KT Dodge

I was interested to read a recent article in The Telegraph regarding the differences between healthcare in the US and the UK.  It says that the obvious difference is that in the UK we have the NHS and health care for all, whereas healthcare in the states is reliant on ‘private health care schemes’.  

The article is written from the point of view of an ex-pat family who have health cover via the husband’s job, she seems to think that without private healthcare in the states you do not receive healthcare. This is wrong as there is health care for ‘uninsured’ people in the US and a whole variety of different schemes to help you if you ‘can’t pay’.

She states that Private Healthcare is expensive in the US if you’re employer isn’t supplying it, but healthcare is expensive wherever you pay for it, no less so in the UK. Having experienced both NHS care and ‘private health care in the States’, I would never try to compare the two. There is no comparison .. but how can there be??? State run healthcare is never going to be the same as ‘private’ healthcare!! I think the NHS machine struggles as it tries to do a good job but due to financial restrictions will always fail a percentage of people with long waiting lists or misdiagnoses, because the whole ethos is you’re getting care ‘for free’.