Socially Acceptable Living Standard

[Red Lead Ted]

Don't be like that me old m8 let me bring a coach full of scouser,s down we can have a real party. It might even be an enjoyable experience for you meeting up with a few scouse seaman you might have logged a few days pay in the past we don't hold grudges Bill we let bygones be bygones !!!!!!!!!!

[Dennis McGuckin]

Hey Nev,
We were down there last October. Wife had to go to Emergency. Was in for for hours, $5,000.00.
Thought that was it. Then got a bill from Xray, ECG, and Lab.
Thank goodness we had insurance.
Us Canadians have a great medical plan, but would never cross the border without coverage.
Den.

[Captain Kong]

I have been sat in my garden on the recliner on the lawn all weekend, I have come in now to have a shower, far too hot to sit out there, St Swithin ! you missed out. I now have a real good bronzy.
It was a veritable Shangrila here in Boltonistan. I have been sat there with a cool bucket and a couple of tinnies, listening to the gentle breezes rustling in the trees, bringing with it the Aromatic smells of Oriental spices and Curries, the Natives of the Khyber and the North West Frontier, have their cooking pots out, So Exotic, I could be anywhere , Bombay or Karachi. no need to go on a cruise.
Yes in Shangrila Life is good.
Cheers
Brian, ...........wondering what the hell I am talking about.

[Tony Morcom]

Cheers
Brian, ...........wondering what the hell I am talking about.

[Red Lead Ted]

You forgot to menton the bloody big joint of ganja weed you had, funkin wit de mood control bro ,,,,,,,,,, Terry.

[Captain Kong]

I dont like to talk about that Terry, SHHHHHH

[Rodney Mills]

No disrespect meant, but I have read the tales of woe about the N.H.S. and how you are not getting this for FREE and that for FREE. Well here is what you would get if you lived here [in the land of the free]. There are food stamps available for minimal monthly food, some assistance for rent, and medical coverage called "Medicaid". To qualify for any of these government assistance programs you cannot have more than $3,500. in assets excluding house and a car, earn less than $17,000. p.a., $22,000. if married and filing income tax jointly. If you exceed these limits and are ill or hurt, you could be treated at the emergency room at any hospital. Emergency rooms operate on the triage system, the sickest or most injured are taken care of first. It is not uncommon, so I hear, to spend hours waiting to see a doctor for a sore throat.

Now lets examine my monthly medical costs. I am over sixty-five so I qualify for health care (Medicare), $95.00, which is deducted monthly from my Social Security check (pension). This covers me for 80% of my doctor/hospital fees. I have insurance to cover the 20% gap, $208.00. I have limited prescription coverage, $45.00. So I as a pensioner pay $348.00 a month. Dental and eyeglasses are not covered, other than that I have full coverage. Five years ago I was flown by helicopter to Charleston hospital, fee $9,000.00 and paid in full. Now my wife, who is 64 years old has private coverage. As an ex-teacher she has a group rate which is cheaper than a solo rate, $725.00 a month. Combined then, monthly medical insurance is $1,075.00.. Monthly out out-of-pocket expenses average $200.00 a month--dental hygiene, eyes, co-pay to doctors, a basic annual deductible (wife), prescriptions not covered--that is $1,275.00 a month or $15,396.00 p.a.. In addition there are unanticipated medical expense. Last week my wife had to have unexpected surgery on a tooth, due to pre-existing condition she could not have it extracted, the bill...$1,125.00 to save one tooth.

I have three sons. They attended a not too challenging university. Fee for a four year B.A., roughly $30,000.00 each and that was in 1980s dollars. We could not get low interest "Student Loans" as I was told "You make too much money". That is $90,000.00 combined. I have just read in "Time" of a young lady who just graduated with a masters degree and some strange speciality she thought was "interesting". She cannot find a position in her speciality and has a student loan of $140.000.00. If she repays the loan per the schedule of repayment she will be 52 when she retires the debt. A masters degree from top universities like Harvard or Yale $250,000.00, an M.D. $500,000.00 at least. Now I read that the students in the U.K. are screaming mad that their costs have risen by 1,000.00 pounds p.a....that's the price of a tooth!

Now I get the feeling from the posts that a lot feel cheated, after all you were promised "cradle to the grave security" [A. Bevin?], which leads me to compare our two nations. It seems to me that you work for a wage, the government keeps most of it, pats you on the head and gives you some pocket money back; recovers chunks of it back in high V.A.T. and any taxes they can dream up. That is how they pay for social schemes, nothing is FREE, YOU pay for service one way or another. My government hands most of it back and basically says "Screw you Jack..you're on your own". I am most definitely not a Tea-Party fan. I am concerned for those less fortunate and would like to see certain improvements made.

As to your tales of immigrants ripping the system, in the U.S. we are a melting pot of cultures and races, all equally told the government mantra, "Screw you Jack...etc...". My ex-wife, my year old son and I, entered the states by train from Canada (lived there three years), fifty years ago last May. There was nobody waiting to show me where the money hand-out office was; finding me accommodation etc.. If the immigrants have no family here they are on their own. There was a border officer to check our papers and I will never forget what he said, "Welcome to the United States...and I hope all your dreams come true". Three days later the train pulled into Los Angeles.While in Canada I had found myself a job as a banquet cook in the Ambassador Hotel in L.A.. It was a cab to the Hotel, report in, and walking around the neighborhood home hunting, we found a furnished apartment and I started work the next day. As I used to say back in England "On my Todd Sloan (?) (own). I've never had food stamps, unemployment or any government handouts. Now which system do I prefer? This one. I left England for Canada in 1958. I was twenty and had a bride of four days, a one-way ship's tickets and fifty pounds in travellers checks, and not for one moment have I regretted it. I've had a great life and am having a great life and without government assistance. If you are willing to work hard, want to improve yourself, as far as I am concerned the states are the place to be,. If you want something for free, the states are the last place on earth you should move to. The U.S.A. works on the immigration Darwin theory of natural selection, the strong make it, the weak go "home".

Regards, Rodney (2nd Asst Cook ret'd.)

[Captain Kong]

Thanks for that information Rodney, very interesting,
I guess we have it easy here in comparison. see my previous post on the treatment I recieved over the last two weeks.
.
Britain can still be a good country even with our million problems.
The NHS is still good compared with overseas.
In the last two weeks I have had an ECG, and pain killing injection from a Paramedic who arrived at my home first in a car, whilst waiting for the Ambulance, Gas and Air from an Ambulance on the way to the hospital, A morphine drip, a Paracetamol drip, a Pain killing injection. an Anti clotting injection, Four X-Rays, a CT Scan, an Ultra Sound Scan , a MRI Scan, an Endoscopy into the stomach, and on a drip of Fluid and a drip of Antibiotics for four days. Two Blood Tests and a Urine test.and two boxes of tablets . Four days in the hospital.
Now I dont know how much that would cost in the USA or anywhere else, but it must cost a few bob, and all No Charge.
Thank you NHS, There is more to come yet........
.
Cheers Brian.

[John Pruden]

brian my care costs would have run into millions in the states and as long as they keep me going it will cost a lot more but then again i know its only a drop in the bucket all the tax i have put in over the years .jp

[Les Woodard]

Rodney I would like to see if you can clarify this for me. I am of the understanding that while employed in the USA that the employer has a health fund that covers the workers and their family. One of the bad points in either loosing your job or getting retrenched is that you also loose out on medical cover. Is that correct? I think each country has differing medical covers and here in Oz we seem to have a mixture of both the UK and USA and slowely swinging towards the USA. In our hospitals it is not unusual for private patients to be treated by the same doctor who is also treating a public patient. Like my mate who was private and his wife had to have heart surgery. The public patients went home with no cost to them and my mate ended up getting bills for months after for amounts over a grand. The only difference was the waiting time is cut down for private patients. When you say that the waiting time for a sore throat in A&E can be hours try out here mate as it can take days. Think it all comes down to the old saying of "swings and roundabouts" with all our systems. There is good and bad in them all our main bugbear is politicians thinking that they are in charge when they know stuff all about the whole thing.