Health Care

[EngTeach]

Whickerman's question made me wonder about your NHS program. Is this what everyone has? We (Americans) only get health insurance through our jobs, or pay ridiculous premiums if you are self employed.

Of course if you are on welfare here everything is covered. (Don't get me started on that. I wish I could sit on my @rse and get housing and healthcare.)

Is NHS something the general population has?
We have many, many insurace companies here and depending on which one your employer has is what you get. In the private sector most people pay part of their insurance premiums. Luckily b/c I work for NYC mine is free and we have a handful of plans to choose from.

[DottyH]

everyone is entitled to see a doc tor for free and recieve hospital care for free, including operations and childbirth, but there are waiting times, which are improving, there are shortgaes of beds and staff, there are private schemes that people can pay for on a monthly babsis through wages or you can just pay to see someone privately, which is expensive. it works well all in all, there are always ussies and always will be, but the things that are free are vital, like innoculations , anti-natal care and Special care baby units. There are NHS hispitals and specialist clinics and hospiotals all over the country that are also free. We really don't realise how lucky we are, thought working people contribute all their lives and the care can be inconsistent, it is the envy of the world i would say.,

[Hellyon]

Despite the many complaints about the NHS everyone has an equal opportunity to access the very best care (in many cases you can now select the hospital you go to to be treated). Like everything there are things that could be improved but on the whole we are very, very lucky.

[sunflower68]

As Dotty says Eng, it comes out of our paypackets automatically, calculated on a percentage basis I think. It is the law that the Government take this , it's called National Insurance.
Similarly over here, if you are on welfare here everything is covered in that, obviously, nothing comes out of their non-existent wage slips....don't get me started either.

I agree Dotty we are a lucky nation just for having the NHS

[sunflower68]

and Hellyon! : )

[Whickerman]

Guys - you don't know how lucky you are!

In Ireland you need to be on welfare or over 70 to get free medical care. Roughly 50% of us have private insurance, but for the vast majority we have to pay for that ourselves. Without insurance you are really in trouble.

[RATTER15]

Heathcare free!! when did this happen? I thought we all paid for our health care through our taxes!!

[bobtheturkey]

tax is paid to buy bread for those unemployed p.r.i.c.ks in their 10 quid market jeans and black pvc shoes who get in your way when you are trying to grab a sandwich on your lunch break

[RATTER15]

and to provide the health care for the same p.r.i.c.k.s!!! So yes it is a free heath care for those that have never worked and never paid taxes!!!

[bobtheturkey]

ratter of course its up to us to provide free housing free health care free dental care for the work shy, these people are too shy to work dont you get it? its up to us to come home shattered and see our money taken to buy unemployed bill down the street with his friday night beers and bets on the horses, meanwhile have a seat while your elderly relative lies on a trolley in a hospital corridor while asif ramamdan from lahore who came here in a barrell sits in a nice comfy hospital bed next to bill getting treatment for sores on his too much sat upon a.r.s.e

[Carakeel]

DottyH, I hate to correct you, but our NHS is not the envy of the world, even though a fair bit of it works relatively well. France also has a National Health System ... with NO waiting lists and, according to the World Health Organization, it's health care ranks No1 in the world. I lived there for 4 years and benefited from it greatly! Our waiting lists kill people!!! Again according the the WHO, we have some of the worst cancer care in all of Europe, fall behind many other European countries with regards to the provision of advanced medicines for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's patients and so many more. Our hospitals are desperately underfunded, understaffed and carry the 3rd highest infections rates in Europe. Examples: My mother, who is now 90 had to wait 11 months to see a consultant about her hearing problems. My partner RATTER had to wait 11 months just to talk to our orthopaedic surgeon, then was told he would have to wait another 6 months for his hand op. I have just had two knee replacements, for which I had to wait 17, yes seventeen years!!! My son died tree days before his 21st birthday, all because he was denied vital cancer treatment that, according to leading BRITISH specialists, would have saved his life and was available on our NHS just two hours drive from our home!!! NEED I SAY MORE???

[Carakeel]

continued ... I may add that during the final weeks of my son's life, I founded a medical charity to prevent what happened to my son from happening to others. With the help of many leading medical specialists here in the UK an in several other countries, I tried to rectify the many failings the NHS has in getting patients to the appropriate specialists in time for them to benefit from available and vital lifesaving treatments. Over a ten year period we managed to save and greatly improve the lives of just over 4500 patients and their families. I finally had to close the charity down as financially I couldn't cope with the number of callers for whom this was the last resort and the work was slowly killing me emotionally and financially. Per capital the British government puts far less money into its health care than the other main European countries and until we change this, the NHS will continue to slide down this slippery slope. Money is not the only solution to the problem, but it is the biggest one. So no, I cannot agree that we ar the envy of the world ith our NHS.

[sense4all]

http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/dispatch es/britains+healthcare+lottery/158300

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/artic le690923.ece

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/actionnetwork/C2087

A little light reading for you, we have opted to go private through Hubbies job ... for as long as it lasts ... I hope that by opting out it frees up the waiting lists for those who have no choice. The labour and delivery allocation for where I live is shocking they want you to travel an hour while in Labour ... some odd decisions out there. On the whole it does work well, and there are upsides as well as down. A perk of living close to Royal residences is they keep a couple of good all rounders in our local nhs hospital as the A and E is the first point of contact in the event of a problem.

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatist ics/Publications/PublicationsStatistics/DH_077 455
Have a gander at the official health web site if you are whiling away the hours.

[EngTeach]

I guess like any system there are those who have had decent experiences and those who were not as fortunate.
Carakeel, i am truly sorry for your loss. Knowing it could have been prevented doubles the sorrow.

Sunflower-One thing that amazed me on AB was how similar the complaints about immigration and welfare in the states and over there are. It is infuriating and made even worse when one expresses an opinion the PCers jump all over you. You racist you! LOL

My mother's boss has kept her on full salary and has promised to keep her payroll going in order to keep her medical insurance. (She is in final stages of cancer) God Bless him. This has been ongoing for 3 years. Without it she would have to have gone on medicaid and we would have eventually lost the house. If not for her boss she would be A 63 year old woman who has worked since she's 18, paid taxes etc, has to spend her last months on earth fighting for medical care, while every person new to America gets all kinds of care for free.
Makes me nuts. I am 38 and have already purchased Long Term Health care Insurance and catastrophic Insurance through my union. I have no children or spouse and seeing this with my mom scared me death.

[DottyH]

Carakeel i am really just remembering what my mother used to tell us when we were kids, she was a nurse from 1947 and saw the change that the NHS brought and she always said how amazing that was. funnily enough it never let me down until it failed my Mum!! how ironic is that!!!

[Carakeel]

DottyH, it is so hard to watch loved ones suffering so. I know how you must have felt. I made many friends among the really good doctors and nurses in the UK and have to say I feel bad for them, as they are up against a British governments have failed the heath services of this country. Mind you, I am not a great fan of the American system either, but the French one works exceptionally well for a National Health system. Germany too has great health care, paid for by the employees and the employers contributions into various health insurances. The government pays for those who cannot afford (through long term illness or disability / redundancy etc.) contributions and the treatment is the same quality for all. I lived there for 28 years and experienced this first hand. That's all from me for tonight. Night night all.