David La Piana

I opened the Times (London not NY) to find that David Cameron, the Conservative party’s candidate for Prime Minister, is about to become a father again. This led to the cute headline that his wife, Samantha, known as SamCam, is “moving toward Labour,” which of course is the British liberal party. Nice pun.

But the really interesting piece was a serious discussion of whether, if elected in the fall polls, David will take paid paternity pay, which is his right. Apparently, even Tony Blair took a paltry (by British standards) two weeks paid leave when he was prime minister, appointing someone else to hold the fort while he bonded with his family.

Can you imagine an American politician taking paternity leave – paid no less – right after winning the White House? “Sorry folks, I have to take the 4AM feeding, the world will have to wait.” The UK seems just a little bit more civilized than my own nation every day I am here, as things which would be anathema at home are a matter of course in Britain.

In another article, lauding Obama’s health reform success and trying to explain to a British reader just how strong opposition to it is, the paper writes “Europeans may struggle to grasp how health insurance subsidies could be seen as an assault on freedom. . .but they are part of a battle for the soul of America.”

I am in London to offer a series of workshops on strategic restructuring for UK nonprofits leaders. While riding into town in a traditional London black cab and chatting with the driver, the topic of US health reform came up (he raised it). The cabbie had expressed fairly conservative views on other topics in our hour-long, traffic clogged, drive. But when it came to health care he just could not understand how the US tolerates our current health care “system.”

I couldn’t help him, there is no defense. In the UK, health care is a right, and is not generally the political football we use it for in the US. Brits across the political spectrum support their national health insurance arrangement as the only sane manner to address a nation’s health needs. Everyone here is covered, and everyone pays in, along with their contributions to the UK equivalent of Social Security, charmingly referred to as Old Age Pensions. Premium amounts vary with income and circumstances, not age, gender and health condition.

As a part-time semi-retired cabbie, my new friend pays the equivalent of $20 a month for his coverage. As an American, it was both refreshing and embarrassing to compare health care systems. If health reform dies, it won’t get easier.