General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: My experience with Universal health Care [View all]ColesCountyDem
(6,943 posts)My great-aunt was intensely interested in genealogy, and at age 68, went to Wales to do research, as well as sightseeing. While there, she suffered a massive hemorrhagic stroke. Upon being stabilized at a local hospital, she was airlifted to University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff.
Upon arrival, Aunt Ginny was placed in NIC (neurological intensive care), where she remained for 23 days until being further stabilized and moved to a private room for another 10 days. At that point, her attending physician pronounced her able to travel back to the US via either air ambulance OR commercial airliner with a physician in attendance.
On my side of the Atlantic, my father (a physician, fortunately), made the travel arrangements to bring Aunt Ginny home and place her in a skilled-care nursing and rehabilitation facility. Fortunately, Aunt Ginny was a thrifty person who had always had a decent job and who had sufficient funds to pay for the travel arrangements, etc. . Anticipating an enormous bill in Cardiff, we withdrew $100K from her bank in the form of cashier's check. Transportation expenses were arranged and prepaid on this side of the Atlantic.
Dad and I flew to Cardiff (via London, of course) and made our way to University Hospital of Wales. While Dad supervised the 'hands on' part of getting Aunt Ginny released, etc., I was dispatched to the Bursar's Office to settle accounts. Imagine my shock at being informed that Aunt Ginny owed a total of 70-odd Pounds (for television), period! Keeping the cashier's check in my wallet, I paid her outstanding bill with a traveler's check.
To make a long story short, Aunt Ginny received world-class medical care for a catastrophic illness essentially for free, and she wasn't even a British subject! Because of that care, she was able to recover to the extent of being able to think, speak, feed herself and return to her home (albeit confined permanently to a wheelchair) and live another 7 years.
If this is an example of the 'evils of universal health care, all I can say is, "Bring it on!"