How about that free British health care

[Clem72]

Its funny how the Brits can degrade the US but don't you talk bad about the UK.

This is very true of europe in general I have found, but it's especially gauling coming from UK citizens.

I am tired of UK people telling me how terrible my life is when I am in better shape, make more money, have a bigger house, more property, nicer cars, experience less crime, have better weather, etc. than the UK person telling me how much my life sucks.

Sure, maybe their house is made out of dried mud blocks instead of wood sticks and will last a bit longer. Okay.

 

[SamSpade]

I think the "worst" part of it is in the extremes of care, people with expensive or difficult to treat issues. I had a co-worker break her arm while we were in London around 25 years ago. After asking if she had insurance (which she was supposed to, but did not) the triage/checkin person scanned a barcode on the wall like the checker at food lion if you don't have their card, and she was treated for free. Had to pay a few bucks for her prescription pain meds though.

THAT is exactly the kind of conversation I've had with people I know abroad, with government health care. Break your finger? No problem, we'll fix it for ya in - well, maybe an hour. But for "free" (I love how it's "free" when it's taken from taxes - they pay more in taxes, for "free" care). As long as the medical concern is a small one - no biggie. Once you're talking even SURGERY - or expensive medical testing - and you're waiting MONTHS where in the U.S. it can be as quick as same day.

What I've READ - not experience from first hand accounts - is if you need DIRE, life-saving care - and it is VERY expensive for the government - they may tell you to just suck it up and put your affairs in order, especially if you are not very healthy to begin with or if you are old. The scary and dirty truth is, an ENORMOUS part of our healthcare system is spent on the VERY ill and the old. A lot of the aggregate expense goes to help those who typically don't live all that much longer.

THAT is how many of these systems abroad curtail costs. We spend - whether out of pocket or through insurance - easily twice what everyone else spends, but we're not in the habit of telling an eighty year old with cancer to just go home.

 

[SamSpade]

I have always been confused by this metric. healthcare in the US can be accessed by anyone, ANYONE, regardless of ability to pay. Now, if you have that not-so-rare combination of a little bit of money but no health insurance, then you might be in for a nice chunk of debt. But poor people have zero issues with access.

That debt may be a reason to lower our ranking, but it wouldn't/shouldn't be under the "access" category.

Yep. This is totally true, and before Obamacare, the metric used even by its proponents was that 10-15% of people did not have health INSURANCE (no one says "health care" because that would be a preposterous lie) and some of it was they were between jobs, were not covered by someone else, CHOSE not to purchase it and so on. A small portion just didn't make enough and evidently were unaware they were eligible for Medicaid (which IIRC, was what most of the early sign ups for Obamacare turned out to be - giving Medicaid to people who didn't know they could get it).

I believe in some nations WITH national health care, you are still required to pay for SOME tier of insurance - where the prices may be negotiated by the government, but you do have to have it. I can't remember and don't feel like looking, but I believe France has more along the lines of national health INSURANCE rather than health care.

 

[herb749]

Yep. This is totally true, and before Obamacare, the metric used even by its proponents was that 10-15% of people did not have health INSURANCE (no one says "health care" because that would be a preposterous lie) and some of it was they were between jobs, were not covered by someone else, CHOSE not to purchase it and so on. A small portion just didn't make enough and evidently were unaware they were eligible for Medicaid (which IIRC, was what most of the early sign ups for Obamacare turned out to be - giving Medicaid to people who didn't know they could get it).

I believe in some nations WITH national health care, you are still required to pay for SOME tier of insurance - where the prices may be negotiated by the government, but you do have to have it. I can't remember and don't feel like looking, but I believe France has more along the lines of national health INSURANCE rather than health care.

There are supplemental plans in Europe that you pay for. So when its said they have free health care it isn't all true.