We have watched the debate raging in the US over healthcare reform with a kind of puzzlement here in the UK. The level of propaganda and barefaced lying from the Republican right is beyond belief. Watching redneck idiots who would actually benefit from free healthcare holding up banners protesting the idea was just bizarre and a bit sad. Anyone who can compare Obama with Hitler, because he wants to provide healthcare for people who can’t afford it, is beyond help.

The annoying thing about the argument is that some misinformed people started holding up the NHS as an example of health care gone wrong. The National Health Service is the greatest institution in the UK and the vast majority of people here are firm supporters of it. If we need healthcare we get it without any worries about money or insurance coverage. The system could not be simpler and it is based on caring for those less fortunate than you. We all pay tax for the greater good.

The right wing in the US isn’t able to come up with real arguments so they just invent things. The perfect example was the editorial in Investor’s Business Daily which actually said "People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the UK, where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.”

In actual fact Stephen Hawking was born in the UK and later said "I wouldn't be here today if it were not for the NHS, I have received a large amount of high-quality treatment without which I would not have survived."

What a spectacular lie. That’s the problem with the media though, the right wing in particular learned long ago that you don’t need to tell the truth. As long as you say something publicly it will reach a big enough audience of idiots that some people will believe it, even after your retraction.

How some US politicians have lied about the NHS is nothing short of scandalous. They invented the idea of death panels that deny people treatment and somehow branded a service that cares for people regardless of background as “evil”. It’s pretty plain to see where the real evil is. These self serving scum are merely trying to protect their tax dollars and ensure that they get spent on killing people rather than saving them. As long as the rich are ok the rest of the country can go to hell.

There are around 50 million people in America without health insurance. All of those people would receive the treatment they need without charge if they lived in the UK. Whether the right wing polticians like it or not the system works. 93% of people treated by the NHS rate their care as good or excellent.

This weird fear of socialism in the US is obviously a hangover from the whole anti-Communist cold war nonsense. It encourages a really selfish world view. Don’t believe the propaganda it is completely groundless.