and checkout all the links

And remember that Sweden Spain UK Finland Denmark Norway and Iceland all have socialized systems.

Brits can get private insurance/medicine. Only about 8% have coverage, and even then it tends to come with a job. Thats because the NHS does an excellent job. Private coverage is pretty useless tho because it excludes things like pregnancy..

[hauskalainen]

Don't be fooled by this. Katie Brickell wants MORE government healthcare not LESS. She wants the govt to pay for FREE pap tests but at at a younger age, Not NO govt health care at all. Katie campaigns for the opposite of what CPR wants.

[hauskalainen]

"Cervical cancer is rare before the age of 30 years. Screening younger women will

detect many lesions that will never develop into cancer, will lead to considerable

overtreatment, and is not cost-effective" - Quote from "Comprehensive

Cervical Cancer Control

A guide to essential practice"World Health Organization publication.

[rjbrickell]

well i am Katie the girl in the video, this story is 100% true, and I havent embellished anything. I was refused a smear test and now have an incurable cancer. I fully believe if I had been allowed one, I wouldnt be going through what I am now. I know more about it than you, I am going through it, so keep your uneducated remarks to yourself. I am dying and the whole point is to raise awareness for women to get smear test and warn women that you cant under the age of 25. And i hope to beat this

[creaturesGREATnSmall]

Katie,

Thank you for being brave enough to share your story. Americans are about to be rail roaded into the same sort of health care system that has failed you so miserably. I'm joining the fight against Obama's plans and hope others will wake up to this reality too.

I pray that you beat this cancer too Katie. It isn't fair, and what's more its a sin to deny medication and procedures that would save people's lives. God bless and keep you Katie. Warmest regards, Sue

[thomasjf]

Yup, all you 52%'s Govt run health care is the greatest.........