Thanks for the NHS

We tend to moan about the NHS but Danny Boyle got it right. There is no general  health service in Morocco, you have to take out insurance. Cover starts from as little as 600Dh but it is not compulsory. Most selfemployed people such as the market traders do not have it.
One of our friends is now regretting that as his wife is seriously ill. She has had one operation and needs several doses of chemotherapy and then another operation. She is getting excellent treatment at a clinic in Agadir but it costs thousands of euros a treatment which must be paid upfront.
We have had a number of friends needing similar treatment in Britain and it has been bad enough for them and their families getting through the illness without having to worry about remortgaging your house to pay the bills.
The picture is of the entrance to Taroudant Hospital. Thankfully I have not needed to use it. Many medicines which are prescription only in Britain can be bought over the counter here. I have managed not to test it for insulin but Metformin, hypertensive drugs, asthma inhalers and Beloved's gout medicine have all been bought from time to time. When I come out one of my hand luggage suitcases is just a mobile pharmacy but the drugs in it are free on the NHS. (I do pay all my taxes in Britain).  The drugs here may be relatively cheap but they are not the really cheap generic drugs, always the brand names. For people on a labourers wage of £100 pm they must be beyond dreams.
Given the difficulties in paying for treatment a universal health service seems only civilised altough it is obviously not possible to provide one until there is a reasonably robust tax collection regime. On the other hand it is an inducemennnt to pay taxes if you get something out. Seeing both systems I just can't understand why state health provision is such a contraversial matter in the US election campaign which is of course one of the richest and most developed economies in the world.  Perhaps that's a euro-centric view but I agree with Danny "Hurrah for the NHS"