Imagine life without the NHS?

BTW JaneJudge All elective surgery is discussed by a panel. I was recently refused a breast implant after surgery due to my age and diabetes. The cost of failure was deemed too high.

There is as always a but in the non NHS systems. Some of us may a bit more then if under private but if you have a serious injury that changes your life so unable to work and need continual health support you will never have to worry about having to pay. I’m nurse and see reviews about USA diabetic some have to go weeks without insulin because of the extreme cost. If you have Netflix watch the film Purple Hearts it enlightening. My mum who died 15yrs ago aged 85yrs had been a nurse from the age of 17 said those who wanted the end of the NHS had not live in the times without it, if the had they would put more value on. My uncle who always had private that match Nhs (not a&e)stopped 10 years ago when the yearly premium hit £9000. So up the NHS.

Perhaps I should have said that The NHS should be cross party, not taken out of politics. I would though still like to see our government looking at how other countries manage their's.

Many of them spend more, for a start:

Secondly, pensioners continue paying for healthcare.

The graph demonstrates that Americans pay more for their health care and would seem to get poorer outcomes too. That's a very good reason not to go down that route. I wonder if this graph factors in what people pay in addition ie in co-payments.

Our pensions are some of the lowest .

I'm not sure - I'm going out now, but I'll check it out. They're not directly comparable anyway because some countries pay for social care and some don't. Nevertheless, it does show that the US system doesn't provide good value for money. A few people, who can pay, receive superb treatment, but on average outcomes are worse.

This is quite interesting reading:

Conclusion: Four features distinguish top performing countries from the United States: 1) they provide for universal coverage and remove cost barriers; 2) they invest in primary care systems to ensure that high-value services are equitably available in all communities to all people; 3) they reduce administrative burdens that divert time, efforts, and spending from health improvement efforts; and 4) they invest in social services, especially for children and working-age adults.

www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2021/aug/mirror-mirror-2021-reflecting-poorly

No single country is best on all the criteria, but the US is (apart from one measure) consistently the worst.

westendgirl

Our pensions are some of the lowest .

Again, it's difficult to compare because many people in the UK have private pensions, whereas in a country such as Germany, few people have private occupational pensions, but are compulsorily signed up for the "state system". They don't receive top-ups either, nor do so many own property outright.

westendgirl

Perhaps I should have said that The NHS should be cross party, not taken out of politics. I would though still like to see our government looking at how other countries manage their's.

They do look at other countries. This government seems to like talking about the Australian system while moving towards the American one.