Is it true that in England anyone over the age of 59 cannot receive heart repairs stints or bypass surgery because those procedures are not covered under your medical plans?

Totally false. Sounds like the kind of nonsense opponents of universal health care dream up. My wife had a bypass in the UK at age 69.

= England's and Canada's Health Care =

July 9, 2009

Q: Is it true that persons older than 59 can't get heart surgery in England? A: There's no such prohibition on heart operations in England, as a chain e-mail claims. FULL QUESTION Is this e-mail true? SENIOR DEATH WARRANTS The actress Natasha Richardson died after falling skiing in Canada. ⬐ Click to expand/collapse the full text ⬏ It took eight hours to drive her to a hospital. If Canada had our healthcare she might be alive today. We now have helicopters that would have gotten her to the hospital in 30 minutes. Obama wants to have our healthcare like Canada 's and England 's. In England anyone over 59 cannot receive heart repairs or stents or bypass because it is not covered as being too expensive and not needed. I got this today and am sending it on. If Obama's plans in other areas don't scare you, this should. Looks like Obama is sure keeping his Word CHANGES. We better have our funerals paid up, may be needing it sooner rather than later with no Dr's on our side to keep us healthy.. What will this world be like in another 20 YEARS WHEN OUR KIDS ARE READY FOR RETIREMENT? SAD!!! Please do not let Obama sign senior death warrants Everybody that is on this mailing list is either a senior citizen, is getting close or knows somebody that is. Most of you know by now that the Senate version (at least) of the "stimulus" bill includes provisions for extensive rationing of health care for senior citizens… The author of this part of the bill, former senator and tax evader, Tom Daschle was credited today by Bloomberg with the following statement. Bloomberg: Daschle says "health-care reform will not be pain free. Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them." If this does not sufficiently raise your ire, just remember that Senators and Congressmen have their own healthcare plan that is first dollar or very low co-pay which they are guaranteed the remainder of their lives and are not subject to this new law if it passes. Please use the power of the internet to get this message out. Talk it up at the grassroots level…. We have an election coming up in one year and nine months. We have the ability to address and reverse the dangerous direction the Obama administration and it allies have begun and in the interim, we can make their lives miserable. Lets do it! If you disagree, don't do anything

FULL ANSWER This widely forwarded e-mail, targeted to senior citizens and claiming that health care legislation could constitute "senior death warrants," is riddled with false claims. The anonymous e-mail claims that "[i]n England anyone over 59 cannot receive heart repairs or stents or bypass because it is not covered as being too expensive and not needed." That's false. We called the United Kingdom's Department of Health and a spokesman told us: "It is not true that anyone aged over 59 years cannot receive heart repairs, stents or bypass surgery on the basis of their age." He also said that medical procedures in the U.K. are not routinely denied for older people. The National Health Service, the U.K.'s public health care service, has a constitution which prohibits discrimination on the basis of age and other factors. "The NHS Constitution states that the NHS provides a 'comprehensive service, available to all irrespective of gender, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief,' " the spokesman said.