When I lived in the US, I worked for a major health insurance company, and I have several chronic health conditions, so I've gotten to see American health care both as a patient and as a claims processor.
As a patient, I got excellent service under the US healthcare system, as long as I was insured. I had good insurance, so when I had surgery in 2001, I had a private room and any food I wanted any time of day or night. The care was excellent. But that comes at a price.
As useful and completely required as health insurance is in the US, it is also evil. It has created a system where you have to work 40 hours a week in order to get any coverage, and that coverage is sporadic at best. Insurance companies don't want to pay your claim. They want to get as much money from you as they can, and they will sell you overpriced imaginary coverage to do it.
When I worked as a claims processor, I saw numerous people who were sold imaginary coverage. I worked in the mental health division, and they sold plans where, just to say that you had mental health coverage, they would create a system where you have it written into your policy, but you will never see a dollar of claims payout. For instance, I saw plans that provided for no more than 20 psychiatric visits per year, with a deductable of $5000. So you have to pay for the first $5000 worth of treatment, and by the time you've paid that, you've used all of your allotted 20 visits, so it will never pay out. On top of that, most claims are processed by an auto-payment system that will process your claim incorrectly for no reason a good portion of the time. The rest of your claims are processed by staff who are underpaid and forced to work 50 hours a week.
I had a friend who was dying of cancer in the US. He had used all his sick leave and vacation time for chemo treatments, and was having to borrow vacation and sick leave from co-workers because if he lost his job, he lost his health insurance, and would lose his cancer treatments entirely. Does that seem right to you? To me, that seems barbaric. A patient with cancer is carrying enough of a burden, and the US healthcare system just piles another financial burden on top of everything else.
On the other hand, I've also worked for the NHS (National Health Service) in the UK. Here, healthcare is free to all legal residents. You pay through the nose on your taxes for it, but you are covered no matter what.
Service is slow, and if you need to go to the hospital, you can be assured that the hospital will be overcrowded, you'll be sharing an open plan room with at least 3 other people, and you'll have to pay for "extras" like a tv and phone calls. The doctors are surly, overworked, and underpaid. Every minute of your hospital visit will suck. With not enough nurses and cleaning staff in a lot of hospitals, you'll be lucky to get out without a major infection.
On the other hand, prescriptions are cheap. You never need to hesitate to go to your doctor when you suspect something wrong. You don't have to weigh out whether to see the doctor or buy food that week. If you can only find a part time job, you are still covered. If you become seriously ill, you may lose your job, but your treatment will continue regardless.
When I consider the possibilty of moving back to the US, one of the first places my mind wanders is, "Oh, no. Health insurance. 40 hour work weeks. Prescription co-pays." I think that the NHS is incompetent, but it means well. On the other hand, health insurance is both incompetent and malicious. So on balance, I would have to award the point to the British on this one.
Alana
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