Medical care Private v State

[JIMMY12345]

In the USA you could be young with two kids. Low salary and small company so no medical insurance. Say the wife gets breast cancer. You have to sell your house and car to pay the medical bills. The family could be roaming on the streets.

In the UK there is something called the National Health service paid for by tax deductions. So free. Americans are wary of the UK system. Where do you stop the expansion of government into other areas?

Note in USA the private sector delivers in the latest medical technology. Against that private billing for every conceivable test and loads of drugs. It gives either US Health insurance companies or sick people a heart attack. On average USA lags in the Health performance tables on many counts. This against countries who spend less.

Do you prefer the USA Healthcare system or the UK one?

 

[ChristineM]

I've always been a supporter of the NHS, even with all the cut backs and sell offs imposed over the years by successive conservative governments. I really don't understand the American resistance to this way of funding.

 

[Quintessence]

Neither. Having a preference implies one has a meaningful choice in the matter. Unless these countries suddenly granted dual citizenship to each other when I wasn't looking, one can't exactly just pick up stakes and move from one of these countries to the other.

That said, everybody and their dogs knows the system in the United States is complete trash. It's not a health care system at all, it's a predatory, for-profit industry.

 

[sun rise]

Neither for different reasons. The US system is an abomination that only serves the rich and super rich or the few with really good health care policies. The UK system is to me overly bureaucratic. There are other systems such as the Japanese, Swiss etc. I'd love to see the US look at the rest of the world and pick something. The Swiss system is a bit mixed - guaranteed basic coverage with optional add-ons, for example.

 

[sun rise]

I've always been a supporter of the NHS, even with all the cut backs and sell offs imposed over the years by successive conservative governments. I really don't understand the American resistance to this way of funding.

We're insane. Next question.

 

[ChristineM]

The Swiss system is a bit mixed - guaranteed basic coverage with optional add-ons, for example.

The French system is similar but not optional, from 15% to 85% is covered by government, the remainder is covered by compulsory private health insurance.

 

[Sand Dancer]

In the USA you could be young with two kids. Low salary and small company so no medical insurance. Say the wife gets breast cancer. You have to sell your house and car to pay the medical bills. The family could be roaming on the streets.

In the UK there is something called the National Health service paid for by tax deductions. So free. Americans are wary of the UK system. Where do you stop the expansion of government into other areas?

Note in USA the private sector delivers in the latest medical technology. Against that private billing for every conceivable test and loads of drugs. It gives either US Health insurance companies or sick people a heart attack. On average USA lags in the Health performance tables on many counts. This against countries who spend less.

Do you prefer the USA Healthcare system or the UK one?

UK one at least does not bankrupt people. I wish the US could try it to see how it works.

 

[Sand Dancer]

I've always been a supporter of the NHS, even with all the cut backs and sell offs imposed over the years by successive conservative governments. I really don't understand the American resistance to this way of funding.

Conservatives don't like the government. "Christian" conservatives think the church should take over governmental duties.

 

[Revoltingest]

In the USA you could be young with two kids. Low salary and small company so no medical insurance. Say the wife gets breast cancer. You have to sell your house and car to pay the medical bills. The family could be roaming on the streets.

In the UK there is something called the National Health service paid for by tax deductions. So free. Americans are wary of the UK system. Where do you stop the expansion of government into other areas?

Note in USA the private sector delivers in the latest medical technology. Against that private billing for every conceivable test and loads of drugs. It gives either US Health insurance companies or sick people a heart attack. On average USA lags in the Health performance tables on many counts. This against countries who spend less.

Do you prefer the USA Healthcare system or the UK one?

The USA system is better for me & mine, personally.
Fantastic care at reasonable price.
(Note that cost & price aren't the same thing.)

However, from a public policy perspective,
the whole system needs an overhaul.

 

[sun rise]

"Christian" conservatives think the church should take over governmental duties.

When they start paying for everyone's health care they'll put their money where their mouths are. Oh wait.

 

[ChristineM]

Conservatives don't like the government. "Christian" conservatives think the church should take over governmental duties.

Thank goodness UK politics is so much different than the US.

 

[HonestJoe]

Do you prefer the USA Healthcare system or the UK one?

The differences, between the US, the UK and other countries, is much more complex and diverse than most people realise. There are multiple elements that make up a comprehensive healthcare system, primary care, secondary care, emergency services, pharmacists, general public health and (with increasing relevance) elderly care. Beyond that, you have a whole range of support services to be researched, developed and supplied, like drugs, clinical equipment, IT infrastructure etc. Across all those distinct yet interrelated elements you have some form of organisational structures, management and generally some level of government involvement, be that directly running some or all of the system or just regulatory and safety oversight. And all of that is before we've even considered money - where the funding comes from, who it goes to and how ever increasing costs and expectations are supported.

No system is perfect and no system is run as well as it potentially could be. There are plenty of problems with both the US and UK systems but, though they have very different results because of the vastly different systems, many of the root causes are largely the same because they're problems with modern healthcare and society in the developed (and developing) world.

Put simply, that is because we are able to treat (and significantly, manage) so many more illnesses and conditions than we could even a few decades ago yet at the same time (in part, maybe because of that) we have generally less healthy but aging populations. The expectation we have (and are expected to have) is that, regardless of the system, we should receive the same scope, pace and price of healthcare our parents and grandparents did but there is little recognition of how much more expensive the equivalent level of modern care would actually be. Until we're able to understand and accept these core facts as nations, I don't think we're ever going to be happy with the state of healthcare, regardless of where we are.

 

[Heyo]

In the USA you could be young with two kids. Low salary and small company so no medical insurance. Say the wife gets breast cancer. You have to sell your house and car to pay the medical bills. The family could be roaming on the streets.

In the UK there is something called the National Health service paid for by tax deductions. So free. Americans are wary of the UK system. Where do you stop the expansion of government into other areas?

Note in USA the private sector delivers in the latest medical technology. Against that private billing for every conceivable test and loads of drugs. It gives either US Health insurance companies or sick people a heart attack. On average USA lags in the Health performance tables on many counts. This against countries who spend less.

Do you prefer the USA Healthcare system or the UK one?

Nobody, who doesn't directly profit from it, prefers the US healthcare system. When you watch ex-pats living in Germany, they all laud our healthcare system, even so it isn't a universal healthcare system like the NHS. (Which some even confuse.) It's just a mandatory private system with heavy regulations. It's personal, i.e. not dependent on your employer, and it will be subsidized if you're in need.
It would have better chances to be implemented in the US than an NHS like system.

 

[Secret Chief]

The

In the USA you could be young with two kids. Low salary and small company so no medical insurance. Say the wife gets breast cancer. You have to sell your house and car to pay the medical bills. The family could be roaming on the streets.

In the UK there is something called the National Health service paid for by tax deductions. So free. Americans are wary of the UK system. Where do you stop the expansion of government into other areas?

Note in USA the private sector delivers in the latest medical technology. Against that private billing for every conceivable test and loads of drugs. It gives either US Health insurance companies or sick people a heart attack. On average USA lags in the Health performance tables on many counts. This against countries who spend less.

Do you prefer the USA Healthcare system or the UK one?

The UK one. Cor, that was a tough question.

 

[mangalavara]

Nobody, who doesn't directly profit from it, prefers the US healthcare system.

My father doesn't profit from the US healthcare system yet he prefers that system despite how hospital bills make him feel. His opinion is shaped by the hosts he listens to.

When you watch ex-pats living in Germany, they all laud our healthcare system, even so it isn't a universal healthcare system like the NHS. (Which some even confuse.)

As an American expat living in the Republic of Korea, I am happy with the healthcare system here. A small percentage of my salary helps fund the universal healthcare system. Every time that I need treatment, most of the cost is covered by the system. What is not covered comes from either private insurance or out of pocket. I don't have private insurance—it is not a requirement—so I pay what is not covered out of pocket, which is much cheaper than in the US. Prescription drugs are also very affordable compared to their cost in the US. Altogether, the amount that I've paid out of pocket for treatment and prescription drugs has been less than $400 USD, and I've been to the hospital thrice so far.

 

[Rival]

I'm in the UK and I prefer the French and German mixed systems.

 

[Secret Chief]

I'm in the UK and I prefer the French and German mixed systems.

There's obviously private in the UK so what is the appeal of the French and German?

 

[Rival]

There's obviously private in the UK so what is the appeal of the French and German?

It's mostly nationalised but has private input. My mum and her partner live in France and the healthcare system functions much better, imo.

 

[libre]

Looking down South makes me thankful for the Canadian health care system, despite it's failings.
I hope the current attempts to starve the beast by conservative provincial leaders fail.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

The health system in Canada is funded mainly by provincial or territorial general tax revenue, with some federal transfers and is free at the point of delivery for citizens and permanent residents who have lived here for 3 months or longer. There is no cost-sharing for inpatient or outpatient care and prescription drug prices vary but are still inexpensive.

Some years ago, I had major spine surgery, at no cost to me. The surgery was determined between myself and a neurosurgeon -- no government has any say over whether the surgery was available, or whether I could have it.

Again some years ago, my partner suffered a severe Guillaine-Barre Syndrome, and spent 8 1/2 months in hospital and rehab, followed by another year of home-assistance. There was zero cost to us for any of this (though of course, we paid taxes like everyone else).

In both cases, there was no waiting period. My surgeon, after looking at my MRI, simply said, "I can do you Thursday." And my partner was an emergency admission to hospital, from which, as I said, he did not come home for 8 1/2 months.

I like our Canadian "single-payer, universal" healthcare system.