I had to pull out my own teeth, woman tells Blair – Britain – Times Online — Can someone explain to me why national health care is England is so bad while in France it’s so good. Most smart Brits go to France to be treated in fact. What is the basic difference? This story below is pathetic.

TONY BLAIR was confronted by a pensioner yesterday over his broken promises on NHS dentists. She had to pull out seven of her own teeth herself.

Valerie Holsworth would have liked to have had her teeth extracted professionally but she could not get an NHS appointment.

In a grilling by the public on Sky News, the Prime Minister said he was recruiting overseas dentists to fill the gaps. But Mrs Holsworth said: “We had three in Scarborough. The first went home with a criminal record, the second was not even qualified and the third made so many mistakes they sacked him.” Mr Blair, who promised in 1999 that everyone would be able to see an NHS dentist within two years, replied: “The problem is, I cannot suddenly just produce more dentists. We have to train them. We are actually opening new dental training schools and so on.”

via meetsy



  1. Ima Fish says:

    Blair “promised in 1999 that everyone would be able to see an NHS dentist within two years.” Let me get this straight. Blair PROMISED a two year wait to see a dentist?! Two f-ing years to see a dentist?! How in the fk are you supposed to wait to years to see a dentist?! And what’s the wait now, a decade?!

    Why don’t we simply face the truth and accept that Britain is now a third world country!

  2. Dave Pearson says:

    Most smart Brits go to France to be treated in fact.

    They do? Where are the figures for that? Do the figures explain why they’d pay for travel to and treatment in France rather than pay for treatment at a local private dentist?

  3. Sir Alphabet Function says:

    I’m British. What is this “dentist” you speak of?

  4. Ed Campbell says:

    I wish Ima would learn to read English.

    NHS works well in most nations with some variant on the theme and a populace that accepts fair taxation to pay for the programs. The best example of using fairness to ignore the upper middle class twits who would still rather whine about taxes — than to contribute an equitable share to the common pot — was the final resolution of France’s NHS via-a-vis pre-natal care.

    Rather than go through all the crap with nouveau riche battling for years over “appropriate” tax rates vs. who was eligible for what – they simply made complete pre-natal care available for every woman. Period. End of discussion.

    In the long run, those who could afford and wanted more than [the damned good] basic care could go out and spend the extra bucks. The wealthy usually end up not taking advantage of the basic program because they are reluctant to be seen alongside working women who benefit greatly from the program.

    Not especially different from the original discussions about public education being a requisite for a modern nation. We still haven’t caught up with that one, either.

  5. Ima Fish says:

    To say that “NHS works well in most nations” is pure BS. It simply does NOT work. How in the heck is waiting for over two years to see a dentist “working”?! Have you ever had a toothache before? Have you ever needed a root canal? Have you ever had an impacted tooth?! Can you imagine waiting for over two years to get any of those fixed? That’s NOT working. And let’s not forget that all those taxes being paid for NHS are being wasted. You guys might as well start burning your tax dollars, at least you could get SOME advantage out of it, e.g., roasting hotdogs.

    There are a lot of people in the US who think we should switch to socialized medicine. Luckily I love near the Canadian border so I know better. There are plenty of Canadians who come here to get medical care they simply cannot get in their own country.

    And we take care of the poor in the US too. When I was a poor uninsured student I was involved in a huge accident. I racked up over $65,000 in medical bills. The government took care of all of it. I got immediate care and I didn’t have to pay a dime.

    Life is too important to put on a waiting list.

  6. Andrew says:

    And we take care of the poor in the US too…

    When I’ve stopped laughing, Mr Fish, I’ll read that out to the guy sleeping on my doorstep.

  7. Pat says:

    correction to my comment of 4/1/5005

    3rd last paragraph should have stated that Doctors at VA hospitals are NOT fee based.

  8. John says:

    I’m unconvinced a government agency can be more efficient or more motivated to improve the customer experience than a for profit company. Well what if the company has a monopoly? Answer: a government is a monopoly already.

    If people pay less, short cuts must be made. Less advanced technology, less trained doctors, no money for medical research, etc. The US has the best trained doctors, the most advanced tech, and produces more medical research than most other countries combined. Think about that.

    Unfortunately health insurance is simply subsidization. Anyone with knowledge of economics 101 knows that subsidization only results in increased prices – hurting those who don’t have insurance.

    I don’t purchase health insurance, and instead have ~$30k that I can easily liquidate come an emergency. I’m my own insurance company.


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