Ditch the NHS for private health care

[Alien]

Yet we all collectively manage to pay for an inefficient NHS through taxation without forgoing those things

 

Nothing is free...but I don't want to be burdened with a 50k bill because I just got knocked down by a truck. If your health is that important you do have options...you can take out further private insurance. Personally I'm pretty happy with what I have.

 

And you're right..collectively we do and collectively we reap the benefits of that. But as I say, nothing is perfect..but what is.

[Daven]

Yet we all collectively manage to pay for an inefficient NHS through taxation without forgoing those things

 

Explain 'inefficient NHS'.

[quisquose]

I am in favour of bringing in successful business managers (for example, Stuart Rose) to take a look at the system from a wastage point of view, and try and make it more efficient.

 

Gerry Robinson has already tried this with his series of programmes called Can Gerry Robinson Fix the NHS?

 

I thought he had some valid points. Most of my family work for the NHS, two in Consultant roles, and they thought he had some valid points too.

 

The main one being that managers are unable to manage because the Consultants simply do what they want. I think many of them take Sir Lancelot Spratt as their role model.

[mj.scuba]

Explain 'inefficient NHS'.

 

Try this:

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Inefficient+NHS

[Daven]

Try this:

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Inefficient+NHS

 

Very clever.

Don't you have an opinion of your own that would help me to understand your statement that the NHS is inefficient? Or do you rely on Google for everything:roll:?

[mj.scuba]

Very clever.

Don't you have an opinion of your own that would help me to understand your statement that the NHS is inefficient? Or do you rely on Google for everything:roll:?

 

I draw my conclusions from articles such as those listed in the link. Obviously you may draw your own conclusions.

[epiphany]

They should buy insurance.

 

And will you be helping those who can't afford it by clicking your fingers or waving your magic wand?

[mj.scuba]

And will you be helping those who can't afford it by clicking your fingers or waving your magic wand?

 

No, they should pay for it themselves out of the reduction in taxes they will get.

[poppins]

They should buy insurance.

 

The USA has the best health care in the world, most people do pay for their own insurance through work, then medicare picks up for the retirees, poor people get it for free, no one gets turned away from a hospital ever we also have Veterans hospitals in every State, but now thanks to Obama we'll all be on socialized health care in 2014, worst bill he ever passed... damage is done now

[Rupert_Baehr]

Just remember that the highest per-capita government healthcare spending in the world is in the USA (and this is since long before Obama was around) - so just because it's private, doesn't make it more efficient, and certainly doesn't make it cheaper...

 

It's very fashionable to knock health care in the US.

 

For some strange reason, you don't hear so many people complaining about it when people are trying to raise money to send a patient from the UK to the US to receive treatment which - for some reason which never gets mentioned - is not available in the UK.

 

If healthcare in the UK is every bit as good as that which is available in the US, why do we read about so many patients from the UK having to go there to receive treatment?

 

What happens usually in the USA is that when the doctor/hospital contacts the insurance company and says "we have done (eg) $20000 work" the insurance company says "we will give you $5000" which the doctor usually has to accept else go to court. This means that the original price is often far far higher than it should be, and means that anyone without insurance is stuck with the massive price for the treatment.

 

Not quite - But near. It only works like that if the hospital/doctor has an agreement with the insurance company. Many Insurance plans/HMOs have contracts with hospitals and doctors and those contracts require the healthcare provider to accept the sum 'agreed' by the insurer. An example:

 

I had a procedure done in a German hospital in Mar 06. Went there as an outpatient at 9am, the procedure was completed by midday, I paid €525 (the bill) before I left and I was home by 2pm.

 

In Mar 07, my wife went to the emergency room of a hospital in Mississippi and they decided to carry out the same procedure on her. We had insurance and that particular hospital was 'approved' by the insurance company.

 

The procedure itself took no longer than it had when I underwent it in Germany, but the hospital decided my wife needed to stay there for a couple of days (No other diagonosis - indeed the procedure itself had been proposed after a suspected problem had been eliminated... but she had to stay there 'just in case'.)

 

She left hospital and we received a copy of the bill. $14,500. For a procedure which cost €525 in Germany. The insurance company had an 'agreed rate' and they paid the hospital $3000, which was accepted in full and final settlement.

 

So:

 

If my wife had been eligible for medicaid (too poor to pay for treatment) she would have received the treatment at no charge and the state would have picked up the bill.

 

Because we had insurance although the bill was $14,500 the insurance company paid the amount they had 'agreed' - about $3,000.

 

The real problem would have occurred had we been too wealthy to be eligible for medicaid, but too poor to be able to afford or unwilling to pay for insurance. In which case not only would we have received the bill, but it would have been nearly 5 times as high as that which the insurance company received.

 

It is probable that there was no medical reason for my wife to stay in hospital after the procedure - but perhaps it provided some defence against a possible lawsuit.

 

How much (as a percentage of their income) do people who live in the UK pay for the NHS? Perhaps if the NHS had more money it could provide more treatments.