cindyabs

My husband was diagnosed in the UK at the age of 42 with a congenital heart defect (hole in his heart). Because it was not life threatening, he had to wait 2 years for the NHS to give him an appointment for surgery. While the US system does have many problems, at least he wouldn't have had to wait that long if he wanted the surgery sooner.

Becs

I absolutely hated it, but I was 9 when we went and 11 when we left, so my situation was very different considering I was a child.

-Becs

Bob

Could always go and top up with BUPA and go private...there's always that option if you don't like waiting...

Ash UK/US

there is a lot more to it than that! is money no object? sure he may get it done sooner in the US but at least in the UK he would have no big bill arriving at the door. My hubby and I have very good health insurance... when I had my daughter... normal pregnancy/normal labour (with insurance) the bill was still $2000+. I would imagine that for a condition like your husbands it would be very expensive for the surgery and probably higher insurance premiums... no thanks, give me the NHS any day.

Ash

Pulaski

I generally tried to avoid the medical profession in the UK, and have had limited contact here, however I fell that the British "attachment" to the NHS is largely a fear of the alternative (/unknown).

Whereas here in the US hospitals and medical facilities that I have visited (including my grandmother-in-law, in intensive care) have been remarkable (clean, in excellent repair, and the staff calm and helpful) the same was not true of my experience in the UK - one hospital I know of "lost" my grandmother sfter she was admitted with a broken hip, spent two hours poking around inside a colleague of my mother looking for the kidney stones that they never did find, and wrapped the umbilical cord around the neck of the daughter of another of her colleagues leaving her with severe brain damage.

The US system may not be cheap (though as I said earlier I am better off here than in the UK taxes v "taxes+insurance") I feel that I get more attention as a paying customer than I did in the UK where I felt like nothing more than a "unit to be processed" and an irritation to the system, to boot!

Celtic_Angel

Is that a trick question???


the health care recieved in the U.S is only superior if you can afford it....oh my apologies you also recieve free health benefits if you've a tax evading bum or just a bum come to think of it....sod all us hard working middle class folks .. the only regular check -up we get is a **** up the ass!!!

tony126

I was summoned to my Doctors on the 27th Jan (yesterday) and will see a consultant/specialist on the 7th Feb. That would not have happened in the UK. I had more hospital stays in the UK than the average person but I must admit I had no complaints. Others did, but I did not. When I had my first US hospital visit 10 weeks ago I could not get over the two bed wards/rooms which I had to myself. I much preferred that to the UK.

Pulaski

I guess you don't live south of the Mason Dixon line - that isn't legal round these parts!

fatbrit

Nice to see you posting again – you went a bit quiet for a while…Xmas break or something?

I’m not sure that the alternative isn’t already known in the UK since private insurance and medicine, albeit limited to non-urgent cases, appear to provide the extra comfort, luxury and personal attention of the US system. Despite this, I hear no great clamour to dissolve the NHS, just one to make it more efficient.

Also, I don’t think medical malpractice is the exclusive preserve of the UK. It is certainly a huge problem in the litigious US healthcare system where the claims against the system are a significant factor in the spiralling healthcare costs. It could be argued that whilst the NHS’s primary goal is good and more efficient healthcare, the US system strives to practice medicine that avoids lawsuits and maximizes billing.

I’m afraid when I go to the doctor in the US, I don’t feel like a unit to be processed when I produce my health insurance card but rather as a dollar bill that’ll pay for the first few inches of somebody’s new Porsche. It’s not a matter of how can we best diagnosis and cure but more a question of how much can we pull out of his insurance.

Rather than ask everybody’s first question of what’s in it for me, the question must always be asked of what’s in it for society. How long can US society function with 40 million of its citizens living without one of the basic prerequisites of a civilized society – healthcare?

fatbrit

Nope – just a question to promote debate...

However, I think you sum it up beautifully and succinctly!

Manc

If I want to get better, I'll go to the hospital.

If I want pristine white walls and a marble encrusted reception area, I'll stay at the Radisson.

fatbrit

Ew-er -- you're posh. We usually stay at the Motel 8!

Manc

It's Motel 6 and Super 8.

fatbrit

That's what I meant -- one or the other.

When in a strange town, just look for the fishnet-stockinged women and Escalaldes and you've got your bed for the night.

Manc

never knew you'd been to Manistee MI. shoulda looked me up mate.

still Escalades aren't order of the day here
Whores and 1994 Chrysler Le Barons......Welcome to Michigan.