Under NHS, one is treated for free and while one can buy private health insurance, its not necessary.
The people of UK like their single payer health care system and not want to see its essential character changed.
Political debate revolves around how to make NHS more accountable, responsive and effective not whether health care should be based on ability to pay.
The people of UK like their single payer health care system and not want to see its essential character changed.
Political debate revolves around how to make NHS more accountable, responsive and effective not whether health care should be based on ability to pay
I know it's optional, but it seems around 8 million UK residents have a separate, non-NHS insurance policy.
As I said, this is a little known fact in the US, were everyone assumes the health system is entirely NHS.
That number of insurance customers does not even include “one-off” uses of non-NHS providers.
My mother was put on an 8 week waiting list for a CAT scan for a possible bad heart. She paid separately and had it done in 4 days - luckily with negative results...:^)
This UK health care “system-bypass” is simply not known in the US.
Some people might like it, but many (most?) think the waiting times absolutely suck, and it seems the NHS free dentistry is disappearing..
The NHS horror stories are mostly just that, stories. I had a colonoscopy show possible colon cancer and was in for further investigation within days. The wife had a yearly post breast cancer (diagnosed while we lived in the US and we had to wait 3 months for insurance to approve the mastectomy) show numbers that worried the NHS doc, and she was in treatment by the end of the week.
Non life threatening stuff may take months, ie, joint replacement or dental issues, bit otherwise, it ain’t that bad, and you’d be hard pressed to find many Brits that would trade it for the American model.
Is it perfect? Hell no. Is it as bad as you read about at sources with a vested interest in scaring Americans away from an NHS style system in the US? Hell no. Here in the UK, when ER waits hit 2-3 hours, it’s a scandal, in America, 2-3 hours was a short wait.