Thread by @BeesAndBaking

As the WHO announces that we should prepare for a pandemic, a rare bit of political commentary from me, a disease biologist who moved from the UK to the USA.

Universal healthcare is the single greatest thing the US could do to improve its pandemic preparedness. #MedicareForAll

Both of my parents worked their entire lives in the NHS. I grew up in one of the world's leading, if strained, nationalised universal health systems. I know better than most how far from ideal and imperfect it is. But I would take it every time over the system here in the US.

I have a good job, with great healthcare. I am an intelligent man with plenty of free time. I am single and not supporting a family. Yet I cannot for the life of me understand my care in this country. I have delayed treatments because of costs.

It is far worse for many others.

It is worth saying that somehow, I pay much more for healthcare here in the US than I ever did back home, and by that I mean the amount that comes out of my paycheck, which I can see very explicitly on both payslips. I pay more here for less for myself and far less for society.

In a pandemic, I am relying not only my own access to healthcare, but my neighbours'. The rest of the people who move in this society with me. You *cannot* best control an outbreak if your system actively dissuades people from seeking care due to cost and complication.

I am not going to labour why deconstructing the US private for-profit health industry would cut costs to a tiny proportion of what they are now - there's plenty of insightful commentary on that. But if people are serious about preparing for these outbreaks it has to be mentioned.

These outbreaks will only become more common with the changing ecology of our planet. The faster we confront the truth that lacking a robust, universal healthcare system proritising wellness rather than profit is the first barrier to pandemic preparedness in the US, the better.

There are many people who study these nuances of public health in greater depth than me, but having lived both systems and having a PhD close enough to be actively involved in the worldwide response to #Covid_19 #COVIDー19 , this is my professional and personal opinion.

I am begging y'all. The world is changing, and we have to change with it, and we should aim to change for the better. #MedicareForAll is that better change.

I really hope @wormmaps doesn't drag me into oblivion for this