The good, the bad, and the ugly of England's universal health-care system

[longknife]

This appears to be an honest assessment of the system set up in 1948 after WWII.


Why should we Americans care about it? Because the Democrat party line is to establish universal care here. We must look at these pros and cons in order to make an informed decision.

The National Health Service, or NHS, is the United Kingdom's public universal health system. It was established in 1948 after World War II, and has since grown to become a massive operation: The NHS sees a million patients every day. It employs 1.7 million people, which makes it the fifth biggest employer in the entire world. And of course, it is free at the point of use for U.K. residents. If you walk into an NHS hospital with a broken arm, you'll walk out with a cast, a few x-rays, and zero bills to pay. That's because people who live in the U.K., myself included, contribute to the NHS through taxes and national insurance payments (the U.K.'s version of Social Security).

And, here’s the biggest problem:

But this system is far from perfect. It is plagued by funding problems and staff shortages. We encountered the NHS's dark underbelly after postnatal complications landed us in the hospital. The NHS gave me a healthy baby, yes. But the NHS also gave me nightmares that still wake me from a dead sleep, even nine months on.

The NHS is practically begging doctors from other countries to come to work for it, even offering fully-paid tuition to medical school for pre-med students.

More about this @ The good, the bad, and the ugly of England's universal health-care system

A similar system exists in Canada and it should surprise nobody that many Canadians cross the border to get their much-needed treatments here. The only advantage to us is, that like Mexico, medications there are much cheaper than here.

 

[2aguy]

This appears to be an honest assessment of the system set up in 1948 after WWII.


Why should we Americans care about it? Because the Democrat party line is to establish universal care here. We must look at these pros and cons in order to make an informed decision.

The National Health Service, or NHS, is the United Kingdom's public universal health system. It was established in 1948 after World War II, and has since grown to become a massive operation: The NHS sees a million patients every day. It employs 1.7 million people, which makes it the fifth biggest employer in the entire world. And of course, it is free at the point of use for U.K. residents. If you walk into an NHS hospital with a broken arm, you'll walk out with a cast, a few x-rays, and zero bills to pay. That's because people who live in the U.K., myself included, contribute to the NHS through taxes and national insurance payments (the U.K.'s version of Social Security).

And, here’s the biggest problem:

But this system is far from perfect. It is plagued by funding problems and staff shortages. We encountered the NHS's dark underbelly after postnatal complications landed us in the hospital. The NHS gave me a healthy baby, yes. But the NHS also gave me nightmares that still wake me from a dead sleep, even nine months on.

The NHS is practically begging doctors from other countries to come to work for it, even offering fully-paid tuition to medical school for pre-med students.

More about this @ The good, the bad, and the ugly of England's universal health-care system

A similar system exists in Canada and it should surprise nobody that many Canadians cross the border to get their much-needed treatments here. The only advantage to us is, that like Mexico, medications there are much cheaper than here.

Yep....they can't afford government healthcare...this is why competition is so important...it increases quality, reduces price.....look it up on your Cell Phone....you know, the cheaper, better quality cell phone that came about because of competition....that the left wing thinks competition won't make healthcare better and cheaper shows they don't know much about anything....

 

[idb]

You know that you can elect to use private health care in the UK don't you?

 

[Votto]

You are spoiling the surprise, damn your eyes!

 

[2aguy]

You know that you can elect to use private health care in the UK don't you?

After you pay tax rates that make it almost impossible to afford if you aren't rich....you are taxed through the nose to pay for medical care that sucks....

 

[sparky]

I escaped from a hosptial once ......seems i ended up where the nazi nurses hid out after the war...... they caught me in the parking lot .;.... couldn't make time in those old wooden wheel chairs....~S~

 

[Votto]

Listen, the goal is provide everyone with fabulous "free" health care. Then once the private sector is dead and people are 100% dependent on the government for health care, scale back the money cuz it's not like it is sustainable.

At the end of the day, we will all have health care like the deliver at the VA. Those who are truly sick will be taken to into a field and shot.

 

[Tommy Tainant]

Another thread about the shitty American system disguised as a comment on the NHS.

 

[Votto]

If they treat our veterans like dirt, what makes us think the rest of us will be treated any better?

The doctor who launched the VA scandal

 

[idb]

You know that you can elect to use private health care in the UK don't you?

After you pay tax rates that make it almost impossible to afford if you aren't rich....you are taxed through the nose to pay for medical care that sucks....

360 pounds a year on a 15,000 pound income.
How does that compare with the US for a comprehensive cover with no deductibles?

 

[2aguy]

You know that you can elect to use private health care in the UK don't you?

After you pay tax rates that make it almost impossible to afford if you aren't rich....you are taxed through the nose to pay for medical care that sucks....

360 pounds a year on a 15,000 pound income.
How does that compare with the US for a comprehensive cover with no deductibles?

AT what age....after 50, the odds of getting elective surgery in Britain and the wait times if you are lucky enough to get them are small........after paying into the system your whole life....

 

[sparky]

Those who are truly sick will be taken to into a field and shot.

 

[Dan Stubbs]

This appears to be an honest assessment of the system set up in 1948 after WWII.


Why should we Americans care about it? Because the Democrat party line is to establish universal care here. We must look at these pros and cons in order to make an informed decision.

The National Health Service, or NHS, is the United Kingdom's public universal health system. It was established in 1948 after World War II, and has since grown to become a massive operation: The NHS sees a million patients every day. It employs 1.7 million people, which makes it the fifth biggest employer in the entire world. And of course, it is free at the point of use for U.K. residents. If you walk into an NHS hospital with a broken arm, you'll walk out with a cast, a few x-rays, and zero bills to pay. That's because people who live in the U.K., myself included, contribute to the NHS through taxes and national insurance payments (the U.K.'s version of Social Security).

And, here’s the biggest problem:

But this system is far from perfect. It is plagued by funding problems and staff shortages. We encountered the NHS's dark underbelly after postnatal complications landed us in the hospital. The NHS gave me a healthy baby, yes. But the NHS also gave me nightmares that still wake me from a dead sleep, even nine months on.

The NHS is practically begging doctors from other countries to come to work for it, even offering fully-paid tuition to medical school for pre-med students.

More about this @ The good, the bad, and the ugly of England's universal health-care system

A similar system exists in Canada and it should surprise nobody that many Canadians cross the border to get their much-needed treatments here. The only advantage to us is, that like Mexico, medications there are much cheaper than here.

Sounds like a good idea until you go to a EM room and see how they are being used by the people on welfare. Kid has a cold they take them to the ER. Many of the people who use the ER are illegals, or gang members who will never pay a nickel. So it works for them not the normal citizen having a heart attack and is laying in the hall on a gurney waiting for a Doctor to treat him.

 

[idb]

You know that you can elect to use private health care in the UK don't you?

After you pay tax rates that make it almost impossible to afford if you aren't rich....you are taxed through the nose to pay for medical care that sucks....

360 pounds a year on a 15,000 pound income.
How does that compare with the US for a comprehensive cover with no deductibles?

AT what age....after 50, the odds of getting elective surgery in Britain and the wait times if you are lucky enough to get them are small........after paying into the system your whole life....

At all ages.
Paying into it whether you use it or not is the nature of any insurance.
The odds of getting elective surgery after 50 are not 'small' or a matter of luck.
Your arguments, as always, would be more credible withouit the hyperbole.

 

[2aguy]

You know that you can elect to use private health care in the UK don't you?

After you pay tax rates that make it almost impossible to afford if you aren't rich....you are taxed through the nose to pay for medical care that sucks....

360 pounds a year on a 15,000 pound income.
How does that compare with the US for a comprehensive cover with no deductibles?

AT what age....after 50, the odds of getting elective surgery in Britain and the wait times if you are lucky enough to get them are small........after paying into the system your whole life....

At all ages.
Paying into it whether you use it or not is the nature of any insurance.
The odds of getting elective surgery after 50 are not 'small' or a matter of luck.
Your arguments, as always, would be more credible withouit the hyperbole.

Sorry.....the truth is the NHS is failing.......

N.H.S. Overwhelmed in Britain, Leaving Patients to Wait

At some emergency wards, patients wait more than 12 hours before they are tended to. Corridors are jammed with beds carrying frail and elderly patients waiting to be admitted to hospital wards. Outpatient appointments were canceled to free up staff members, and by Wednesday morning hospitals had been ordered to postpone nonurgent surgeries until the end of the month.

Cuts to the National Health Service budget in Britain have left hospitals stretched over the winter for years, but this time a flu outbreak, colder weather and high levels of respiratory illnesses have put the N.H.S. under the highest strain in decades.

The situation has become so dire that the head of the health service is warning that the system is overwhelmed.

Some doctors took to Twitter to vent their frustrations publicly. One complained of having to practice “battlefield medicine,” while another apologized for the “3rd world conditions” caused by overcrowding.

In November, the chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, announced an additional 350 million pounds, or $475 million, for the National Health Service in England, describing it as an “exceptional measure” to ease pressures on services during the winter. He said an additional £1.6 billion would be provided for 2018-19.

But that fell far short of the £4 billion in additional funding that Simon Stevens, the chief executive of the service in England, requested last year, warning that services would come under unprecedented pressure during the winter.


“The N.H.S. waiting list will grow to five million people by 2021,” Mr. Stevens said in an impassioned speech to health care leaders in November. “That is one million more people, equivalent to one in 10 of us, the highest number ever.”

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Elderly 'are being denied vital surgery just because they are old'

Elderly patients are being denied life-saving treatment purely because of their age, a report by leading surgeons reveals today.

The study shows a shocking decline in surgical treatments offered to patients over 70 despite the fact they are for conditions that are more prevalent in the elderly.

While a £20bn NHS efficiency drive puts older patients at a "heightened risk" of discrimination, the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) report states that doctors should look at a patient's overall health rather than using an arbitrary age cut-off.

 

[idb]

You know that you can elect to use private health care in the UK don't you?

After you pay tax rates that make it almost impossible to afford if you aren't rich....you are taxed through the nose to pay for medical care that sucks....

360 pounds a year on a 15,000 pound income.
How does that compare with the US for a comprehensive cover with no deductibles?

AT what age....after 50, the odds of getting elective surgery in Britain and the wait times if you are lucky enough to get them are small........after paying into the system your whole life....

At all ages.
Paying into it whether you use it or not is the nature of any insurance.
The odds of getting elective surgery after 50 are not 'small' or a matter of luck.
Your arguments, as always, would be more credible withouit the hyperbole.

Sorry.....the truth is the NHS is failing.......

N.H.S. Overwhelmed in Britain, Leaving Patients to Wait

At some emergency wards, patients wait more than 12 hours before they are tended to. Corridors are jammed with beds carrying frail and elderly patients waiting to be admitted to hospital wards. Outpatient appointments were canceled to free up staff members, and by Wednesday morning hospitals had been ordered to postpone nonurgent surgeries until the end of the month.

Cuts to the National Health Service budget in Britain have left hospitals stretched over the winter for years, but this time a flu outbreak, colder weather and high levels of respiratory illnesses have put the N.H.S. under the highest strain in decades.

The situation has become so dire that the head of the health service is warning that the system is overwhelmed.

Some doctors took to Twitter to vent their frustrations publicly. One complained of having to practice “battlefield medicine,” while another apologized for the “3rd world conditions” caused by overcrowding.

In November, the chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, announced an additional 350 million pounds, or $475 million, for the National Health Service in England, describing it as an “exceptional measure” to ease pressures on services during the winter. He said an additional £1.6 billion would be provided for 2018-19.

But that fell far short of the £4 billion in additional funding that Simon Stevens, the chief executive of the service in England, requested last year, warning that services would come under unprecedented pressure during the winter.


“The N.H.S. waiting list will grow to five million people by 2021,” Mr. Stevens said in an impassioned speech to health care leaders in November. “That is one million more people, equivalent to one in 10 of us, the highest number ever.”

---------

Elderly 'are being denied vital surgery just because they are old'

Elderly patients are being denied life-saving treatment purely because of their age, a report by leading surgeons reveals today.

The study shows a shocking decline in surgical treatments offered to patients over 70 despite the fact they are for conditions that are more prevalent in the elderly.

While a £20bn NHS efficiency drive puts older patients at a "heightened risk" of discrimination, the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) report states that doctors should look at a patient's overall health rather than using an arbitrary age cut-off.

Sure...lack of funding will do that.