Coronavirus.

The contributions of the many pay for the misfortunes of the few. That's how insurance works. National insurance pays for the NHS. Funny that.

 

Not sure it's always "misfortunes".

Anyway, with most insurance you get to choose your level of cover, and with car insurance you get a no-claims-bonus.

 

My husband once worked with a man who hadn't been to the doctors in such a long time that they had archived his files.

Turns out last time he went was when he was 11 - he's now 54...

Does he qualify for the no claims-bonus?

 

Good point if we start treating the NHS like an insurance product where you pay an excess when you claim people would only use it when they need it. if you couldn't claw the excess together you could pay it back later either from wages or from benefit payments. It would stop abuse and provide a safety net so every one would still have access when they needed it.

 

If you're the sort that goes out on a Saturday night, has a few drinks, gets a bit lairy, then you might want cover for the occasional trip to A&E for a few stitches. Me, I'm usually sat at home watching Match of the Day so wouldn't need that sort of cover.

 

You do - I have the NHS (third party, fire and theft) and I also have private medical insurance (takes me up to fully comp). I also don't get any no claims from the police, the armed forces and many others. My 'no claims' is the relief that I have not needed them.

the last time I was in hospital, not visiting somebody else, was the day I was born! I'm still happy to pay more because I believe in the concept of the 'Common Good'.

 

I've twice been told "Oh, we may not still have your records".

"Well, you had better tell me where you have sent them - and why you didn't tell me that at the time".


I've never been to a GP for anything that remotely required 'medical training', simply to get their agreement to what I already knew, so that I could progress my case in the 'closed shop' arrangements that exist.

 

Let's just be thankful that at the moment we have a health system available to those poor people who have contracted Corona and they don't need to worry about how to pay for their treatment.

The time for debating the cost of treatment is some time away and shouldn't be a priority at this moment.

 

We will be moving to some form of violent rape of your wallet the second you have a sniffle if we bow down to the USA on a trade deal.

What I find odd is that privatisation is meant to make it more efficient, yet the more services go into private hands the longer the waits become to be treated without any drop in costs to us. Its almost like some of the money isn't being used for treatment anymore.

 

Interesting interview by Stephen Sackur with Liu Xiaoming, China’s Ambassador to the UK, on BBC Hardtalk this morning.

He makes some interesting points about “disinformation”.

It’s on BBC iPlayer if you want to see it.

 

The improvements of health privatisation may not be to everybody's liking.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52476128

 

It's more efficient for the Government because it means it costs them less. More efficient for big business because they can make more money out of it. Why should the customer expect better service or lower cost, the customer isn't important in the privatised services?

 

I am not so sure about that

"
Sweden's coronavirus death rate is nearly 6 times that of neighboring Norway and Finland. Here's a look at how the countries have approached the coronavirus pandemic differently."


https://www.businessinsider.com/pho...t-coronavirus-responses-fatality-rates-2020-4

 

I've just updated my graph for deaths in hospitals. The figures for the UK as a whole reduce by a little over 20% over a week whereas, for the last 3 weeks, the figures for Scotland have hardly changed compared to the previous week (I assume they're counting the same thing north of the border).

 

Sweden deaths 2586 cases 21092
United Kingdom deaths 26771 cases 171253
Whether you go by raw numbers or per capita Sweden has achieved a better outcome than the UK. The UK is also suffering from excess deaths not directly caused from contracting covid as demonstrated by ons figures if these were included the UK figures would be even higher.

 

This thread is now utter shite.

 

Strictly Coronavirus causes very few deaths, most deaths are from pneumonia or heart failure resulting from a coronavirus infection. On death certificates under cause of death 1a. would be peumonia/heart failure and 1b. would be coronavirus infection. The 1b. records would be included in coronavirus death statistics.

 

Interesting information on beer consumption and the immune system.

https://beerandhealth.eu/covid-19-h...ct-the-immune-system/?age-verified=c5f841db3d

 

Only a matter of time...

The hard-core, long-term alcoholics that I've known have been notable for not getting as much as the odd sniffle.

 

"One glass for women two glasses for men"
What size glass? Glass of what?