Opposition to President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform plans has caused an uproar in the UK with even the British Prime Minister supporting the NHS on Twitter.
Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah have both defended the British National Health Service on Twitter after it was described in the USA as “evil” and “Orwellian”.
President Obama is looking to reform the US healthcare system in a bid to provide healthcare for nearly 50 million uninsured Americans. But many republicans and others opposed to the plans have labelled it as a move towards “socialised” medicine, claiming the President is taking on the British NHS model that is not only failing the British public but leaving the elderly to die without treatments. Indeed, many comments that have started to circulate in the USA have portrayed the NHS inaccurately; including that treatment is rationed according to age.
The anti-NHS stance in the USA has created a backlash in the UK with a “WeLoveTheNHS” campaign being launched on micro-blogging social networking site Twitter.
Gordon Brown added his support for the service on Twitter saying: “PM; NHS often makes the difference between pain and comfort, despair and hope, life and death. Thanks for always being there.” His wife added: “We love the NHS – more than we can say.”
Meanwhile, Health Secretary Andy Burnham said: “Over the moon about strong support for the NHS – an institution I will defend to my dying day.”
Professor Stephen Hawking, who has motor neurone disease, has also publicly defended the service earlier this week saying: “I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for the NHS”.
While the NHS is said to have its faults, the current American system likewise has problems. In a recent national survey published this week, it was found that one in 10 Americans with cancer say they cannot get health insurance, 6% report losing their coverage because of their diagnosis, while some 12.6 million non-elderly adults claim to have been discriminated against in the last three years because an insurance company deemed them ineligible for cover.
