Public Healthcare

Having just watched the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy (don't mock me), the healthcare debate still prevalent in US politics once again raised it's head. Using the recession as a plot device is itself a little lazy - though relevant - and dubious as a fictional event, considering that at least one reason, conscious or otherwise for watching such television shows, at least as far as I am concerned, is escapism. Raising such a depressing reflection of reality merely serves to remind one of the reality they may well be trying to escape. Not that Grey's has ever endeavoured to avoid depressing melancholy (the first episode sees a main character die); in fact it is almost certainly a pivotal draw for much of its audience.

The real point of interest however remains rooted firmly in the real world of the current healthcare debate. The opening episodes take an instance of a mother being unable to afford a particularly expensive test which, after a few charitable decisions by doctors, turns out to reveal an obscure cause of the illness which may very well have caused serious long term problems with the patient's quality of life. The underlying implication that the quality and expense of the mother's insurance policy could have such dramatic ramifications is appalling. Certainly the writers will have been aware of this, and Shonda Rhimes could well be making a political point (though I imagine the typical demographic of Grey's viewers will not be those shouting down Democrats in town halls).

On the back of Gordon Brown's conference speech deriding the Tories for (amongst other things) their disdain for public services - a "60 year mistake" in the words of Conservative MP Daniel Hannan, such examples should serve to reinforce our view that the NHS is indeed a "60 year liberation."



After The Sun yesterday declared its support for a Conservative government, a colleague lamented that it was depressing how Rupert Murdoch could so heavily influence an election. Whilst it may seem inconsequential given that my readership is not quite (yet) that of The Sun, I would like to declare myself in favour of a Labour fifth term. Whilst the party has tremendous problems, and ironically attempted to sell off another great British institution in the Royal Mail, I remain certain that those two things closest to my heart as a British citizen - the NHS and the BBC - would be considerably worse for wear under a Tory premiership, and that I, as a student and young person attempting to crack the job market in such extraordinary times, would also suffer as Cameron's party reaffirmed its commitment to the rich.