Is the NHS the envy of the world???
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Yes; expect in America where conservatives (Ultra Republicans) spread lies so most people in America think in Britain while we have universal healthcare facilities but the trade off being really poor care and treatment (a massive lie). Also in Scandinavia they probably don't envy us either as their universal healthcare is truly the best in the world; not unexpected though as they have really high taxes.
Original post by SHUTUPMAN
Despite some shortcomings, is the NHS the envy of the world??
Absolutely not. It needs reforming.
Original post by AdvanceAndVanquish
It would be nice if there was a source for such a claim, as it both contradicts what I've read and seems very unlikely.
'What you've read' hmm yes that stuff. Clearly you should be reading something more reliable. Some statistics from the WHO for you, summarised in a google doc. As you can see, the US government actually spends 50% more than the British government, behind only Norway and the pseudo-countries Luxembourg and Monaco.
The reasons for this are discussed at length in the wikipedia article. One key one is the huge inflation the US gets on even basic drugs, simply because an insurance-based system gives no incentive to bring the cost down. Take a step across the border to canada and they can be 5x cheaper, even if they were produced in the US!
Original post by nexttime
'What you've read' hmm yes that stuff. Clearly you should be reading something more reliable. Some statistics from the WHO for you, summarised in a google doc. As you can see, the US government actually spends 50% more than the British government, behind only Norway and the pseudo-countries Luxembourg and Monaco.
The reasons for this are discussed at length in the wikipedia article. One key one is the huge inflation the US gets on even basic drugs, simply because an insurance-based system gives no incentive to bring the cost down. Take a step across the border to canada and they can be 5x cheaper, even if they were produced in the US!
The reasons for this are discussed at length in the wikipedia article. One key one is the huge inflation the US gets on even basic drugs, simply because an insurance-based system gives no incentive to bring the cost down. Take a step across the border to canada and they can be 5x cheaper, even if they were produced in the US!
It's good to know I'm not the only one to have discovered this evidence! Surely if more Americans knew about this they wouldn't be so against changing their healthcare system?
(edited 11 years ago)
Every developed country except the US has universal healthcare. The levels of delusion in this thread are worrying.
Original post by Observatory
Every developed country except the US has universal healthcare. The levels of delusion in this thread are worrying.
Free at the point of service? Really?
Original post by Kibalchich
Free at the point of service? Really?
Why is that an important distinction - or why is it even a good thing?
For instance if I have a system where people making over £40k/year buy their own insurance, what's the big advantage of the NHS over that? That it subsidises rich people? That it makes it hard for them hard to buy BUPA?
Reason people like the NHS is that you will get care if you need it. That's true in pretty much every first world country. Even in the US, you will get emergency care if you need it.
Original post by Observatory
Why is that an important distinction - or why is it even a good thing?
For instance if I have a system where people making over £40k/year buy their own insurance, what's the big advantage of the NHS over that? That it subsidises rich people? That it makes it hard for them hard to buy BUPA?
Reason people like the NHS is that you will get care if you need it. That's true in pretty much every first world country. Even in the US, you will get emergency care if you need it.
For instance if I have a system where people making over £40k/year buy their own insurance, what's the big advantage of the NHS over that? That it subsidises rich people? That it makes it hard for them hard to buy BUPA?
Reason people like the NHS is that you will get care if you need it. That's true in pretty much every first world country. Even in the US, you will get emergency care if you need it.
Because it makes a mockery of there being universal health care if you can't actually afford it. Yes, there is emergency care, but this is a ridiculous waste of resources if you let things get so bad that it becomes an emergency! If someone notices that they are tired a lot, urinating a lot and thirsty a lot, but they can't afford to go to their GP, what do you think may happen? They get admitted as an emergency way down the line in a diabetic coma and have to have their feet amputated. Genius idea.
Original post by Kibalchich
Because it makes a mockery of there being universal health care if you can't actually afford it. Yes, there is emergency care, but this is a ridiculous waste of resources if you let things get so bad that it becomes an emergency! If someone notices that they are tired a lot, urinating a lot and thirsty a lot, but they can't afford to go to their GP, what do you think may happen? They get admitted as an emergency way down the line in a diabetic coma and have to have their feet amputated. Genius idea.
The US does not have UHC and I didn't say it did.
Original post by Observatory
The US does not have UHC and I didn't say it did.
Who mentioned the US, except you?
Original post by Emaemmaemily
It's good to know I'm not the only one to have discovered this evidence! Surely if more Americans knew about this they wouldn't be so against changing their healthcare system?
I doubt it. More likely the opposite - they'd start removing the funding of emergency healthcare, or try to privatise the safety testing of drugs or something crazy like that.
I was born with a congenital defect that went unnoticed/ignored by NHS doctors and nurses despite my parents insisting something was wrong when I was a baby. When I was a few months old they took me on holiday abroad, and within one day of me being dropped off at a daycare centre one of the workers (who wasn't even a healthcare professional) had pointed my condition out and I was operated on pretty much immediately.
If it hadn't been for this intervention I would have grown up to become mentally handicapped. I'm not saying the NHS is faulty and unreliable, since I was most likely an anomaly and slipped the radar. But it stopped me from growing up and looking at the system through rose-tinted spectacles like a lot of people seem to do.
I think the NHS is a wonderful system. It is of course what you would call "world class" but I can guarantee you it is not the "best in the world". A quick look at France would make this pretty apparent (take it from somebody who spent part of their childhood there and coincidentally stayed in hospitals there)
(Also, yes everyone is entitled to free of charge healthcare under the NHS, but it is NOT a charity. It is funded primarily by your taxes. That being said I much prefer the way our system is financed compared to that of, say, the United States)
If it hadn't been for this intervention I would have grown up to become mentally handicapped. I'm not saying the NHS is faulty and unreliable, since I was most likely an anomaly and slipped the radar. But it stopped me from growing up and looking at the system through rose-tinted spectacles like a lot of people seem to do.
I think the NHS is a wonderful system. It is of course what you would call "world class" but I can guarantee you it is not the "best in the world". A quick look at France would make this pretty apparent (take it from somebody who spent part of their childhood there and coincidentally stayed in hospitals there)
(Also, yes everyone is entitled to free of charge healthcare under the NHS, but it is NOT a charity. It is funded primarily by your taxes. That being said I much prefer the way our system is financed compared to that of, say, the United States)
I am currently undergoing heart treatment in a Swiss hospital.
I had also been previously in the a&e department. What struck me in both visits was the quietness of the hospital and the small numbers of patients. On visits to uk hospitals (as a visitor not a patient) I noticed they are full to the brim with patients coming and going. Extremely busy. The Swiss a&e hospital on a Friday night had about 3 people waiting!
In the uk because the nhs is
I had also been previously in the a&e department. What struck me in both visits was the quietness of the hospital and the small numbers of patients. On visits to uk hospitals (as a visitor not a patient) I noticed they are full to the brim with patients coming and going. Extremely busy. The Swiss a&e hospital on a Friday night had about 3 people waiting!
In the uk because the nhs is
It is fact that everything is relative. If we try to compare the NHS, quality of healthcare to the impoverished regions of the Earth where there is such negligence that people are deprived of basic amenities such as water, we can obviously judge ourselves to be very lucky. But with all due respect, this is equally not a fair comparison. SO in comparison to other countries within the allegedly First world countries, Healthcare is quite inadequate. Just to clarify, I would endorse that the medicine in the UK is a success, actually developing at a very high rate along side America and other Western European countries but the incontrovertible underlying problems with overall system in administrating the care is alarming.
Lack of hospital staff? or poor prioritising/organisation? leads to long hours waiting in the ER, In a case you may not have heard off, a woman gave birth in waiting-room, and died shortly after....This may be a one off case, but this is a clear message that this situation should be resolved, that postponing the search of a solution will only lead to a exacerbation in present status quo. What are we waiting for, do we need mass deathtoll from the common inflammation get our attention? ( wait something might be wrong here).
Needless to say, that in the past it was more common for patients to come for more regular check-ups to confirm to worries? Now, If you come with a muscle pain etc, the doctor fixes you with a nonplussed look, as if to say, what do you need me for? Use your brains Pain + paracetamol = no pain and you can get that in a local pharmacy...Clearly I am not focusing on the severe cases where the doctor does inspect the patient but there is not much that a GP can do, with most of the investigation being referred to a hospital were you literally have to kill a day in a waiting room till by the afternoon you may get one x-ray done of the pinky toe that was ailing you.
I would agree that my rant is not in the slightest way justified and I am just being ungrateful but to put into perspective in concurrence with the vast majority of the people on this thread,you would probably agree with me, if say that you have either heard or had hands on experience of better healthcare in another country... faster, more straight forwards and to the point. ehm, it may take a few hours but not a whole day to diagnose or see the patient.
Lack of hospital staff? or poor prioritising/organisation? leads to long hours waiting in the ER, In a case you may not have heard off, a woman gave birth in waiting-room, and died shortly after....This may be a one off case, but this is a clear message that this situation should be resolved, that postponing the search of a solution will only lead to a exacerbation in present status quo. What are we waiting for, do we need mass deathtoll from the common inflammation get our attention? ( wait something might be wrong here).
Needless to say, that in the past it was more common for patients to come for more regular check-ups to confirm to worries? Now, If you come with a muscle pain etc, the doctor fixes you with a nonplussed look, as if to say, what do you need me for? Use your brains Pain + paracetamol = no pain and you can get that in a local pharmacy...Clearly I am not focusing on the severe cases where the doctor does inspect the patient but there is not much that a GP can do, with most of the investigation being referred to a hospital were you literally have to kill a day in a waiting room till by the afternoon you may get one x-ray done of the pinky toe that was ailing you.
I would agree that my rant is not in the slightest way justified and I am just being ungrateful but to put into perspective in concurrence with the vast majority of the people on this thread,you would probably agree with me, if say that you have either heard or had hands on experience of better healthcare in another country... faster, more straight forwards and to the point. ehm, it may take a few hours but not a whole day to diagnose or see the patient.
If you think the world consists only of Britain and the US, then it's the envy of about 20% of the world.
I don't think any country in Western Europe, or any developed country in the Commonwealth, envies the NHS. Being universal and subsidised by the government is not unique.
I don't think any country in Western Europe, or any developed country in the Commonwealth, envies the NHS. Being universal and subsidised by the government is not unique.
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