Originally Posted by
nutty007
Interesting thread and thought I would chime in.
Firstly congratulations for getting this all resolved both physically and financially.
I often here stories about the costs of medicine/ treatment in the U.S and the pricing model and complexity just blows my mind.
Living in England I can say with 100% certainty that everything that occurred here would have been done totally free of charge and in a timely fashion on the NHS, in fact the idea of paying for it in itself seems absurd. The NHS is one of the great pillars of our social fabric and does a fantastic job despite all the pressures it is under, however, the point I am wishing to make is that we do not exclusively have the NHS and we do in fact have a private sector working alongside.
The private sector in particular excels in specialist scenarios and does provide a 'fast track' option for some surgeries but is seldom actually needed but does provide another option in conjunction with the NHS, even in the private sector the costs are massively lower compared to the U.S.
From what I understand even a basic prescription can cost a fortune whereas here we pay £ 9.15 for a prescription that is reduced to zero if you are financially poor, and if you have ongoing repeat prescriptions this is also often free of charge.
But I speak from within a country that has had a working NHS for over 70 years and I understand to incorporate a system similar in the U.S would be very tricky based on a whole host of different factors ranging from population , which is far more, the overall size of the country ( you have states bigger than my entire country ) and general mindset.
Anyway , what i'm getting at is the fact that if the U.S were able to incorporate a similar model to the UK then you 100% would look back and think 'how did we not do this sooner'
Once again congrats on the all clear
nutty, the topic of the NHS is something that frequently comes up when I discuss socialized healthcare.
While I've never lived in the UK and don't have personal experience with the NHS, I hear wildly differing reports about it. Some, like yourself, seem to really like the NHS. Others detest it, and decry its slowness and refusal to authorize many tests and specialist visits.
However, the NHS' own website admits that it's an 18 week wait for specialists and tests:
https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/hosp...es-in-england/
I also read a report from 2019 which said that the NHS has been routinely exceeding the 18-week wait time!
This isn't bad for colonoscopies (since they aren't urgent, and polyps cause no pain), but an 18+ week wait for a specialist and tests can be horrendous if you're suffering from a non-life-threatening issue which interferes with quality of life. This is a huge flaw in the NHS, and in socialized systems in general.
I experienced this exact complaint when I joined Facebook groups for my LPR condition in 2018. People with LPR in the UK complained that their GP (general practitioner) didn't even know what LPR was, and that they were denied referrals to ENT doctors. They were all denied endoscopies. They all expressed jealousy that their American counterparts could see ENTs within a week, and they could get whatever test they wanted. These weren't people trying to be political -- they just wanted to get better! It was very eye opening.
I will concede that the American medical billing system is a disaster, and needs MAJOR reform. Neither party seems interested in tackling this. Surprisingly, Trump actually had a minor interest in fixing this, and a little legislation was passed to improve things, but it wasn't nearly enough. But he was the first President to want to tackle this problem. Too many Democrats just want to push for socialized medicine, and too many Republicans just want to leave the system as-is (or roll back Obamacare). Both are incorrect.
I absolutely do NOT want a system where a gatekeeper decides whether I can see a specialist or get tests, nor do I want one with those kind of waits.