I recently heard about a policeman and a firefighter (officer was in
Mt Vernon, not sure where the firefighter was) recently had
fundraisers held for them to raise money.
 Apparently, their cancer treatments were on the verge of putting them
in the poorhouse.
 Please don't misunderstand - I'm not in any implying that these
dedicated civil servants don't need this money - but I thought their
benefits packages were second to none, and that fundraisers like that
wouldn't be necessary.

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Clarification of Question by pcventures-ga on 27 Jul 2004 03:26 PDT

Your comment really didn't do much to help answer the question.
  It's not even remotely fair, helpful or relevant to the question
  to compare a nationalized healthcare system, such as that in the UK
  to the patchwork quilt of public and private funding we have here
  in the States.

  Next...

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Clarification of Question by pcventures-ga on 27 Jul 2004 06:45 PDT

Probonopublico:

  Although I think it's great that the two cancer sufferers I cited
would not have had to go begging for treatment and living expense
money, what I'm really asking is this:
  Why did this have to happen?  Is my perception that civil servants
in the US (Particularly in NY State, where civil service employees'
unions are so strong) get excellent health benefits correct, or are
they more finite than I thought?

Scary!

At least, we do have much better health packages in the UK.

Is the Big Apple not quite as tasty as it appears?

Hi probono: I agree with the clarification by pcventures.
 Also in some respects UK health care is likely inferior to USA. In
what respects do you concider UK significantly better, other than one
size fits all?   Neil

I don't know whether the UK system in toto is any better than NY (or
anywhere else) but at least I do know that the two people cited in the
question would not have to resort to begging so that they could be
provided with treatment.

Just another thought ... Is it for real?

There are many collections for so-called deserving causes where the
money goes straight into the back pockets of the organisers.

I've fallen for that more than once!

Like Probo, I suspect that this is a fund raising scam.

It has been tailor made for NY where the Police and Fire Services are
probably more appreciated than in other places, particularly after
9/11.

A few years ago, the streets in London were littered with wretched
young women dressed in rags, nursing a tiny infant, sitting behind a
begging bowl.

Who could resist?

They did VERY nicely but the truth was that they usually hired the
baby as a prop. It was just a performance. There was never the need
for anyone with a young child to have to take to the streets begging.