DFL Education Foundation

My Experience with British Health Care

By John Bryson

From the Star Tribune, Sept 16:

The emotional debates over health care reform in the United States last fall and again this election season are puzzling to my wife and me. We are professors who were on sabbatical leave in London from August 2009 through August 2010, so we missed last year's debates. While in the United Kingdom we were automatically covered by the National Health Service.

For us, the NHS worked quite well. One example: The week we arrived in London we went to the NHS Choices website (www.nhs.uk), punched in our postal code and immediately got a listing of local clinics. We chose the closest one, stopped by and filled out two short forms, let the reception staff make copies of our passports and visas, and that was it: We were covered. None of this business about needing coverage by an employer's plan, no concerns about preexisting conditions (we both have them), no rationing by what we could afford, and no excessive paperwork. All that mattered was that we were in the UK. We had a right to be taken care of by the NHS.

Another example: I badly sprained my back one evening...

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Happy Hour Preview: Andrew Haeg from Minnesota Public Radio

Monday, October 11
4:30-6:00pm
Kieran's Irish Pub, Poet's Corner Room
Corner of 6th St & 1st Ave N
Minneapolis, MN 55401 (map & directions)

Editor and co-founder Andrew Haeg manages the day-to-day operations of Public Insight Journalism, a seven-year-old initiative at Minnesota Public Radio which aims to tap the knowledge of its audience to inform and shape MPR's news coverage. In that time, Haeg has helped build a network of over 100,000 public sources and worked with the newsroom to use the knowledge and insights gleaned from the audience to influence dozens of stories and projects. He has also helped created numerous online interactive projects designed to educate and engage the audience in Public Insight Journalism.  He was also a Knight Fellow at Stanford in 2008-2009. 

Come hear how MPR is putting the public back in radio!  Bring a friend who's new to the DFLEF and they can trade their email address for a free beer!

Happy Hour Preview: Chris Mitchell on Net Neutrality

Monday, September 13 4:30-6:00pm Kieran's Irish Pub, Poet's Corner Room Corner of 6th St & 1st Ave N Minneapolis, MN 55401 (map & directions)   Will your internet service someday be sold like cable TV?   Chris Mitchell will join us in September to talk about the importance of net neutrality (check out this month's featured article for a definition) and the power of community-based broadband networks for making it possible. He's Director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance's Telecommunications as Commons Project and author of muninetworks.org. Check out his work and then join us for a beer and a talk about the great series of tubes. Bring a friend who's new to the DFLEF and they can trade their email address for a free beer

September Newsletter

UPCOMING EVENTS (click for details)

SEP 11: [Stone Arch] Dane Smith of Growth & Justice SEP 13: [Happy Hour] Net Neutrality? Sex Ed Funding? TBA soon SEP 17: [Achievement Gap] Lynn Nordgren, President, Minneapolis Teachers Federation See Event Calendar for details

EVENT RECAPS

Eric Black: audio and recap Ron Wacks: The Economy Isn't Just About Jobs, It's About Pie audio and recap John Gunyou: Facing our Fiscal Challenges audio and recap Turning around failing schools - a recipe that works (a write-up of our April 16 Achievement Gap meeting) Charles Carlson: What's Happening at Metro Transit: audio and recap

OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST

Articles on DFLEF.org Featured Article: An Open Internet for All See the Achievement Gap Committee's questions for Minneapolis school board candidates and the candidates' answers Recommended Reading Social Security What Social Security Can Teach Us About the Future of Health Care Read more... 75th Anniversary: Social Security Reshaped the Nation Read more... Ignore the fear-mongering on Social Security Read more... Concentration of Wealth at the Top Is Draining the Social Security Trust Fund Read more... Growing Life Expectancy Disparities Read more... Net Neutrality Minneapolis FCC Hearing podcast Read more... An Open Internet for All Read more... In Minnesota, Hundreds Urge FCC to Protect Net Neutrality Read more... Is the FCC Reading from the Mineral Management Service's Playbook? Read more... Senator Al Franken's Talk at the Net Neutrality Hearing Read more... Income Inequality Income and Wealth (and Health), from Unnatural Causes: Is inequality making us sick? Read more... A visual guide to income inequality Read more... How does Minnesota stack up in business taxation? Pretty well, it turns out Read more... Government Motors no more - Obama deserves an apology Read more... Guardian UK: US oil company donated millions to climate sceptic groups, says Greenpeace Read more... The New Yorker: Billionaire Brothers Charles & David Koch Have Quietly Given More Than $100 Million to Right-Wing Causes Read more... Democracy Now: Amy Goodman interview of Charles Lewis re: Koch Brothers Read more... State Fair Poll Results Read more... Other Events from the Progressive Issues Calendar 9/9 - Immigration Legal and Ethical Boundaries 9/13 - Immigration: A Christian Faith Issue 9/13 - War Is Bankrupting our Nation 9/13 - Climate Change: What do we really know? 9/14 - Empowering a Neighborhood 9/14 - Moral Responsibility of Investment Bankers 9/15 - Gubernatorial Candidate Conversation @ Pantages 9/15 - Hubert Humphrey: The Art of the Possible 9/15 - Ending Hunger 9/16 - Healthy Food, Healthy Farms 9/18 - The High Cost of Free Trade in the Americas 9/22 - Tar Sands: Minnesota's Dirty Oil Secret 9/27 - Afghanistan: The Law, the Military, and Humanitarian Aid 9/28 - What's the next step for the energy bill? 9/28 - Solutions to the State's Revenue Shortfall 9/29 - Plays on Afghanistan 10/1 - Matters of Race 10/2 - Women in Haiti 10/4 - Insurance Coverage of Chronically Ill See Progressive Issues Calendar for event details and more events

Minnesota gubernatorial debate (on a stick)

Courtesty, the Uptake

 

 

September Feature: An open Internet for all

By Mignon Clyburn and Michael J. Copps

The Internet was born on openness, has flourished on openness and depends on openness for its future potential. This incredible technology intersects with just about every great challenge confronting our nation -- jobs, education, energy, the environment, news, international competitiveness, health care, equal opportunity.

But online freedom of Americans is at risk.

Read more...

Stone Arch Preview: Dane Smith of Growth and Justice

Saturday, September 11
8:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Gardens of Salonica
19 5th St NE, Minneapolis (map)

Growth & Justice is a progressive think tank committed to making Minnesota's economy simultaneously more prosperous and fair.  Join its president Dane Smith as he addresses our Stone Arch discussion group the second Saturday in September!

As usual, invite anyone interested--free and open to the public. Come, buy your coffee (the law is you can't bring food or drinks into a restaurant), learn a lot and have your questions ready.

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Only 3 blocks north up E. Hennepin Avenue (County Road 52) from our old meeting place, and a half block west.