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cushla - I can't "rave" about any country I have ever visited or intend to live in in the future - although obviously I prefer some over others. There is no such thing as a perfect place or perfect people anywhere on earth, is there ? I'm sure if it existed we would all be lining up to go there : )
I don't believe in heaven or hell (well at least not in a religious sense) but I do think that the people you are surrounded with can make a huge difference to your well-being as a human, especially if you have a family with small children whose "happiness" is very much dependent on the kindness of other people.
Yes, my mother was killed by the incompetence of a NHS hospital. Many others will say, well to balance this negativity, my life was saved by the NHS. Well, you are very lucky indeed. I don't particulary think that where "luck" has to come into things, one can then "rave" about a particular system, do you ? How well one is looked after in a hospital should not come down to luck.
To top it all, on her death bed, mum was being looked after by a foreign nurse who barely spoke a word of English. I think the least one expects of the UK is if you are going to employ foreign staff (which indeed the NHS HAS to because it has a severe shortage of well-qualified natives in the medical profession) then at PLEASE at least make sure that they speak English well so that they do not put the lives of people like my mum at risk.
So basically we can agree you left the UK and think the US is better, and Americans/Canadians living in the UK will think the UK is better, otherwise they wouldn't stay here.
It's all relative people. Both countries have good and bad points. The UK is good for some, but bad for others, same with the US.
Ah-so now we're comparing Canada as well?
Surely you aren't saying that the USA and Canada are the same? They have huge differences.
I am saying that IN OUR SITUATION (ie wages,GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION,professions,with a teenager etc etc) the USA is far better than the UK. We both worked for the government ,but previously my husband worked in the city of London in corporate insurance for one of the top accounting firms. He moved to the NE when we met.
I worked my butt off for the NHS for 23 years and saw my salary,despite promotions,more responsiblity/higher acuity of pat care,acquiring higher levels of academic qualifications and taking specialist courses fall woefully behind compared to many other public sector workers. Yes I was hugely affected by the increase in income inequality in the UK.
That's what the Govt thinks about those who provide the 24/7 care for pts in the NHS.
We lived in the NE of England and now live in the SE USA.
Now it becomes apparent that Sunshineleith came from Canada (not the USA) ,lives in the E Midlands and has the luxury of both him and his partner working from home.
cushla - I can't "rave" about any country I have ever visited or intend to live in in the future - although obviously I prefer some over others. There is no such thing as a perfect place or perfect people anywhere on earth, is there ? I'm sure if it existed we would all be lining up to go there : )
I don't believe in heaven or hell (well at least not in a religious sense) but I do think that the people you are surrounded with can make a huge difference to your well-being as a human, especially if you have a family with small children whose "happiness" is very much dependent on the kindness of other people.
Yes, my mother was killed by the incompetence of a NHS hospital. Many others will say, well to balance this negativity, my life was saved by the NHS. Well, you are very lucky indeed. I don't particulary think that where "luck" has to come into things, one can then "rave" about a particular system, do you ? How well one is looked after in a hospital should not come down to luck.
To top it all, on her death bed, mum was being looked after by a foreign nurse who barely spoke a word of English. I think the least one expects of the UK is if you are going to employ foreign staff (which indeed the NHS HAS to because it has a severe shortage of well-qualified natives in the medical profession) then at PLEASE at least make sure that they speak English well so that they do not put the lives of people like my mum at risk.
I was put at huge risk of beoming seriously ill with septicaemia AT THE HOSPITAL I WORKED IN, because I was mis-diagnosed by 3 different doctors. It was the weekend and they didn't even do an ultrasound.
If it hadn't been for the fact that I demanded an Ultrasound because I thought they had it wrong when they were discharging me 2 days later (which they did as an out patient 2 days post discharge and then all hell broke loose) I would have ended up in ICU with septicaemia due to peritonitis.
It was appalling and the things I witnessed made me ashamed to be a nurse.
As for I know it varies between postcodes
I know that the standards of basic care in the NHS everywhere have fallen dramatically over the last 15 years or so. The emphasis has been on spending money on technology, accountants, managers etc to meet financial targets ,keep up with being able to offer increasingly technical or invasive treatments to the detriment of the basics. Despite the doctors having reduced hours due to the EU working directive they seem to practice less efficiently, the nurse are so fed up with having a broom stuck up their ass that many have loast their empathy, and the new nurses aren't taught enough about the basics in their training and wouldn't know what hard work was if it slpapped them in the face.
And this This thread was created by a person who is interested in retiring in the UK, and while I understand that he/she has to know the bad points of being a retiree in the UK, you do not have to try and stop him/her from moving here if he/she wishes, just because you dislike it. Many, many Americans have emigrated to the UK - over 200,000 reside here and most are impressed by the NHS and the care it provides - and if you're ever unsatisfied with the NHS there is always private healthcare, just like the US which only has private healthcare, so really it wouldn't be any different.
No-private hospitals in the UK generally do not provide Emergency services as they don't have 24 hr coverage by surgeons, radiography or anesthesiology as many are actually staffed by surgeons who work in the NHS as well. They are mainly there for "routine" fairly minor surgery. If your "minor"surgery recovery goes pear shaped in the middle of the night you're pretty much f----.
Where do you get your info regarding how impressed the Americans are with the NHS?
And yes, there is an 'elderly care crisis' in the UK but I often feel it is over-exaggerated by our media. There have been some horrible cases of elderly people being neglected in care homes but this does not happen to the majority of people so I wouldn't let it bother you at all.
Sorry but that really is BS. Look at all the private elderly care facilities that have been closed down and the fact that many, many nurse working in them only work ther because they can't get a job anywhere else or because they never bothered improving/keeping up their skills.
I know that people invest a heck of a lot of time in trying to find a local residential/nursing home thats decent, and sometimes it's very very hard.
Personally I would hate my parents to end up in any of the NHS ones-certainly not value for money for the residential homes.
A single room in a residential home now costs an average of £25000 a year, and homes that provide nursing care charge more than £35000-
That was in 2009.
To put this in some context, the monthly cost of staying in a residential care home is more than three times the average mortgage payment.
Last edited by Whatsthenews; 01-08-2012 at 10:39 AM..
You would have died if it were not for medical care - I appreciate that. I have also received treatment, operations, vaccinations etc by the NHS over the 33 years I spent in the UK. The NHS saves lived every day, and so to do medical workers the world over including the world's poorest countries. But helping you does not equal a great, ort even acceptable medical 'system'. The Americans that have good coverage would argue that they receive the best treatment in the world - so why the negativity?!
My wife and I paid several hundred pounds each month only to receive the treatment I have described above, for me to be rejected for treatment that every doctor I have ever seen has told me I absolutely need, and for my wife's thyroid condition to me missed, and subsequent incorrect prescriptions given (I could go on and on). These are not uncommon occurances. My in-laws used to argue for national healthcare like the UK or Canada during the Obamacare saga a couple of years ago, although when they visited my wife in the hospital in the UK they were pretty appalled at what they saw. Lets just say they have altered their opinions a little. When I wanted to get private insurance to cover what the NHS wouldn't "pay for" I couldn't because it became "pre existing"
Its not that the NHS is all bad, its that I disagree with blind faith or protection of it when there are many who post unfounded or unreasoned opinions on the US system without having any experience of it, or without real knowledge of what they are talking about. I feel bad for you that you are not covered for your conditions - that is terrible. I also have a friend who needed treatment for cancer in Canada and came to the US for treatment because they would have died in Canada - I'll admit they could afford it but you get my point.
The US does have many medical treatments that no other country has - I'll give you that, people all over world go there, even from other developed nations.
Just out of curiosity, why were your in-laws appalled? Was the hospital littered with filth and crawling with rats, or something?
Anyway, yes, it's all relative, your in-laws were 'appalled' but many Americans love the NHS. In fact, a big reason why many Americans who marry Brits come over here is because of the universal healthcare. I can't really comment on the US healthcare system but I don't think I'd trade the NHS for anything. If I want private care I'll just buy it here.
Ah-so now we're comparing Canada as well?
Surely you aren't saying that the USA and Canada are the same? They have huge differences.
I am saying that IN OUR SITUATION (ie wages,GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION,professions,with a teenager etc etc) the USA is far better than the UK. We both worked for the government ,but previously my husband worked in the city of London in corporate insurance for one of the top accounting firms. He moved to the NE when we met.
I worked my butt off for the NHS for 23 years and saw my salary,despite promotions,more responsiblity/higher acuity of pat care,acquiring higher levels of academic qualifications and taking specialist courses fall woefully behind compared to many other public sector workers. Yes I was hugely affected by the increase in income inequality in the UK.
That's what the Govt thinks about those who provide the 24/7 care for pts in the NHS.
We lived in the NE of England and now live in the SE USA.
Now it becomes apparent that Sunshineleith came from Canada (not the USA) ,lives in the E Midlands and has the luxury of both him and his partner working from home.
So,yes,it's all relative.
Okay, that's all I wanted to hear, in your situation, the US is better, for the OP situation, the UK might be better, for all you know. Neither country is superior to the other, in my opinion, it all depends on what you want. So if you're happy in the US, then that is fine, but you don't have to tell people that the UK is so awful and horrible and don't come here cause it's the third world or something
Okay, that's all I wanted to hear, in your situation, the US is better, for the OP situation, the UK might be better, for all you know. Neither country is superior to the other, in my opinion, it all depends on what you want. So if you're happy in the US, then that is fine, but you don't have to tell people that the UK is so awful and horrible and don't come here cause it's the third world or something
Again-words in my mouth
I gave my views relating to our specific situation rather than things like Many, many Americans have emigrated to the UK - over 200,000 reside here and most are impressed by the NHS and the care it provides.
And Albion A lot of brits immigrating to the US, do so safe in the knowledge that if they are refused medical insurance due to a pre-existing condition, or, if they experience a catastrophic iilness that their insurance won't cover, there's always blighty and the good old NHS to fall back on
But surely that would involve establishing residency in the UK again (so upping sticks from the US altogether, which unless you are a US citizen means losing your LPR/visa)? So you have to be able to support yourself in the UK (ie get a job or rely on pension) whilst you are needing medical care that you cannot get in the US.
Sounds very difficult to me.
Additionally it's not very easy to get across the Atlantic if you are requiring acute medical care and actually many hospitals in the USA are not for profit and have to provide emergency care to anyone who walks through the door.
I don't get what you're saying. Are you trying to say, what I'm saying is not true? Because I can assure you it is. I don't know how Americans emigrate to the UK or what they do, I just know there's a lot of Americans here, and they don't appear to be leaving any time soon, unless they're forced too
Ah-so now we're comparing Canada as well?
Surely you aren't saying that the USA and Canada are the same? They have huge differences.
...
Now it becomes apparent that Sunshineleith came from Canada (not the USA) ,lives in the E Midlands and has the luxury of both him and his partner working from home.
So, yes,it's all relative.
Goodness me.
My point was that people from countries with a national health service (e.g. Canada and the UK) can move to places without (e.g. the USA) and know that as citizens, they always have their home country with its national health service to fall back on should things go awry in the USA.
Also, if you read any amount of my past posts it is and always has been abundantly clear that I am a Canadian. And I am female, not male.
Last edited by sunshineleith; 01-08-2012 at 03:49 PM..
I don't get what you're saying. Are you trying to say, what I'm saying is not true? Because I can assure you it is. I don't know how Americans emigrate to the UK or what they do, I just know there's a lot of Americans here, and they don't appear to be leaving any time soon, unless they're forced too
No-I'm asking you to direct us to the source of the the information
In the USA, $4800 is about 10% of average salary. And that is just for one person. Luckily, for most Americans, their health insurance is subsidised by their employeror they get Medicare.
To compare with NI, you also have to add on what you pay for social security. So that is another 6.2% (up to the cap) plus 1.45% for Medicare. I think that is higher than the 12% you pay for NI (plus 2% of anything over £817/week).
We have subsidised health insurance,401k savings plan and free life insurance through my husbands work.
We pay approx $550 per month (slightly more than 10% of salary) for health insurance with a $6000 family deductable,co-pays of $30-$100 from PCP thru specialist and ER visits with no co-insurance.
There is no co-pay for preventative dental or medical care ie yearly wellness screenings/dental checks/PAP smears/colonoscopy/ mammography.
For IP stays we pay 20% up to the annual deducatable then nothing.
We could pay 20% higher premiums and then we would only pay 10%, but as we are all well and fit and don't run to the Doc all the time we went for the lower premium.
Now this family plan would provide cover for as many kids as you have.
If I was working and for the same company (which is highly likely eventually) then we would pay something like $350 per month as our son would be on mine as a dependant and my husband would be on his own.
The median household income (not salary)for the US i n 2009 was $50,000 so we are $3,000 above that with only one of us working.
The median home value was $185,000
In the UK the median household income is 25000 GBP so approx $37,500.
The median UK house price is 200,000 GBP ,or $300,000.
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