Socialised Healthcare - do Americans not realise?

Question

That we have both a private and public healthcare system in the UK?

I keep reading arguments against socialised healthcare in America that cite "well in the UK, under their National Health Service *everyone* has crappy healthcare and waiting lists and no choice of healthcare providers".

Thats crap. Yes, there are waiting lists and sometimes a less luxurious standard of care om the NHS than you'd get privately, but we have a private system also! The rich don't 'have' to use the NHS they can "go private" anytime they want! Those who can afford it can also take out health insurance to pay for private treatment and never go near the NHS if they don't want to.

But for those who would otherwise have no access to healthcare ie the poorest - the NHS is a lifesaver.

And FWIW the care I have always received on the NHS has always been exemplary. I had my first baby last year and was given an excellent standard of care.

Having socialised medicine does not restrict choice!!!

sweetpea - at east noone dies from their poverty in the UK. Or gives bankrupt because they have a terminal illness.

I don't pay anything for private healthcare, I never would even if I had the money. The NHS suits me fine thanks. I see medical care as a basic human right not a luxury to be bought.

And if my taxes go to help those less fortunate I'm glad.

Why is America so obsessed with wealth and not paying taxes?? I don't get it! I could never live there!

Lilly - I never said it was free but its a helll of a lot better than people not being able to "afford" to go to the doctor when they are sick.

Look at all the tax $ your government threw away on war in Iraq! Don't you all object to that?! If you are going to be taxed would'nt you prefer it go to help those in need?

JimSock - most British Rockstars are idiots.

Oh and our taxes aren't as high as you all seem to think they are - and if they are high its not just because of the NHS. Our Government likes to waste money too.

What drugs are you on jeepers peepers - we do not "jail people for what they say" other than libel laws and you have them in America too. You obviously know nothing about Europe. Oh and we have jobs over here, thanks

Answer 1

Oh, my dear, dear child! It's not about reasonable choices on this side of the pond, nor is it about providing access to care for everyone. It's about politics. It's also about race. And it is about economic and social class. It's about the "haves" and the "have nots" with the "haves" always greedy for more and to he!! with the "have nots". The perception is that somehow ensuring that everyone has access to health care will drain significant numbers of dollars from the well-off. And your experience with "socialized medicine" will be roundly ignored or you will be accused of being in collusion with that ragged liberal rabble raising so much dust around here...

Answer 2

Everyone whinges.

I am from Canada and now live in the United States.

EVERYONE here makes reference to Canada's "free health care system" It's bunk.

The fact NOTHING is free and as in ANY other area of life, the wealthy DO get better choices, and better care.

Luckily in the UK, in USA and in CANADA even the "non-wealthy" can receive adequate and competent care..........at least for the most part.

Anything government regulated is always buggered up, but let's just be clear.......Canadians, American's, Brit's...you may not like your taxes, or the wait times, or the name of the system but you get your needs met a hell of a lot better than you would if you were in another country!

IN RESPONSE TO YOUR ADDITIONAL COMMENT: The question you posed is NOT re: the cost of the war on "Iraq" which you may have noticed is actually " A WAR ON TERROR", and may have noticed FURTHER that YOUR OWN GOVERNMENT participated and supported. ( MY COUNTRY ..CANADA chose not to )

You can criticize how the AMERICAN government spends tax payer money all day long, and might be right some of the time but I am sure you can admit ways is which your own government has spent tax dollars foolishly. With all due respect ,Your people starve and the Queen spends your yearly earnings on one stylish hat.

All countries have flaws and faults and make poor choices, it seems to me you just have it in for the yanks, and are trying to use your question to condemn the whole nation, not just the health care format.

As far as health care goes, YOUR SYSTEM, The AMERICAN SYSTEM and yes, THE CANADIAN system are ALL flawed because no matter what you say... the poor and impoverished STILL do not have the same access to treatment options as the wealthy.

No snarky attitude on a Yahoo answers forum will change that.

Good day.

Answer 3

Pay no never minds to that silly talk. The NHS is first class. They are not using a full syringe, those yanks, they think we are third world.

Suffice it to say even when using the private system, all the hard cases are referred back to the NHS and the private hospitals pay the bill. A bit of a magic roundabout for idiots with more money than actual sense.

Answer 4

Why would care one way or the other, if America has universial health care or not ?

The largest thing in favor of America Never having universial health care,

Is to keep the europeans who are afraid to immigrate here, because they then might have to actually get a job and pay for their own health care.

We don't want to be like europeans, thats why our ancestors left in the first place.

Europeans killed 80 million people in the last 100 years.

Europeans still have genocides, you would have thought after WW ll europeans might have learned.

If your so worried about uninsured americans, then tell your government to fund health insurance for them.

We like our freedoms here.

We don't want your european camera's on every street corner, or you silly laws restricting free speech, where you actually jail people, for what they say.

No wonder the UN says Britian has the highest violent crime rate on earth.

Answer 5

individuals won't be able to stand the thought a number of their no longer ordinary-earned funds would desire to flow to pay for somebody else's healthcare. on the different hand, they do no longer innovations in any respect if their tax funds subsidize the earnings of the pharmaceutical marketplace, the HMO's, and (interestingly) the scientific coverage enterprise. until eventually human beings understand that's one or the different, "socialized" healthcare does not stand lots of an excellent gamble.

Answer 6

As an American, I see the advantage of the system you have in the UK. The problem I have with it, is that are already taxed too much and this promises to another tax upon us,and a very expensive one at that.

Answer 7

Lady moonlight:
You failed to mention the taxes. If socialized medicine hits the US, our taxes will rise and those of us who are paying for private coverage will not be able to afford it or at least not at present levels.
Ever wonder why all the British rock stars move to the US when they make their fortune?
They want to keep some of it!!!!!!!!!!!

I DON'T BLAME THEM

Answer 8

I'll get a lot of thumbs down for this, but I believe Americans do not want to hear any evidence that contradicts their sacredly held fantasies. They believe dooming a percentage of the population to inadequate or walletbreaking health care means they're more free than you.

Answer 9

we look at our Internal Revenue Service, our Post Office, our Roads Departments...and realize that government should not be trusted to run anything efficiently.

the free market is the way to go. if KKKillary gets her way, not only will med schools be told how many of what color they can graduate, but those graduates will be told where they will be ALLOWED to practice medicine.

sorry. that's not how it works in the USA. we shot 'way too many of you Brits 225 years ago to allow some mindless bureaucrat like that evil KKKillary to tell us how we are to live.

to quote the greatest US President of all time, Ronald Reagan: "Government is not the answer to the problem...Government IS the problem."

Answer 10

THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU--someone from the UK with experience with NHS and has something POSITIVE to say about it....as you can tell by these answers, the American public mind (what's left of it) has been poisoned by the media and politicians and the wealthy who are afraid of giving anything up. I thank you for taking the time to explain the system to us...great question, a star for you!