Having lived in the USA for 5 years and experienced the health service there at first hand, I am really pleased to be living in Britain where everyone has access to health care. All the American doctors used to laugh at what they considered our second rate health service so I found myself defending it frequently. What civilised country does not provide the basic health care for their population? In the States it cost $100 to visit the GP and that was just to get a diagnosis. When we needed emergency care, nothing was done until they checked we had insurance.

We were there during 9/11 after which many people lost their jobs and you would find people doing any job they could find as long as it had health insurance attached to it. There was a story of one person in the newspaper half way through their cancer treatment and being forced to beg when they lost their job and health cover because they still had assets of $30,000 (that included their house) and so could not claim medicaid – the rates are different in each state and it is very difficult to access.  It cost the company $500 per month for each member of my family to have comprehensive cover. We were lucky, 44 million people can not afford it, how can they at those rates? Yes, their cancer survival rates are better for those who can afford it but what about the many who die of cancer because they can’t even afford to visit the GP. We may need to look at the NHS and how we provide our health care, but it must always be accessible to all and we are incredibly lucky to have it.