Clapping is cheap

Average cost of healthcare per capita p.a. in US is $10.4K. UK it is $4k. And everyone gets healthcare in the UK. In the US that average figure includes the poor who have no cover (20%? Of the pop), so the real cost for those who do have cover is higher. With worse outcomes.

Anyone who thinks the American model is better, is completely batshit mental.

I’d love to see Mr Humbo to demonstrate a more efficient health system than the UK. It’s a long time since I looked, but the UK was the most efficient out of all developed countries based on cost per capita. Obviously that doesn’t measure outcomes, but if Humbo wants to wow us with his knowledge, it would be ‘even better if’ he can show a more efficient model and show comparative outcomes.

In the meantime, giving key workers a decent pay rise (not 1%) would still be a good idea.

You don’t have to be remotely intelligent to realise the American healthcare model is toilet...even for the moderately wealthy it’s inaccessible. Imagine being seriously ill and your first concern is whether or not you can afford to have healthcare rather than getting better?

I would love to see a grown up debate on the pros and cons of a privatised health care system. Why is whenever somebody mentions  the merits of privatisation the finger gets pointed towards the USA system?

I don’t know of anybody who would be in favour of anything like their system, one of the worst in the western world unless you happen to be rich. We need to be looking at how other countries run their free at the point of entry privatised systems. But the problem is we’re almost brainwashed in the Country with NHS propaganda, you can understand why people must think we have this world leading system.

One only as to look at the Euro Heath Consumer index one of the most thorough and respected researchers that Ranks us at 16th in Europe! and we’ve never made the top 10!
https://healthpowerhouse.com/media/EHCI-2018/EHCI-2018-report.pdf

Then there’s Cancer survival rates comparisons again it’s no surprise to me to see the NHS lagging behind other Privatised systems!

As for efficiency maybe Kingston should look into medical  incompetence throughout the NHS with nearly a quarter of its budget spent not on care but on compensation for negligence and on lawyers handling claims against it. This is one of the very worst performances of any health service in the world.

Quoted from ginnywings

I have had nothing but excellent care and excellent experiences of the NHS.

They are working under the constraints of a government who would disband it tomorrow and privatise it if it wasn't political suicide. Overworked and underfunded; it's a massive credit to them that they do as well as they do.

Agreed. I owe my life to the NHS. The care I received over the 4 stays and 12 weeks I had in Hull Royal was fanatasic. Aftercare is a different matter though.

In 2010 we were in Malta oblivious to a Volcano in Iceland that erupted the day before our flight home. I always pack a couple of days of extra medication but this was a longer enforced stay.

Needed some more tablets. In the UK you see a doctor for a prescription and then the chemist but in Malta, we didn't know what to do. So we decided to see the chemist first and hopefully avoid a doctor's fee. We showed the chemist the empty box and were asked 'how many' tablets would you like. Prescription charges were about £6 in the UK, so fearing the worst as we were asking for private health care, non-NHS, etc., we asked how much each tablet would cost. 50 cents per strip of 10. I just couldn't believe it.

You do to wonder if a tiny nation like Malta could charge so little then why do we have to pay so much in the UK.

The flat-rate charge covers all eventualities. You pay the same amount, whether your medication costs a few pence or a few hundred quid. Some you win, some you lose. Depends on your health, just the same as everyone else.

It's effectively a regressive tax, but the poorest can get exemptions so it's not as bad as some of the others we all have to deal with which don't have exemptions for the poorest.

Ultimately, it's only a tiny part of the cost of the NHS (less than 0.5%), so it might well be worth scrapping it or, at least, cutting it a good amount.