Healthcare Matters

Well of course it did.

For those of you who don’t know who Danny Boyle is, he’s the producer-film director best known for Slum Dog Millionaire –and now, London’s opening Olympic ceremony. If you watched it, you might have noticed amidst his references to the Sex Pistols, gay kisses, James Bond, Ken Loach and numerous other low- and high-brow digs at British culture, Mr. Boyle paid tribute to the NHS. And more than anything else he did, that recognition has caused a great deal of ongoing and highly polarized commentary in the UK –just as any reasonable facsimile would have brought on the same, had it occurred here in the US.

Can’t you imagine? A positive reference to healthcare reform during the halftime show at last year’s Super Bowl? Fox News and MSNBC would have devoted specials to the resulting controversy. Sean Hannity would have declared the action evidence of a socialist conspiracy and Rachel Maddow would have inadvertently confirmed it.

Enjoy the following comments taken from several UK papers. Obviously, we share more in common with the Brits than we might care to admit:

• “How many lives does the NHS cost? God forbid that Danny Boyle should ever need care for a serious condition. But if he did, we all know he wouldn’t go the NHS for it.”

• “I cannot believe how many Americans are commenting in this thread. It is saying something that Americans view access to healthcare without regard to ability to pay as very “left wing.” Anywhere else in the western world this is viewed as civilized.”

• “Americans baffled by ‘left-wing tribute’ to free healthcare during Opening Ceremonies? I don’t know about the Americans, but possibly 90% of the British were baffled as well. An utter disaster saved by the Queen and Daniel Craig along with fireworks and the Olympic Flame. Ending up yet again with Paul McCartney with his now croaking voice to close the show.”

• “The celebration of the NHS was not a dig at Americans. They need to get over themselves. We needed something to laugh at and the NHS is great comedy.”

• “If you watched carefully, Mary Poppins only saves the day when she releases the nurses from the zombie like trance inflicted by Lord Voldemort. This represents the oppressive layers of bureaucracy and half baked “initiatives” that hamper the excellent professionals of the NHS from doing the jobs they should be doing…”

—-Tom Finn