Over the past few months a lot of talking heads have been spewing nonsense about universal healthcare and 'death panels' and how socialized medicine kills the elderly and as we all know; it's rubbish.
I live in the UK, under the NHS, and to illustrate I would like to tell you what happened to my grandmother last year.
At this time last year I was living with my grandmother. My grandfather had just passed away and it was convenient for work (in the department of social services) so I was helping out.
I awoke one Tuesday morning at around 5am to the sound of my Grandmother falling down the stairs. She had caught her foot in the rail for the stair lift she was supposed to be using (installed free of charge by social services because of her asthma) and hit her head.
After initially refusing, she allowed me to call an ambulance which arrived within five minutes. It was staffed by two very professional and very friendly paramedics who convinced my reluctant and concussed grandmother to go to a hospital two towns over to be checked out.
Once at the hospital we were ushered straight into a bed, my grandmother was seen by a nurse who took a list of all her medications and gave her something for the pain. In less than twenty minutes we were taken for an x-ray (my grandmother was bumped to the head of the queue because of her age and the fact she has brittle bones) where it emerged she had broken her ankle.
We were taken straight to a nurse who plastered it and then to see the Occupational Therapist who talked us through using a walking frame and gave me advise on care and how to make things easier.
Now my grandmothers never been one to hang about so we were up and calling for a taxi within minutes. We were back at home by 9am.
Later that day, another occupational therapist and a social worker from the hospital came by and assessed my grandmothers requirements and her local GP stopped by to make sure she had all her medications and to check on her general well being.
Through it all, every professional we came into contect with was highly trained, polite and extreamly kind. My grandmother is 79 years old.
At no point did anyone ask us about money. At no point was there ever any suggestion that my grandmother would recieve anything less than the best possible care due to her age or her various medical conditions. The only money lost on that day was on the taxi that brought us home - I was granted a paid days leave from work that and the following day.
Now the NHS has many flaws, there's no denying it, but my grandmother had everything she needed that day, provided to her free at the point of access by her government and its employees. Afterwards, she needed to hire a private carer to help her bathe around the cast and get her out of the house while I was at work and that was paid for in large part by the benifits she recieves (I believe it is disability allowance though I could be wrong) meaning she was out of pocket very little.
Now I know we all know that what a lot on the right are saying are downright lies but just remember - next time someone tries to tell you universal healthcare kills the elderly think of my grandmother and the millions like her around the world.
They're lying to you; don't put up with it.