Leeds_Lass

Must be you having a laugh coz I wasn't .

I'm not talking about having a standard pearly white hollywood smile either. My teeth are not straight and I have an overbite. They are however, healthy, clean and well looked after partly thanks to me partly thanks to my fantastic dentist. I have received far better dental care over here than I ever did back home in the UK.

When I lived in Leeds I had an NHS dentist, I was never offered a cleaning, a checkup was 2 minutes sat in the chair whilst the dentist did a swift look around then I was told that I needed a filling or didn't. I was terrified of going to the dentist back home due to two bad experiences of the dentist rushing to get the filling done before the novocaine had taken effect. When I joined my dentist here in the US I explained how terrified I was, well I didn't have to explain being that I was shaking and on the verge of tears. My hygenist calmly explained to me that this (my first ever cleaning) would be uncomfortable but worth it. After all, I wanted to keep my teeth which is why I was there, right? Oh and here in the US, I have a dental hygenist AND a dentist as opposed to one rushed, harried dentist and his dental assistant whose reason for being there I'm sure was just to hold my hand. My last dentist in the UK scolded me for "being so silly" then in the middle of one procedure scolded me some more because I was making him nervous. Hardly confidence building. Now, I can't speak about how good private dentists are so my point of view is only that of an NHS dentist.

Everyone can make fun of the hollywood smile but really, it's not about that which makes (in my eyes anyway) the dental system over here far superior, it's the care they take. Most everyone I know does not have a white blinding smile, they have nice healthy teeth which have been kept clean.

As for the healthcare, same principle. I have a doctor (GP), a gynocologist, and a dermatologist. I have no problems getting an appointment to see them and when I do see them, it's not a quick 30 second interview where I have to tell them as fast as possible what's wrong. I get weighed, my blood pressure taken, my doctor takes time with me. My doctor (again, NHS) in the UK often had a waiting room full so had to be fast in seeing his patients. I was never in with him for more than a minute, no kidding.

I fully understand that this does stem from insurance which I do have through my employer, my husband also has great insurance through his employer. Infact most people we know have great insurance. I guess it all depends on where you live and who you work for. I know there are people on this board who have had nightmare's with insurance and I'm sorry that's happened so I'm not trying to rub anyone's nose in the dirt here. My experience so far has been great, not everyone has a bad experience.

Tracym

Accents take a guy very far

Giantaxe

Indeed, but many can see past their own circumstances and see that a system that costs up to twice the percentage of GDP than other western countries, leaves 45 million uninsured, and is the leading cause of personal bankruptcy whilst having no discernable superiority in healthcare outcomes isn't exactly something to write home about.

OiOi

Yeah and lets all write home about the NHS Just make sure its in Polish !!

englishinfl

I'm not quite sure why you're comparing the NHS health system in the UK with Healthcare covered by insurance companies here, it's a totally different thing. Being realistic about it, there's plenty of private healthcare plans which are basically insurance for health available back home in the UK, BUPA for instance. You would get the same standard with a private healthcare scheme over there as you would with your "insurance" healthcare here, and I can say that from experience. If you're paying someone for their time, and that someone is making a killing from your insurance company, then of course they're going to take their time.
You are comparing two totally different systems, it was like comparing banana's with apples.

Incidentally, whenever I visited the doctor back home, they always weighed me and took my blood pressure, it seemed to be standard practice, and yet I've never been weighed when I've been at a doctors over here, so pretty obviously it just depends on who you go to, both here and at home in England. Oh, and I never had to "co-pay" a penny to see the Doctor back home either.
Also, the dentist I went to in the UK had a hygenist that did the cleanings, so I'm not sure why you should be so astounded to hear of that particular way of working. Some dentist's here have hygenists, and some don't and they do the cleanings themselves, it depends on the practice you go to. I personally never saw a dentist in the UK working until they were 70 plus years of age, whereas I have here.

veryfunny

There are several up's just that if everyone kept posting it this board will have to be changed as Britsaregloating.com

Seriously, though there are many up' s which I have read on this site, why not do a search to find the up's you are looking for......

sime303

Yeah took me a year to get into my dentist (who is crap but better than nothing) but I don't know why because if you look at anyone else in this town nobody goes to the dentist. You must've heard all the Carthage jokes?




Just want to say I don't live in Carthage.

Xebedee

4th base on occasion.
Which is probably the best "up" about living here.

JULIEROSE

I second that!

_jon_

I think I've seen other replies like that before on other threads, perhaps you could do a search for ' do a search ' using the search function on the forum

Dan725

I have also been very fortunate in the fact that we've always had "great" health insurance here. But, as Giantaxe said above, I can see it for the house of cards it really is.

BUPA etc in the UK - I'd say its far better than your US insurance. The private insurers are far more regulated in the UK - and are less likely to get in the horrible wrangling that can go on here, US insurers as a rule being thoroughly evil, IMO.

Your comparison (as englishinfl says) is flawed as you weren't comparing your current system with BUPA, etc.

Fact of the matter is, should your great insurance all of a sudden not be available - where'd you go then? I'd take a, as you put it, rushed and inefficient NHS over nothing - any day of the week.

Edit - One more anecdote - when we were visiting the UK last year, my at the time one year old daughter developed a nasty cough/cold. I took her right on down to the inefficient NHS doctor in my village - who agreed to see her that very morning. Filled in minimal paperwork, he took a look at her and issued a prescription, and sent us on our merry way. No charge - despite the fact I was honest and told them we were living in the US. Would that happen here? Nope - I'd guess it'd be about $160+ for that 15 min appointment.

cindyabs

I am only saying what I have seen posted here and not for controversy's sake, but there have been numerous instances of BE comparisons of healthcare in the US vs the UK without the qualification that it was private or NHS in the UK. In fact it would seem it is the NHS period and the majority of posters seem to have found it better than the healthcare here. Or could be it's just who chooses to vocalize their opinon, I don't know.

Jerseygirl

IMO the reason the NHS is better than US healthcare is that it is available to everyone. In other areas there are pros and cons for UK/US healthcare. The majority of Brits don't even pay for prescriptions...when they do it's peanuts compared to meds here.

cindyabs

That is a more sensible "pro" opinion.

Jerseygirl

Even after 12 years of living here I still can't get my head around the fact that US healthcare isn't available to everyone. To me it's a basic human right...but that's probably because I grew up in a county where it was.

What is certain is this problem is not going to be resolved by the new administration because there are no $$'s left in the kitty.

Here we go on the US/UK healthcare roundabout.