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Every year the UK spends about 8% of our GDP on healthcare and everyone is covered.. in the US you spend about 18% and 30 million have no cover.. that figure is set to rise. You do the math.
There are a couple of things which pushes the cost of healthcare up in the US compared to other countries.
The first is the cost of drugs. Essentially, the US consumer is subsidizing the R&D of the big Pharma companies by paying exorbitant prices for drugs. Unlike other countries, the US government does not regulate the cost of drugs.
The second is practice protection insurance (the cost of insuring yourself against being sued). Those fees are exorbitant to the extent that certain doctors refuse to practice in certain places because the insurance eats up everything they make. I work in a large public accounting firm and practice protection costs us $300 million a year. Healthcare is no different.
If you are uninsured, healthcare actually costs more than if you are insured as the insurance companies negotiate discounts with doctors. If you are uninsured you pay full whack.
I'm affraid I haven't read the article that you suggested during the OP but I have to say that for the most part the British healthcare system is good. It does what is says on the tin: "free health care at the point of service" - if you remember this you will realise just how lucky UK residents are. I am familiar with the US system and the Canadian system to a lesser extent (I lived in Canada for a year but I never visited the doctor) but to be honest even the poorest people in these two, otherwise, great countries would strugle to get the treatment that we here in the UK get. Sure there are long - sometimes very long - waiting times but ultimately, the NHS does provide an excellent service and if you cannot afford medication, the NHS will provide it for free (here in Scotland, and I think also in Wales, prescription charges have been frozen/abolished by the Scottish Government and respective Welsh Assembly). I think, like most countries we moan about the state of our healthcare system but I sure as hell would rather fall ill in the UK than I would in the US or Canada. Like others have suggested, you can top up your medication or go private if you so choose but for most of us, and I have a good job and income, it is just not feasible or, for that matter, necessary!
This is only my view on the UK healthcare system but I am sure it provides the perspective of many.
I have worked as a registered nurse in both systems, both have good points and bad points. But as many posters have said, the UK takes care of everyone. You might have to wait a bit (although when living there in 99-2001 and then again 2005-2008 we never had to wait for healthcare).
The UK system has far less frills, bells and whistles than the US system, but those bells and whistles cost money and don't really impact quality of care.
There is free health care for some in the UK. When people from outside the EU come to the UK, maybe on holiday, visiting relatives or on business, and then seek NHS treatment the hospital they visit is supposed to collect their personal detaila so that the relevant NHS Trust can get back the cost of the treatment from them. That doesn't always happen.
Things have got so bad that now some Trusts are demanding payment before the treatment commences. One of the problems is "NHS tourism" - those who come to the UK for the sole purpose of getting medical treatment through the NHS.
I have worked as a registered nurse in both systems, both have good points and bad points. But as many posters have said, the UK takes care of everyone. You might have to wait a bit (although when living there in 99-2001 and then again 2005-2008 we never had to wait for healthcare).
The UK system has far less frills, bells and whistles than the US system, but those bells and whistles cost money and don't really impact quality of care.
If by "bells and whistles" you mean nurses,support services and bed numbers,then yes, we certainly do have less of those!
However I would have a hard time understanding how these don't impact on care.
I have seen huge changes in the NHS in the last 10 years.We have better tech etc, but IMO everything else is worse.
We try to run a social healthcare system like a business with accountants and non-healthcare background managers and the emphasis is on targets and balancing the books-just like a for profit business.There are simply too many people that don't pay into the pot but are still entitled to use the services.
If you do have private insurance it won't cover pre-existing conditions-so basically just for routine ops-not ER etc.You still have to pay contributions to the NHS at the same rate as everyone else even if you chose to pay privately.Govt is actually sitting with a huge underspend for the NHS and won't put nurses on similar salaries to police and teachers.
Nurses are paid higher wages in the US,especially if you compare the COL and RN to patient ratios.
I had the misfortune to exp being a pt 3 years ago.If you go in with a leg hanging off-great.If you go in with something theythink they can treat conservatively with ABx and send you home -they will try.Theory is that id you are really ill then you will come back again!
Thing about the NHS is it depends if what you have is "trendy" and how much money has been allocated to it because of the latest govt targets as to how effectively you are treated, and also somewhat of a postcode lottery too.
I'm affraid I haven't read the article that you suggested during the OP but I have to say that for the most part the British healthcare system is good. It does what is says on the tin: "free health care at the point of service" - if you remember this you will realise just how lucky UK residents are. I am familiar with the US system and the Canadian system to a lesser extent (I lived in Canada for a year but I never visited the doctor) but to be honest even the poorest people in these two, otherwise, great countries would strugle to get the treatment that we here in the UK get. Sure there are long - sometimes very long - waiting times but ultimately, the NHS does provide an excellent service and if you cannot afford medication, the NHS will provide it for free (here in Scotland, and I think also in Wales, prescription charges have been frozen/abolished by the Scottish Government and respective Welsh Assembly). I think, like most countries we moan about the state of our healthcare system but I sure as hell would rather fall ill in the UK than I would in the US or Canada. Like others have suggested, you can top up your medication or go private if you so choose but for most of us, and I have a good job and income, it is just not feasible or, for that matter, necessary!
This is only my view on the UK healthcare system but I am sure it provides the perspective of many.
Our health service is only free for those that don't pay NIC!
You have to remember that we pay into the pot as soon as we start working.
We still pay for scripts in England on top of NICs
Also for dental treatment and specatcles.
Hi susan 42, would you like to see a type of American medical system in the UK?
Obviously you don't think much of the NHS, maybe for a good reason. I on the other hand, having experienced NHS treatment a lot in the last two years, and I have nothing but praise for it.
Hi susan 42, would you like to see a type of American medical system in the UK?
Obviously you don't think much of the NHS, maybe for a good reason. I on the other hand, having experienced NHS treatment a lot in the last two years, and I have nothing but praise for it.
I think both systems have their faults.
No-I don't think much of the NHS and for good reason
Having worked in it for 26 years the changes haven't always been for the better and there have been too many of them.
The new modern matrons spend their time dealing with complaints,untoward incident reportss and nursing staffing problems.
Too many levels of management with a "top down" management approach
Govt targets that often don't improve patient care.
Not enough nurses and support staff and low pay
I could go on.
I would also like to say that the general public are grateful for any level of care, whereas someone with knowledge will be more critical and understand better how delays could have been reduced and maybe how close someone came to being seriously ill due to these delays.
People judge their treatment on the final outcome.
So,when I had a bad experience and wasn't happy with my care and they were going to send me home, I demanded an ultrasound scan ( a pretty basic investigation) because I felt they had the wrong diagnosis.
They still sent me home and told me to come back for scan in 2 days.
Scan showed soemthing that may have been cancer, turned out wasn't, but by that point I was going into kidney failure and was seriously anaemic.
They didn't take me to theatre until 6pm the following day.
I was in theatre for 2 hours having bits removed and washing out all the infected yuk that was inside.
Now-if I hadn't demanded that scan I would haev ended up coming back into A/E probably 2 days later with rip roaring infection in blood stream and seriously ill.
But,someone who didn't have the same knowledge wouldn't appreciate the impact of the initial incorrect diagnosis.
And this was all because it was the weekend and the registrar on duty couldn't do ultrasound scans (consultant and ultrasonographers on call at home?).This was how it was justified to me.
This was in the hospital where I worked as a Specialist Nurse. i am sure a doc would have got that US scan on the saturday.
If they had done the scan on the Saturday I would have gone for op on Sunday and been home for Tuesday.instead it took a week from start to finish.
Efficient/effective care?
I have a relative that is waiting 18 weeks for an ankle replacement.Has pain that wakes him at night and cannot flex ankle so is walking dragging his leg.
Satisfactory care?
The 30 bedded acute stroke ward I work on has about 50% of patients who cannot mobilise without help, or even transfer from bed to chair without 2 nurses.
50% of pts have communication problems,either slurred speech,word finding probleas, or no useful speech at all.
70% of patients cannot feed themselves.
There is always at least 1 very confused patient who may be agressive, unsteady on feet, not orientated to time,place or person and maybe wandering and trying to get off the ward.They require 1 to 1 supervision.
There are 2 or 3 RNs on duty plus 2-3 heathcare assistants at any one time.
I think the differences between the US and UK systems are deep and complex. The NHS covers everyone but the service can be ineffective at times - although similar issues/complaints will relate to both systems.
For me the NHS is 'OK' when dealing with emergency issues, but diagnosing of non-emergency issues can be slow, inefficient, and frustrating. People who visit doctors offices with undiagnosed health issues with consistently have to wait months or even years to see specialists, gain treatment, or even be correctly diagnosed in the first place. We also have a huge issue with regular tests/screens that are not required or issued, but are mandatory in the US (such as smear tests).
Whilst the US system would probably be a lot quicker, it is the cost to the average joe, and 'profit before treatment' mentality that exists within health industry corporations that makes fair coverage such a problem. There must be a balance between the two whereby healthcare insurance is regulated to cover all applicants fairly, and medical providers are regulated to control costs. Hopefully something along those lines may appear from the senate committee currently working on the new bill (if congress's version doesn't require too much of a compromise).
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