It appears Republican, Christian Right Wing, Liars Fox News and the Republicans are casually taking their pick of European countries and then pissing them off by essentially misrepresenting them with half-truths and downright lies in order to support their political stance. First they lied about Amsterdam being out of control in order to support their stance on drugs and now they are having a go at the UK and our health care system. All this after we supported them in the war, there’s just no pleasing some people.

There have been some bizarre claims from over the Atlantic,  the pick of the bunch being that Steven Hawking “wouldn’t have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.” I mean I know that voice of his has a slight American twang to it but he was born in Oxford and teaches at Cambridge, I don’t think you could be more of a cliché British Professor if you tried.

In a report by the Guardian they outline and some of the other points made by the idiots and look into the truth behind the bull. I have cherry picked a couple of examples here;

The claim

Ted Kennedy, 77, would not be treated for his brain tumour if he was in Britain because he is too old – Charles Grassley, Republican senator from Iowa.

The response

Untrue, says the Department of Health. “There is no ban on anyone of any age receiving any treatment, ” said a spokesman. “Whether to prescribe drugs or recommend surgery is rightly a clinical decision taken on a case by case basis.”

The claim

In England, anyone over 59 years of age cannot receive heart repairs, stents or bypass because it is not covered as being too expensive and not needed – an anonymously authored, but widely circulated, email, largely sent to older voters.

The response

Totally untrue. Growing numbers of patients over 65 with heart conditions are having surgery, including valve repairs and heart bypass surgery, says Professor Peter Weissberg, the British Heart Foundation’s (BHF) medical director. For example, the average age at which people have a bypass operation has risen from 58 in 1991 to 66 in 2008.

There is no doubt that the NHS has its faults, no one is claiming it is perfect but it is a damn sight better than a system that leaves 40 – 50 million people uninsured and as a result without any proper access to healthcare. That is a number that is not manipulated and appaling no matter how you look at it. The Republicans have the cheek to call our healthcare system ‘Evil and Orwellian’.

I suggest the Republicans and their little tribe of Europhobes take a good hard look at themselves and their own country’s problems before they start pointing the finger at everyone else. For the record the World Health organisation ranked the UK health care system as 18th in the world in their last report compared to the US who ranked 37th. Oh and our ‘evil, corrupt’ neighbors in the Netherlands ranked 17th, I have heard the criminal fraternity have a great health care program.