A Broken Toe Can Bankrupt you

Hello everyone,

It's that big elephant in the room again - healthcare!

Last weekend I broke my toe, falling down the stairs at home. I went to the hospital, where I spent 2 hours in the emergency room, where I was attended to by 3 nurses. They checked my foot over, bandaged it up, and told me if I had any other problems to come back and see them. For this, I paid nothing. Literally, nothing.

I saw this (below) posted by the page 'Being Liberal', and it really brought home to me the ridiculous difference between US healthcare and the socialised healthcare of most other nations of the world.

http://beingliberal.tumblr.com/post/74291527927/kirkwa-and-this-is-why-you-shouldnt-get-sick

I have no reason to doubt the authenticity of those images, and even if some are staged, I know that they aren't far from the truth. One of those posts includes someone who had a broken ankle, which cost over $80,000. I'm shocked and disgusted, $80,000?! I realise my toe is not as major as an ankle, but I dread to think what the cost would have been!

There will be some people who will come back and say, "But you will have good healthcare", and I won't deny that since Jon has a good job, and I intend to work, too, that healthcare won't really be an issue for me. Having said that, the potential is there for exorbitant healthcare bills, and insurance itself is higher (much, much higher, in fact) than what our taxes are for NHS services anyway!

All those who have a problem with socialised healthcare, you need to get a grip and start seeing how other countries look after their citizens. I am dreading the US healthcare system when I move there. It terrifies me to think I could have done the same thing in the US, and it could potentially bankrupt me.

Dan.