cluedweasel

Funnily enough I was just thinking the same thing...........

SultanOfSwing

The quality of an argument is directly proportional to the quality of the presentation of said argument.

Enough said, methinks ...

ukmedic

joined the forum a few weeks ago but this thread doesnt seem real every system has pros and cons if any country had magic formula for health they would all adopt it!!

ChocolateBabz

Hush your mouth - this is The USA - The Greatest Country In The World!!! Every country should be The USA or strive to be The USA or be conquered by The USA. Sorry I'm a bit pi$$ed off today

Bob

For the bog standard rails...you need anything fancy doing to the jaws, or none standard work done, skies the limit.

Bob

That's a problem in the US....people don't see doctors till they're very sick and in a lot of cases, nasty stuff could have been prevented if they had just gotten that thing checked out earlier.

SultanOfSwing

Yeah, the cost of being seen shouldn't be so prohibitive that you don't go and get seen at all until it's too late.

For that matter, as a reasonably frequent user of the NHS myself back home I never once in my life met a single 'malingering hypochondriac'. I've met plenty of nut-job hypos out here though that thing the bloody sky is falling in every time they get a runny nose

Bob

Yes, sure those in government say that, but then they also don't have to pay a penny because it's all paid for them by the tax payer.

The system is great for those lucky few. The system is not great for many and it's usually somewhere in between for the rest of the folks.

MarylandNed

Nope - I don't have a co-pay once my deductible has been met.

HarryTheSpider

US competitiveness is falling - down for the 3rd year in a row. Beaten by Sweden & Finland - very socialist etc - would make a Republican explode...

... so explain that...! (it helps to have 15-45 million illegals in the country doing all the shitty low paid jobs nobody else wants to do but are somehow still important enough that somebody pays to get them done... illegals who are not factored in to the competitiveness metrics)

Business 'A' offers minimum wage and no health insurance
Business 'B' offers good wage and good health insurance
Business 'C' offers average wage and average health insurance

Which business will be seen by potential employees as the preferred option?
Which business is more likely to deliver poorer quality?
Which business will be able to select the cream of the crop?

These situations are typically more complex than most people can imagine, let alone express with any thing like sufficient validity. And therefore almost never black and white.

The NHS is not full of whinging scum bags, either as users or employees. There are plenty of bad apples in both groups... same as here in the US.

So what is your point - to just come here and whinge about the UK?

Perhaps the UK and the NHS is better off, even just a little, with 1 less negative agent... and maybe the US experience will temper this little negative agent with a broader perspective.

It's 16 months since I left the UK - my wife worked in the NHS before we left, for quite a few years. It could be that things have gone really downhill in that time, but unlikely. We've had cause since getting here to experience the US system too. Neither system is perfect, nor the same. If I could take the facilities we had access to, and have them part of a 'free at the point of use' system, that would be a big step in the right direction. It wouldn't have to cost the same as the US system - do some research and you'll see that the US spend on medical care if approx 17% of GDP vs the UK's approx 10%. As a nation the UK is approx 2% healthier (complex metric) than the US. Recall also that essentially all of the UK citizens & residents are covered, where as the equivalent of something like the entire population of the UK is NOT covered in the US - the richest economy (for the moment) in the world...

sid50

sorry I disagree ask a GP what % of their consultations are from people with nothing wrong or have not tried self care etc likely 80% + those are shocking figures.

sad truth is more healthcare workers are going to the US than ever before purely because the system favours them more.

fact is patients value things more when they pay for it and I have seen far more gratitude from patients in the US when paying than from Brits in the NHS when they get it free at the point of use!

sid50

just listen to yourself ppl like yourself are happy to spend thousands on a louis vitton bag or other such crap but when it comes to your own health u aint willing to spend a dime why is that?

the ethos of the US is spot on u pay yr own way in this world for everything. everything has a cost in life deal with it or put up with the consequences yrself.

lisa67

Let me know where you live and I'll send you an even bigger wooden spoon

Jerseygirl

Nothing to see here...move along please. The troll has left the building and taken his alter ego with him.

SultanOfSwing

Ah and I never got a chance to berate him on his shite composition skills