Catherine Scott: Why I will never take the NHS for granted again

I recently returned from a trip visiting my brother in America.

Sadly he is under going cancer treatment and this meant that I got to see first hand the US health care system, or lack of it.

It made me realise just how lucky we are to live in a country that has a National Health Service, no matter how hard pressed and struggling it may be at times.

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I have been as guilty as many of taking our NHS for granted.

When I needed life saving surgery as a child, when I gave birth to my two children and even when my mother died, the NHS was there for me as I always presumed it would be.

Yes we have bed blocking, yes we may have to wait hours in Accident & Emergency to be seen and yes there is still an element of post code lottery with some treatments.

But at the end of the day we intrinsically know if we need it the NHS will be there. It is almost written into out DNA and we must never take it for granted.

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While my brother should be focusing all his energy on dealing with the affects of chemotherapy and fighting the cancer, he is instead worrying about mounting healthcare bills and just who will foot the bill.

Having paid American health insurance for nearly two decades since he moved over there and hardly ever need to call up on their services, the last year has been different.

But rather than being able to relax in the knowledge his healthcare is paid for the opposite seems to be true.

As the health insurance company wrangles over whether they will foot the bill for his chemotherapy he also has to worry about renegotiating his new policy for the coming year.

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All this while undergoing the trauma of cancer surgery and subsequent treatment and side effects.

If that weren’t enough the advent of President Donald Trump and his determination to overhaul the US healthcare system and scrap Obamacare, makes the future of US healthcare even more uncertain.

I will never again moan about the length of time it takes me to get a GP appointment. At least when I get one I don’t have to worry about how I will pay for it. I may have to pay £8.40 for any prescription I might need, but I don’t even have to think about picking up the cost of the drugs themselves or arguing about who will pay. While the health care system in this country isn’t perfect, I do believe it is there if and when you need it.

And even more importantly in the event of me needing it I won’t have to hopefully worry about how I am going to pay for the care I need. I for one will not take our National Health Service for granted again.

Twitter@ypcscott

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