Unions take on US 'lies' over NHS

Wednesday, 19 August 2009 5:26 PM

By Ian Dunt

The world's first international union is launching a campaign to tackle the "lies" in the US health care debate.

The controversy over President Obama's plans to reform US health care, which currently leaves millions of Americans out of work, crossed the Atlantic last week after Tory MEP Daniel Hannan appeared on US TV to say he wouldn't wish the NHS "on anyone".

Other US commentators, including former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, suggested the NHS was "Orwellian" and "evil".

The comments prompted an explosion of activity on Twitter, in which so many users posted comments with the #weloveNHS tag that the site temporarily crashed.

Now Workers Uniting, which represents three million people from every industrial sector in Britain, Ireland, the USA, Canada and the Caribbean has launched an attack on the "misinformation" from President Obama's opponents.

The news comes as David Cameron was again forced to defend the Conservatives' commitment to the NHS, after the Times http://www.politics.co.uk/news/health/cameron-defends-health-spokesman-over-second-job-attack-$1319872.htm.

Leo W. Gerard, international president of the United Steelworkers, which forms part of the group along with the UK's Unite union, said: "Health insurance reform is about human and civil rights - exactly what Workers Uniting was created to fight for.

"The debate in the United States has been intense, at times unfairly focused on the many myths and mistruths being circulated by opponents, including those about the universal health care system in the United Kingdom. Our sisters and brothers in the UK know the truth and are helping set the record straight."

Derek Simpson, Unite joint general secretary said: "The National Health Service is the pride of the UK and workers will not stand by while rich insurance companies spend millions of dollars to promote their smear campaign.

"We are proud of our universal healthcare system and view the attempts to represent the NHS as inefficient as outrageous nonsense."

The union is encouraging those interested in the debate to visit http://workersuniting.org/ for a list of myths they claim to debunk.

President Obama is still attempting to get his reforms through, but faces an uphill battle in the face of a well-financed opposition campaign.

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• foreign policy
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• health
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• nhs
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• nhs organisation
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• north america