can someone from UK answer a Healthcare question?

[Locrian]

Guy I work for is young and fairly conservative - think Ayn Rand type.

Says he has been with friends over from UK and they say how bad UK health care is and how long of a wait etc it is. Then there is the 'lack of any good specialists' etc.

I suspect two things: embellishment of some minor issue, and possibly the friends not knowing how 'good' they have it vs the US. Don't know any specifics about friends income etc either.


Can anyone from UK give me some feedback on this?

On the side, would also like to hear from France, Germany, Spain, etc on how they feel about their health care.

[dmallind]

1. I've lived in both places

To some extant he is right - there are waiting lists for non-essential procedures. It's not like here where a town of 48000 people where I lived for a while had five MRI offices. Things that are needed immediately get done immediately. Things that can wait, wait. This however is not due to lack of specialists or even bad care, but efficient resource allocation.

Mostly though if we told them what the alternative costs (and also told them, truthfully, there is plenty waiting involved in US care as well) I suspect the wait would be an easy sell.

ER wait times and waits for necessary procedures are about the same - I've unfortunately seen this first hand, as well as corroborating data.

[Seedersandleechers]

2. I lived in the UK for awhile and had an NHS card.

They have clinics that are open 365 days a year. Having gone to one several times my average wait time was about 15 minutes. There was an article recently where the NHS paid for a child to come to the US to get a highly specialized surgery. Also, the NHS doesn't use all the medications that are offered to us. Hence they only use drugs that work well and don't cater to big pharma.

[dipsydoodle]

7. I do recall reading here

that your doctors feel obliged / are bribed to prescribe the latest version of a drug which implies that earlier versions were inferior. No - the NHS doesn't cater to big pharma and if you had socialised healthcare I've no doubt the same would happen in the USA.

[truebrit71]

3. They're probably daily mail readers....

...the NHS is in a class of its' own compared to the for-profit gouging that occurs here in the USA. Having elderly parents in the UK they are VERY well acquainted to the foibles of the NHS, and as with any large organisation it has its' highs and lows, but even at it's very worst it is STILL streets better than the US health "care" system offers..

[MichaelMcGuire]

4. Bookmarked

I'll come back to this.

[dipsydoodle]

5. Just tell the guy

his friends are either lying or grossly exaggerating for whatever reason unless his friends were waiting for a tummy tuck or removal of moobs whatever.

btw - Income isn't an issue with the NHS here.

[sabrina 1]

6. Ask him how many people have died in the UK for lack of healthcare, and then give him the numbers

here, 44,000 Americans die each year in the US. Last I read of the stats for Europe and Canada, no one dies for lack of HC.

[jannyk]

8. I'm British

and the system, while not perfect, is pretty damn good. Yes, you'll wait for routine or non-emergency surgery but emergency care is excellent and you will get that knee replacement in about 6 months.

I also spend 4 months a year in Canada, BC - Vancouver Island. Our neighbours there bitch and moan about their healthcare a lot. But they're bitching about things like "I only get 2 Shiatsu treatments a month - can you believe that" and, our close friend who had to wait 2 weeks for back surgery - boy, was he mad. And it's all free! So, I tell them one or two of my stories, like $400 cost per month per person and $10,000 annual deductible - they soon shut up.

[Quantess]

9. Sweden

I have unfortunately needed to go to the doctor a few times. I call in the morning before 9:30 to set an appointment. A couple times it was later that same day. The longest wait time for a regular doctor was 3 days. It cost about $15 for a general practitioner visit. If you get a referral to a specialist, you have to wait for a letter to arrive at your home telling you your appointment date. I waited 2 and a half weeks for a dermatologist. It was about $15

The hospital is slightly more expensive, but not much. I had surgery and the total bill was about $150 for everything.

The most noticeable difference at the hospital, was that the nurses were not stressed out. They had time for conversation. There were more nurses than what you typically see in an American hospital.

[Quantess]

10. And it's no secret that Swedes pay high taxes.