I like Twitter. I don't really give a damn about what colour shirts you're choosing between this morning, but that's not why I'm on it. I use Twitter for precisely two purposes. One is as the world's largest organic search engine, including bringing me bits and pieces that I wasn't even searching for - I follow people who are vaguely interested in the same things as me, and so I like much of what they recommend, especially when I would never have found it on my own.
But the other thing I like about Twitter is the hashtag trends. Hashtags (like #obama or #glastonbury) are like tags that make Twitter searchable - they can be used for comic effect, or to unite disparate Twitterers who like the same thing. The most common are listed on the right-hand tool bar.
The most-used hashtags are normally big events (like TED or festivals) or big news stories (like #Iranianelection) - but at the moment, the top trending hastag on Twitter is a response to Dan Hannan MEP - a British Conservative and Blogger who wants to reform the National Health Service, moving away from fully-socialised healthcare: there are tens of thousands of Tweets now sporting the hashtag #welovetheNHS declaring their support for Socialised Medicine.
I actually like a lot of what Dan Hannan says (in spite of him being a libertarian Conservative) - his book "The Plan" is quite interesting, and his co-author Douglas Carswell MP is running a great Wiki project called "The Great Repeal Act" to undo all the bad legislation that has been passed by the previous government. They are both bright, innovative politicians, even if you don't agree with what they say.
So trying to be fair to Dan, he isn't suggesting getting rid of the NHS (see his recent articlehere), but he is at odds with David Cameron on what to do with it. Cameron had a very ill son who died this year, and he has spent much time with the NHS, and has pledged not only to keep it as a fully-socialised medical system, but even to ring fence it against cuts, and to match Labour's spending. A Conservative leader giving unequivocal support to socialised medicine, for the record.
Hannan disagrees, because he thinks we could get better healthcare if some changes were introduced. His model is Singapore, which spends half what the UK spends and has equally good healthcare for all - he suggests using the Singapore model at British funding rates. He thinks the NHS is inefficient and bureaucratic, and therefore not as effective as it should be.
There is some truth to what he says, and I can see an argument for a Single Payer model like Canada or France rather than a fully nationalised system, but Hannan misses the point - the NHS is beloved in the UK. An attack on the NHS, even if it is fair and reasonable criticism, must never stray into questioning whether the entire model should change. That is the third rail of British politics - privatising the NHS, or even thinking that thought, is political suicide.
I am moving to New York from the UK in two weeks. I love all things American, and have nothing but admiration for every aspect of American life except your healthcare system, which I find barbaric. I get insurance from a Gvt Department which is not considered sufficient for my university, who are insisting I purchase another $3,000 from them for the year, and even then my life lies in the hands of a private company who (I don't think ever have to recite the Hypocratic Oath. That bothers me, and I don't care how swanky the hospital, if I get sick this year, all that money goes on evacuation back to the UK.
The love of the NHS in the UK is no longer fully-rational. It is so much more than a government service, it is a central part of our heritage and our national culture and consciousness. There is private healthcare cheaply available (some US companies in London offer it free - mine did, and I never took them up on it) but only about 7% of the population ever go into private hospitals, and even most of those will use the NHS for most things.
The NHS is, at the moment, considered "bloated" - it absorbs 9% of GDP (we were aiming for the EU average of 13%). The French manage 15%. No-one in Britain can understand how or why the US spends 18% of GDP on healthcare, and yet only covers 80% of the population. It is beyond us to fathom.
I don't think a fully-socialised system would suit America, or would even work on that scale. I think only Single Payer will deliver the reforms you need, or maybe a Public Option open to all Americans without qualification. But one thing about American healthcare I do know - for all the Screamers and the Deathers and the Wingnuts, I've yet to see anyone pull together a demonstration - even a Twitter rally - professing their undying love for their Health Insurance Company.
When that happens, let me know. But for now, I'm going back to read #welovetheNHS
Ohv - and you can follow me on Twitter too...