“The bill I’m signing will set in motion reforms that generations of Americans have fought for and marched for and hungered to see”. President Barack Obama. Obama has eventually reformed healthcare plans across the pond into law.
The president’s $940 billion, 10-year plan is the law of the land. Measures of the healthcare bill that take effect right away include helping pensioners who fall in the coverage gap known as the ‘doughnut hole’ to get access to prescription drugs, preventing insurance companies from denying coverage to children based on pre-existing conditions and providing tax credits for small businesses to help them cover insurance costs.
The president said that “these reforms won’t give the government more control over your health care” and “they certainly won’t give the insurance companies more control over your health care. These reforms give you more control over your health care”.
Obama stated that “the other changes I’m signing into law will take several years to implement fully, but that’s because this is a difficult, complex issue and we want to get it right”.
Clearly this is the first step towards the US adopting a UK NHS style healthcare system and the British can take some pleasure in knowing that the system we have cherished for the past 50 years seems to be a model for the rest of the world. Potential difficulties arise when different qualities of service appear to be present depending on whether or not you are prepared to pay privately for treatment. However, despite (or because of ) frequent complaints the NHS has to a large extent managed to work in parallel with the private sector. There are many examples of public – private partnerships (PPP’s) and high-tech oncology is no exception. For example, the latest CyberKnife system is available to both private patients via The Harley Street Clinic and at the NHS at University College Hospital.
The president’s $940 billion, 10-year plan is the law of the land. Measures of the healthcare bill that take effect right away include helping pensioners who fall in the coverage gap known as the ‘doughnut hole’ to get access to prescription drugs, preventing insurance companies from denying coverage to children based on pre-existing conditions and providing tax credits for small businesses to help them cover insurance costs.
The president said that “these reforms won’t give the government more control over your health care” and “they certainly won’t give the insurance companies more control over your health care. These reforms give you more control over your health care”.
Obama stated that “the other changes I’m signing into law will take several years to implement fully, but that’s because this is a difficult, complex issue and we want to get it right”.
Clearly this is the first step towards the US adopting a UK NHS style healthcare system and the British can take some pleasure in knowing that the system we have cherished for the past 50 years seems to be a model for the rest of the world. Potential difficulties arise when different qualities of service appear to be present depending on whether or not you are prepared to pay privately for treatment. However, despite (or because of ) frequent complaints the NHS has to a large extent managed to work in parallel with the private sector. There are many examples of public – private partnerships (PPP’s) and high-tech oncology is no exception. For example, the latest CyberKnife system is available to both private patients via The Harley Street Clinic and at the NHS at University College Hospital.
Abnormal, uncontrolled cell division resulting in a malignant tumour that may invade surrounding tissues or spread to distant parts of the body.
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The basic unit of genetic material carried on chromosomes.
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