Man robs bank for $1 - makes me glad we have an NHS

[Daven]

At £7.40 a prescription, there are some who cannot afford prescription drugs.

 

Amoxicillin as an example. Cost price under £1.

 

And over £35 for 28 Clopidogrel 75mgs - a drug commonly used in cardiac care - it all balances out.

[crookesey]

My late grandfather always maintained that when the NHS was being set up, that the UK's drugs companies should have been nationalised, in order to stop them ripping off the state. I didn't share his politics, but can see where he was coming from.

[Harleyman]

It's always amusing when someone or other digs up stories like this one on the thread and then tries to make out that it's typical in a country of 300 million.

[websters gue]

It's always amusing when someone or other digs up stories like this one on the thread and then tries to make out that it's typical in a country of 300 million.

 

No one is trying to make out it's typical, it damned embarrassing though.

[Tony]

The actual average cost of every prescription issued in the UK is 74p.

 

The disproportionately high cost is simply due to the number of people who don't pay.

[Harleyman]

No one is trying to make out it's typical, it damned embarrassing though.

 

No more embarassing than seeing Pakistani women walking around with begging bowls in London or blokes sitting on the pavement with dogs beside them and cardboard signs saying "Homeless, Please help"

 

Hardship is universal mate. There's no such place as Utopia

[Sierra]

Sorry to hear that Sierra. Make him wear construction boots for a month and then tell him if he's good he can wear loafers afterwards

 

I pay 96 dollars a month for retiree Medicare

 

Fifteen dollars for any prescriptions which are all generic. Anyway in 90 percent of cases generic are just as good as name brand.

 

Five dollars each doctors visit

 

A 125 dollar a day co-payment for the first 9 days in hospital. All surgeries and after care treatment are no charge. After 9 days if still in hospital no co-payment at all

 

No charge for a complete physical including bloodwork

 

Five dollars each visit if I need a chiropractor

 

My health plan is Kaiser Permanente, The largest health plan in California. They have their own hospitals, clinics and hospital staff.

 

My wife has a different plan and is still too young to go on Medicare. Until then she pays quite a bit more for hers.

 

Hells bells, when he was little, I was forever chasing him around trying to get him to put his shoes back on. I suspect he walks around barefoot at the gym. I give up. They're his feet.

 

My father in law has Kaiser and he loves it! They did his bypass surgery and he got very good care indeed. We had Kaiser when I was a kid, through my mother's employer, so I grew up with Kaiser.

 

We have Anthem Blue Cross PPO. It's actually quite good. No waiting to see a specialist, see any doctor you please, you don't need a referral from your primary care physician. Every once in a while though, you get a double whammy with the specialist co-pay and an expensive prescription. All generic prescriptions and some name brand are $5. And if it's something you take regularly, they'll give you a 90 day supply for the same $5. My husband's dental and vision insurance is really good. Thank God for that, because my daughter recently had to have her wisdom teeth out, and the oral surgeon's bill for that was almost $3,000.

 

Don't know what we'd do without the vision insurance, either. Contact lenses aren't that expensive, but my husband likes prescription sunglasses and the price for those has gone through the roof. All together it's about $300/month and that's for four people. My daughter stayed on her dad's insurance since his benefits are better and she's still eligible.

 

Oooh. I have an NHS story. My daughter's godmother is a flight attendant for United Airlines. About three years ago, she was in London and she and another flight attendant were on their way to the hotel in a taxi. The taxi was involved in a moderately serious traffic accident. She had a broken arm and some bumps and bruises and was taken to a hospital. (wish I could remember which one) She said she got excellent care and they actually wanted her to stay in London for several weeks so they could monitor her arm, but she had no family there and really wanted to get home asap. I asked her what about THE BILL. She said it was really strange, no one asked her for any money, though she did give her insurance info to someone at the hospital, but doesn't know what happened.

 

I admit it looks bad, but there's much more to this and I wish the whole story would come out. If I had my way, the one thing I'd spring for is preventive care. Dear God that would save MILLIONS.

[Harleyman]

Hells bells, when he was little, I was forever chasing him around trying to get him to put his shoes back on. I suspect he walks around barefoot at the gym. I give up. They're his feet.

 

My father in law has Kaiser and he loves it! They did his bypass surgery and he got very good care indeed. We had Kaiser when I was a kid, through my mother's employer, so I grew up with Kaiser.

 

We have Anthem Blue Cross PPO. It's actually quite good. No waiting to see a specialist, see any doctor you please, you don't need a referral from your primary care physician. Every once in a while though, you get a double whammy with the specialist co-pay and an expensive prescription. All generic prescriptions and some name brand are $5. And if it's something you take regularly, they'll give you a 90 day supply for the same $5. My husband's dental and vision insurance is really good. Thank God for that, because my daughter recently had to have her wisdom teeth out, and the oral surgeon's bill for that was almost $3,000.

 

Don't know what we'd do without the vision insurance, either. Contact lenses aren't that expensive, but my husband likes prescription sunglasses and the price for those has gone through the roof. All together it's about $300/month and that's for four people. My daughter stayed on her dad's insurance since his benefits are better and she's still eligible.

 

Oooh. I have an NHS story. My daughter's godmother is a flight attendant for United Airlines. About three years ago, she was in London and she and another flight attendant were on their way to the hotel in a taxi. The taxi was involved in a moderately serious traffic accident. She had a broken arm and some bumps and bruises and was taken to a hospital. (wish I could remember which one) She said she got excellent care and they actually wanted her to stay in London for several weeks so they could monitor her arm, but she had no family there and really wanted to get home asap. I asked her what about THE BILL. She said it was really strange, no one asked her for any money, though she did give her insurance info to someone at the hospital, but doesn't know what happened.

 

I admit it looks bad, but there's much more to this and I wish the whole story would come out. If I had my way, the one thing I'd spring for is preventive care. Dear God that would save MILLIONS.

 

 

There's nothing wrong with the British NHS. It really is a good system I'm sure your daughter's godmother wont get a bill either

My brother came to visit a few years back from England and injured his knee cycling along the beach walk. He was unable to walk and I took him to hospital. He had travelers insurance but the hospital still wanted a credit card and he paid from that and the insurance company reimbursed hilm later on. I often wonder if the hospital would have turned him away if he had no credit card or insurance. I guess being blue eyed and lily white didnt qualify him for free treament (I would have covered the cost anyway)

 

I dont see the US ever having anything like the NHS, It would just cost far far too much and taxes would go way up and Americans do not like tax increases at all. I wouldnt like a system like that as I'm quite happy with the way things are for me now.

 

The only thing I see as bad about the NHS is the waiting period for surgery when it's not a life threatening situation. My old dad waited three years for his.

[Rupert_Baehr]

I dont know anything about how things work in North Carolina but in California he could have gone to a County Hospital and treated free of charge. We the taxpayers would have covered the cost. We pay around 60 million dollars a year in Los Angeles County alone towards supportring illegal aliens, taking care of their sick kids, providing free education, food and rent allowance instead of sending them back to Mexico.

 

Dont think that this country is so heartless. We are the Santa Clauses (ie Suckers) who pay for many who come here from south America illegally many of their women pregnant so they can have their kids here and declare them US citizens.

 

Of course stories like this one shown on the link always get knee jerk reactions from the

"Ooooh! How awful the US is" crowd

The great majority of US citizens do have their own health insurance and in many cases it's superior to the NHS. At least I didnt have to wait donkeys years to get foot surgery done like my old father (a WW2 veteran) did when he had a bum knee and had to wait for the NHS to tell him when he could have the surgery done. He waited so long i think they were hoping he would die first and spare them the cost.

 

He could've got free treatment in any State - go to the nearest ER and claim treatment under Medicaid.

 

He probably would've been seen quicker than underthe NHS - but 'Poor man goes to hospital and gets treated at no charge' isn't a news story which sells in the UK.

 

('Poor man goes to hospital and waits 5 hours to be seen' sometimes hits the headlines - unless, of course, it's a story about how good the NHS is.)

 

Funny old thing. You read lots of posts on this forum about how good the NHS is (and I'm glad everybody is so happy with it) ... but there is also no shortage of posts about how 'such-and-such' a hospital or 'such-and-such' a surgery provides a poor service.

 

Presumably those surgeries and hospitals are nothing to do with the NHS.

[Sierra]

There's nothing wrong with the British NHS. It really is a good system I'm sure your daughter's godmother wont get a bill either

My brother came to visit a few years back from England and injured his knee cycling along the beach walk. He was unable to walk and I took him to hospital. He had travelers insurance but the hospital still wanted a credit card and he paid from that and the insurance company reimbursed hilm later on. I often wonder if the hospital would have turned him away if he had no credit card or insurance. I guess being blue eyed and lily white didnt qualify him for free treament (I would have covered the cost anyway)

 

I dont see the US ever having anything like the NHS, It would just cost far far too much and taxes would go way up and Americans do not like tax increases at all. I wouldnt like a system like that as I'm quite happy with the way things are for me now.

 

The only thing I see as bad about the NHS is the waiting period for surgery when it's not a life threatening situation. My old dad waited three years for his.

 

Why am I not surprised? It does make your blood boil, doesn't it. Here you are sick or injured and they're harrassing you (or whoever brought you in) for the co-pay. "Just give me your credit card and I'll run it for you". Uh huh. Good luck getting unauthorized charges removed. While on the other side of the curtain, is an illegal alien who doesn't take care of his out of control diabetes and high blood pressure and is on his third kidney transplant. And hasn't paid a dime.

 

People expect a lot from the NHS, that's for sure. Human nature being what it is, anytime anything is "free" there's always the potential for abuse. People who think nothing of going to emergency with a nosebleed. In the states now, it's only the insured who think twice before calling an ambulance. If your insurance denies it or you call the wrong one, you're on the hook for the bill. Not only that, hospitals will try and get as much money from those who are insured. I once had an argument over the phone with the billing office of the local emergency room I took my son to. He'd had a bicycle accident and ended up needing his head stitched up. (Thank goodness the scar is in his eyebrow) When we got the bill, they'd charged us the rate for a doctor. Only he hadn't been seen by a doctor, a physician's assistant treated him. It was an "oops, sorry about that!" But how many people don't look closely at the bill?

 

Most hospitals have hardship rates for the underinsured. And one of the good points of insurance is that they will negotiate with the hospital on your behalf. Well, actually on their behalf, but it helps keep the outrageous costs and unnecessary stuff down.

 

I do wish the US had a system similar to the NHS, but you're right. It would never work here. The US is just too big, too diverse and there's too many people.