US healthcare debate would be unthinkable in the UK

What people won’t see, however, is politicians suggesting that there shouldn’t be a National Health Service.

What people in Britain won’t see is anyone seriously suggesting that if you don’t have money, then tough luck, the cancer will just have to get on with the business of killing you.

What they won’t see is the man or woman who lost their job in this recession sitting in the street asking for a few pennies to help pay for their cancer treatment.

Mary O’Hara, a Guardian social affairs writer, is the Alistair Cooke Fulbright Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley.