To be really shocked by the Panorama show Poor America

[MrsHeffley]

I just can't believe that Americans don't care how their poor get literally no healthcare or help at all ie no job no food,home,benefits or healthcare what so ever.

I love America and we have American family but dp and I were appalled and totally shocked.

All those families living in drains and tent cities,schools sending kids home with food and worst of all zero healthcare and all those hundreds of desperate people queuing up in cars on the off chance of free medical care,the girl whose mum ate rats.....

The complete utter lack of hope.I just don't get how such a rich country can justify in all these years not voting in free healthcare for the poor at the very least.

I've never heard that why of explaining it Nilgirl-it sounds possible

Toady I suspect my tooth is playing up. (living in US)

Five minutes away we have a family dentist, I can't go, as I don't have insurance for my teeth (just medical).

It would be at least a couple of thousand to fix my tooth.

I am so grateful to be returning to the UK shortly.

Hully sorry I don't think it's out there actually.

Yes it's widely known(not by all actually) that the US has no NHS equivalent and very little social security but the actual contrast between the poor in the UK and the US and to what degree this has an impact on the poor errr isn't actually known in a whole lot of detail.It's rarely discussed on radio,newspapers or anything else in this country.Said Panorama show was the first programme I saw highlighting the problem in such detail.From the shock of many on here dp and I weren't alone.

We have American family(very left wing) and have visited several times but actually the true impact of these issues on the poor in America haven't been discussed in massive detail over the years.I suspect dp's family in their comfortable Californian bubble aren't completely aware.I doubt many US tv companies spotlight this issue in detail on a regular basis

If many Americans don't/can't confront the issues I fail to see how the whole of the UK are expected to be extremely knowledgable about the ills of US society.

Also said programme was actually highlighting how this problem has got worse recently under Obama.

Just me and hundreds and thousands of other ordianry old people who knew about it then

I saw Lionel Shriver (We Need To About Kevin) talk about US healthcare system. Her book So Much For That was a good read about it.

She said before her friend died of cancer, she (friend) worked out it had cost her friends & family around £2m to prolong her life for just over 12 months. By that point she really regretted having any sort of treatment and this this was despite having a healthcare policy. She would rather them have the money to enjoy after she'd gone.

Michael Moores film Sicko is also an interesting take on it

Going for Goal

I don't care, and I'm not interested in a fight or nitpicking, but i fail to see how I misunderstood your post.

You said you couldn't afford the air fare to go and see for yourself.

I said that wasn't necessary.

?

I've been talking about this with several friends,none knew the exact extent of the problem,all were equally shocked.

Give yourself a medal Hully you were already an expert on the exact details of the woes of US society.

I think it's a bit silly to assume that everyone should have known what the situation is like in America. If it were that obvious the BBC wouldn't have bothered showing a programme that probably barely scratched the surface.

As I said at the beginning of the thread, I knew that people were expected to get health insurance, but I've never had any need to research how it worked so why would I? I thought that there were public hospitals that were available to everyone, and I expected that the waiting lists would be long for treatment, but I was shocked to realise that some people had no access at all.

It is out there in mainstream media though - you just have to read between the lines. Hip hop culture- all the lyrics about the drugs and poverty, eminem was white trash, it comes from desperation and feeling there is no way out.Top Gear going through red neck areas, you can see the small town mentality, as someone unthread mentioned, New Orleans' flood and the subsequent response was shocking, the numerous films with Michelle Pfiffer saving some poor class etc etc.

I'm just chucking a few examples out there, that may hit the radar if you don't watch the news/read the news/read MN threads/speak to people. America's media is our media, it is hard not to be aware of their problems, even if it reaches you through a Hollywood or music filter.

Being an American, obviously I was aware of the healthcare situation in the US. You wouldn't believe how many people have said to me over the years "I can't believe you and your DH would want to live in the UK when you can live in the US instead!!" (DH is British) I've always explained that I find the UK much more family friendly (ie maternity leave, cb, etc) and more willing to make sure everyone is taken care of (DLA, NHS, etc). They seem to think America is all Disneyland, Hollywood, and Route 66 stuff, from their holidays. So a lot of people are simpy not aware of the scope of things there.

I would never willingly live back in the states again. But obviously that's just my feelings on the matter. (so those of you that are Americans, let's not turn that comment into a pissing match and feel like you have to defend the US)

Don't watch Top Gear,MP films or listen to hip hop,Eminem soooooo.....

Also in all my visits to the US other than a few Mexicans waiting to be picked up for work trucks I've seen diddly squat on the poverty front.

So sue me.

simply* argh... "l" key being stubborn today

Feminine sorry I missed your question earlier... yes, there are free clinics for those below poverty level in Virginia. I looked into those a while ago... you can only use them if you are a resident of the town they are in, so I can't use the Virginia beach, Chesapeake etc ones even though they are 20 minutes away. None in my area. Oh, and for Medicaid you have to be a citizen. We are a UK family so only our ds2 is American and only he would be allowed Medicaid. Of course we were never told he qualifies as the first question is always 'who is your insurance with?' And since we have to all have insurance for visa purposes, he doesn't qualify after all. :-(

Hey Mrs Heff

Try reading the newspaper!

Like, radical.

That's a newspaper by the way, not a shitty comic tabloid.

I read The Guardian most Saturdays,I don't have time or the cash for reading the newspaper daily.I watch News 24 daily.So quit with the patronising comments.

The true extent of the issues in that programme aren't reported in detail in either of the above hence them highlighted on Panorama.

I think this is getting sidetracked by people who have a superiority complex about how much better informed they are than the plebs.

The point is, it's a terrible state of affairs over there, people were not aware of the extent of it, and they are worried that the UK is heading the same way.

Gosh, I'm sorry flying

I was thinking that might be of help.

I don't quite understand why your second son can't get medicaid? (I am sure you explained it fine)

Here, our children have a secondary and primary insurance. My DH provides our primary insurance, and the Indiana state provides the secondary for the kids. They can have both. :) They are Americans.

You must be worried a lot

Even the newspapers do not cover the half of it.

People lose their job because they are too ill to work
so they lose their insurance
so they have to sell their homes to pay for medicine

or my darned sister and her kidneys - that the NHS would have intervened before they failed and saved the cost of a transplant, let alone using up all the family's savings to pay for essential drugs

One thing I noticed in the US was that news programmes would comment on the foreclosure crisis, with commentary from real estate agents and economists about what was going on, financially speaking, but they provided absolutely no remarks on the fate of the families who had left their homes. 'Where did they all go?' was a question that was never asked. I still don't know where all those thousands of families all ended up. I imagine a lot of them live in places like those in the documentary or double up with relatives.

Public hospital reviewed on Yelp here.

A sample:
'1. Don't come here for a UTI, strep throat, or the flu.

CCH is the LARGEST and BUSIEST ER in Chicago by far, and possibly in the entire midwest. They are a Trauma Center and Burn Center, which means that they get all the horrific car accidents, shootings, and major burn cases in the city. They also are one of the few ERs that accept pediatric trauma and burn patients, so when you start bitching about the wait time, consider that there's probably a little kid in ER who was just severely burned.

1. It is COOK COUNTY HOSPITAL, which means it provides medical care for the inmates of COOK COUNTY JAIL.

Don't stare at the men (and women) in the tan jumpsuits and handcuffs. Yes, they're inmates, yes, they're accompanied by armed jail guards, and yes, they'll be returning to the jail after their visit with the doctor. Yep, even the female inmates who are there to give birth.

1. Yes, you will have to wait a VERY long time.

Remember what I said about it being the busiest ER in the city? They've got more important things to worry about than your sprained wrist. You are seen in the order of medical importance, not the order you arrived. Yes, the tech or nurse or clerk will call your name in a softer voice - that's what they're going to be doing for their entire shift, they have to pace themselves.'

*True fact: In America, jail inmates give birth in shackles.

Ariel - ffs it's nothing to do with being superior. I think it's disgusting that grown up intelligent people don't know what is going on in the world. I think it is their responsibility to do so.

In order for evil to triumph, it is only necessary for a good woman to do nothing etc.

Anyway, if it takes a half hour goggle box prog to get people jumping, that's the main thing.

So sorry to hear about your sister TalkinPeace.

The programme made me really appreciate the NHS. I can't imagine the debt we would be in if we lived in America.

I don't listen to hip hop either, and I find most films boring! I get news from the BBC iPhone app.

I watch top gear, but seeing them go through red neck areas tells me that people are small minded, racist and homophobic, it doesn't tell me that they have no provision for poor people!

I watch Judge Judy though, and there are always people on there that are on 'welfare', so I figured there must be something!

I am being serious by the way

OMG I just saw the news that bills are being passed in Virginia to grant personhood from the point of conception, allowing women who have an abortion to be charged with murder. Also requiring all abortions to involve a trans-vaginal ultrasound.

I had an abortion here in 2008 and was told it had to include the wand up the food. I was sobbing while they did it and they made no attempt to hide the image from me, announced I was '6 weeks 4 data's and printed a picture they refused to let me have a copy of. It felt like I was a murderer and apparently that is exactly what the state wanted. I am no longer so sure I want to stay here :-(

Excuse phone auto correct errors. It is hard to check before posting. Data was days and food was foof.