NHS “lies” derailing Obama’s plans

The international online civic organisation, Avaaz, is promoting a petition from Brits to “the US Congress and the people of America” which states, “We urge you to ignore the myths about health systems in our country and others that are being pushed by US healthcare companies.”

An email to Avaaz’s UK membership says:

Obama’s movement for change in the US is at risk of collapsing — in large part because of lies about healthcare in the UK!

It’s incredible, but Obama’s health plan, and with it his entire Presidency, could be derailed if big corporations and the radical right manage to convince Americans that the NHS is a nightmare rationed service that refuses to treat patients and abandons the most needy, such as Stephen Hawking, without care.

We need a huge popular outcry to show the truth — how proud and grateful we are in the UK to have a public healthcare system that works, despite its imperfections.“

The petition follows a concerted campaign by the US insurance industry to derail President Obama’s plans for universal health coverage. Business Week has reported that UnitedHealth Group, a health insurance company, has spent “more than $3.4 million on in-house and outside lobbying in the first half of 2009.”