The Brits Won't Let Stephen Hawking Die

A defense of health care reform from afar. Hugh Muir writing in London's The Guardian newspaper offers this defense of the British NHS:

"So Barack Obama is facing the fight of his life (another one) as he attempts to reform the US healthcare system. The 'special interests' – doctors, healthcare companies – don't like it. The 'birthers' – crazy types who hope to prove he is not American – smell blood. The danger, says the Investor's Business Daily, is that he borrows too much from the UK. 'The controlling of medical costs in countries such as Britain through rationing, and the health consequences thereof, are legendary. The stories of people dying on a waiting list or being denied altogether read like a horror script … People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the UK, where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.' We say his life is far from worthless, as they do at Addenbrooke's hospital, Cambridge, where Professor Hawking, who has motor neurone disease, was treated for chest problems in April. As indeed does he. 'I wouldn't be here today if it were not for the NHS,' he told us. 'I have received a large amount of high-quality treatment without which I would not have survived.' Something here is worthless. And it's not him."

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