[creak]

It's incredibly cost effective. Can't remember the exact figures obviously but UK healthcare spending is about half that of comparable nations, with equivalent and often much better care.

[Dukeofwembley]

for a poor person, or any 3rd world country, a british passport is like winning the lottery

doctors in india make like £10-£15k

which most labourers in uk would get higher than

[oz40]

The fact any British citizen can walk in a hospital and not get shafted with a bill up their arse means it's a fantastic service.

However, perhaps am I being biased.

But could anyone give me a quick rundown of French healthcare? How does it work? How is it financed? Do you pay for treatment?

[Emaemmaemily]

It is. It isn't the best healthcare in the world, but it is very good and especially great because of the system in which it provides the healthcare to EVERYONE in the country.
I remember looking up the figures before, and realised the the USA use MORE tax payer's money per capita on their healthcare system than we do, and then they make people pay for the privalege of using it on top of that. That seems to be something people the USA don't realise; they pay more in taxes towards theirs AND have to pay for insurance and extra.

Now I'm not dissing the USA, it's just an argument I've seen come up before where people say that theirs is so much better and they don't have to pay so much in taxes towards it, which just isn't true.
Plenty of other countries like Norway, Austria and Holland have better healthcare than us, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be proud of what the NHS has achieved. It's quite unique.

[M4LLY]

Its not great but it could be worse

[SHUTUPMAN]

Americans

[cyfer]

(Original post by Stalin)
I was just about to mention France - but you could easily add Austria, Japan, Norway, Holland and various other countries to the list.

Japan? Really?

Their healthcare system is designed to kill off the old - quite literally. Hospitals are encouraged financially to not keep old people in care or in hospitals for long periods of time.

[Foghorn Leghorn]

Eh you do realise most EU countries have Universal health care? As well as cananda, australia, new zealand, chile, argentina, cuba, hong kong, japan, UAE and some more.

[andyator55]

(Original post by SHUTUPMAN)


Americans

'Pushing there political agenda.'

This guy did not watch the same opening ceremony as the rest of us then.. We were celebrating all the good this proud nation has to offer and if they don't like it they know where they can shove it.

[SHUTUPMAN]

(Original post by Foghorn Leghorn)
Eh you do realise most EU countries have Universal health care? As well as cananda, australia, new zealand, chile, argentina, cuba, hong kong, japan, UAE and some more.

Then why were we celebrating it during the opening ceremony,its not unique is it? stab at china?

[Foghorn Leghorn]

According the WHO, we have the 18th best health care system in the world. The 17 above us all have universal health care like the NHS.

[Llamageddon]

My grandmother lost two of her siblings to at the time preventable diseases because my great grandmother couldn't afford to take them to see the doctors. Returning to that really would be a step backwards.

[Foghorn Leghorn]

(Original post by SHUTUPMAN)
Then why were we celebrating it during the opening ceremony,its not unique is it? stab at china?

We were celebrating it because it's a great thing to have and we are proud we have such a system where no one is refused treatment. But it would be pretty ignorant to claim the NHS is the envy of the world considering there are 17 countries with the same sort of system all ranked better than ours.



Also I'd like to think it was a stab at the usa.

[M1011]

Depends. The NHS is great for the poorer members of society, but not great for the high earners who pay a disproportionate amount that could easily cover superior private insurance. The NHS dental service leave much to be desired as well in my experience.

[cyfer]

(Original post by Foghorn Leghorn)
According the WHO, we have the 18th best health care system in the world. The 17 above us all have universal health care like the NHS.

I am fairly sure that that link is either outdated or wrong.

There is no way it could place Greece so high considering that, as a documentary commentated, Greece does not even have enough pharmaceutical antibiotics for all of its ill people.

[Historophilia]

(Original post by SHUTUPMAN)
What's so special about the French's healthcare?

The quality of care is excellent and it is very convenient.

For example, you can get a same day Doctors appointment whenever you ring up (as I found out when I had to get an appointment for an ear infection). Waiting times for emergency hospital care are tiny (as my parents discovered when my father had to go to A&E for a possibly fractured arm).

Also, their hospitals are exceptionally clean and hospitable (superbugs are pretty much unheard of) and they do not have wards, everyone has their own room. A french family friend of ours was horrified when she found out that people had to share wards.

[No Man]

The UK is not the only country with free healthcare, so no.

[Vanbrugh]

No, it is not the envy of the world. But it is the envy of the 90% of countries that have nothing similar.

Decent, functioning universal healthcare is incredibly important and an achievement to be proud of.

[Foghorn Leghorn]

(Original post by cyfer)
I am fairly sure that that link is either outdated or wrong.

There is no way it could place Greece so high considering that, as a documentary commentated, Greece does not even have enough pharmaceutical antibiotics for all of its ill people.

Well on second glance it says data from 2000. But even if the list has changed it wont be dramatic. The uk doesn't have the best health care system in the world.

[bambi_eyes]

I'm rather surprised that people consider Germany's healthcare system to be better because my dad has a medical condition which means he requires regular operations. He's had the said operation in both Germay and England, and he said that although Germany was more technically advanced it didn't have the same level of patient care or aftercare and the wards were very basic.

He's never gone back to Germany to have the operation btw...