In other news: water is wet. I think we all knew that Charles wouldn’t have to go through the same pains us common British folk do in regards to accessing healthcare. But nonetheless I think it’s important to continue to highlight these ever growing class divisions in the UK, such as those between people who can afford private healthcare and people who have to rely on our public services. People in positions of authority and power in our country do not understand the struggles of everyday British people.
My TL;DR:
Charles is already receiving expert care for his cancer within days of diagnosis. His speedy treatment should draw fresh attention to the long cancer treatment waiting times that most British people experience with the NHS.
The proportion of patients in England waiting less than 62 days from an urgent suspected cancer referral or consultant upgrade to their first definitive treatment for cancer is 65.2%.
Amid growing frustration at NHS waiting lists, record numbers of people are paying for private healthcare. Nearly 300,000 people in the UK have paid for chemotherapy in the last five years.
Survival rates for cancer in the UK lag behind those of other European countries for nine out of 10 of the most common types of the disease.
Researchers said cancer waiting times across the country were among the worst on record, too many cancers were diagnosed at a late stage, and access to treatment was unequal.
Buckingham Palace has not specified whether the king is receiving private healthcare or being treated on the National Health Service.
This is all intentional. They can’t outright privatise the NHS without major outcry so they’ve made it unusable for as many as possible.
The Conservatives did that. I don’t think Charles actually likes them much.
Indeed. As a Yank who always has to pay for healthcare anyway, it’s easy to see the parallels in labor/employment, civil rights, and financial security: We’re facing a global regressive movement from the political right, and those people have no scruples. They absolutely want to claw back every single gain the general public has made in rights and benefits over the last 75 years, and making benefits unpopular is the first step to privatizing them.
Never forget the NHS, warts and all, is a thing that we Americans would die to have, and for want of it many of us too often literally do.
An anecdote for anyone in the UK that is leaning towards abolishing or privatizing your NHS.
I had an appendectomy last year, you know, a surgery that something like 40% of the population will need at some point in their lifetime.
It cost me $7000, with “decent” insurance (UHC to be clear).
The final bill pre-insurance was a smidge under $170.000.
You guys need to burn the Tories down before you end up with the same system. The USA’s healthcare system should be considered an example of what not to do, not a goal to strive for.
I work for UHC.
I think they’re a decent company, considering the industry.
I’ve made a nice and fairly comfortable career here.
Burn it all down. Give everyone healthcare.
I’ll find another job.
My girlfriend works for a private company instead of the NHS and she hates it on a moral level, too, but it’s impossible to work for the NHS and keep your sanity. Be it the working conditions, hours, or pay. It’s a shambles and it’s all because we - the stupid public - continue to be suckered into believing it’s good for us.
Not to mention that the left is fractured. We all want progress, but can’t decide on exactly what progress should look like. Meanwhile conservatives only have 1 real option: Tories.
I’m convinced at BEST we’re going to have another hung parliament with the bastards ultimately staying in power.
This country is fucked.
It’s so fucked up because not only are these assholes ruining another countries healthcare, they also are giving ammunition to our shithole country to never implement a universal healthcare system…
Which assholes are you talking about?
“Conservative” thieves, worldwide.
The ones in the UK government trying to ruin the healthcare system so they can make a privatized system more “appealing.”
Fortunately that’s a vanishingly small number of people in the UK, the NHS has almost universal support.
That’s good to hear. Now kick the Tories out & fund it properly.
Does anyone care about major outcries in UK anymore? What do they ever achieve?
People forget and move on after a couple weeks of anger
The Tories haven’t recovered in the polls since partygate and Truss, something has finally stuck.
They still need to get elected to carry out their plans.
Even the most zealous Tories I know are planning to vote against them this time.
Most of their voters aren’t rich people and they need to keep them on side.
It doesn’t matter how much money you have, if you’re a Tory voter you never think you have enough money. The fact you don’t have enough money is always the government’s fault mostly due to immigration either there’s too much of it, or not enough of it depending on your bank balance. Conservative voters only like the Tories come election time, the rest of the time they can’t stand them like the rest of us.
“That’s the standard technique of privatization: defund, make sure things don’t work, people get angry, you hand it over to private capital.” — Noam Chomsky.
Just to add to this, there’s been quite a lot of public services which have been privatised in the UK by the Conservative party, for example water (1989), railways (1994 - 1997) and more recently the Royal Mail (2014). All of these services are in absolutely terrible states today, privatisation didn’t make them better. And yet it seems we are not learning from history and continue to vote in the Conservatives anyway. I do really worry about the future of the NHS.
Prioritization of public infrastructure never works anywhere ever.
Who on earth thought it would be a good idea to try and make money out of the post office in the 21st century was clearly an idiot. Mostly all they deliver is letters from my bank telling me that I’ve already paid the credit card bill via direct debit. It doesn’t really need to happen, but it does anyway.