What Won't You Miss About The UK?

[Krikit 1,165]

Resurrecting this ANCIENT thread because of a memory I had this weekend:

I was telling my American SO about transport strikes in London, and recalling the rainy evening I walked home from South Kensington to Crouch End.

Nope, don't miss London Transport strikes.

OMG. I remember one year I was visiting and the lorry drivers were having their protest. We were on our way to the airport for a holiday in Greece and had the misfortune of being trapped behind them for HOURS with all that stinking diesel fume giving me a massive headache. We were fortunate in that we weren't one of the ones who had run out of gas due to all the petrol stations being shut down with no product. We were also fortunate that we had booked rooms at an airport hotel and were flying out the next morning. Felt terrible for everyone who had missed their flights and/or couldn't get a room because of the situation.

[Elora & Rob 15]

Just wait until you buy your healthcare in the US.

Just sayin'.

I am covered by my fiances work once we are married so not really an issue. when you add together all the taxes we pay in the UK which also go towards NHS your way better off. i would imagine i pay more in tax towards the NHS than I would pay for healthcare in the USA. Add to that its not "free" like people think. I had to pay for blood test on friday and some prescription medication a few weeks ago.

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

I am covered by my fiances work once we are married so not really an issue. when you add together all the taxes we pay in the UK which also go towards NHS your way better off. i would imagine i pay more in tax towards the NHS than I would pay for healthcare in the USA. Add to that its not "free" like people think. I had to pay for blood test on friday and some prescription medication a few weeks ago.

Oh, OK.

[Krikit 1,165]

Yeah, the American healthcare is a real eye-opener. They offer fabulous service if you have access and/or can afford it, though.

[photomile 101]

I am covered by my fiances work once we are married so not really an issue. when you add together all the taxes we pay in the UK which also go towards NHS your way better off. i would imagine i pay more in tax towards the NHS than I would pay for healthcare in the USA. Add to that its not "free" like people think. I had to pay for blood test on friday and some prescription medication a few weeks ago.

Actually this is very true. I can't remember where it is but I did a breakdown of how much of your pay in the UK is sectioned toward NHS contributions, and based on an average employer healthcare plan in the USA, it's actually cheaper by about £4 a month than the UK

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

Actually this is very true. I can't remember where it is but I did a breakdown of how much of your pay in the UK is sectioned toward NHS contributions, and based on an average employer healthcare plan in the USA, it's actually cheaper by about £4 a month than the UK

I think that would depend on more factors than you've used, photomile. Including any nebulous "average" employer plan in the US. Lord only knows there is no such thing.

You might want to look at prescription costs in the US. What people pay for their meds not only depends on what they take, but how their insurance company defines the drug. Generic; Formulary; Non-Formulary. All the insurance companies define these differently. You can literally change jobs only to find that a drug your former employer's plan paid is not covered by your new employer.

And you should take a look how much paycheck a USC brings home after insurance premiums are deducted. US employers expect all their employees to bear the same cost of the plan. So the Chief Executive Officer pays the same per month for health cover as the janitor.

I could go on but I won't. All I know is I don't talk to many British citizens who don't long for the NHS after they've spent some time dealing with health cover in the US.

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

Oh, I forgot. Don't forget to add in the bits your insurance won't pay at all.

For example, my husband had a recent 2 1/2 day hospital stay. So far it looks like we are in for $800. So far.

[*Snowdrop* 604]

Oh, I forgot. Don't forget to add in the bits your insurance won't pay at all.

For example, my husband had a recent 2 1/2 day hospital stay. So far it looks like we are in for $800. So far.

I certainly appreciate the lack of financial stress that the NHS gives you, now I've been here for a while.

I get my coverage through my husband's work plan which is an amazing plan so our coverage is great - we had no co-pays at all when I gave birth in a hospital here. I saw the paperwork though and if we hadn't been covered it would have cost us something like $20,000 (for a simple, no complications birth). A friend with a different insurance plan had to pay about $2000 as her co-pay for her hospital stay after giving birth. And that didn't include all the prenatal care etc. A Caesarean birth was about $80,000.

But even though we were covered for everything, I still had to ring the insurance company every time a test was ordered to see if it was covered. It made the experience really stressful.

With our plan my asthma inhalers cost me $20 but I can only have one every four weeks, so if I lose one I have to pay the full price to replace it which is $200. I found that out the hard way.

The care you get here is lovely - very plush and private. But on the other hand I always found really nice GP practices in the UK, even in central London so I would never knock the NHS too much now.

[Holly2234 66]

Im on the fence on the NHS thing. Yes there isnt the financial worry, but after the misery and stress they put us through for a whole year, id have paid any amount anybody asked for just to get treatment then. The health problems caused by the wait are still happening now 4 months after the initial problem was fixed.

In the US people probably think twice before they see a doctor and some probably dont go at all.

I will probably miss the NHS once i dont have it, but i wont forget the bad things about it.

[TracyTN 237]

I will pretty much always detest the NHS after witnessing the embarrassingly poor 'level of care' my husband received after an accident (nearly costing him 2 of his fingers). One of my friend's mothers lives in the UK and has lung cancer. They did a test on her on May 31st to figure out what stage her cancer is at. When I spoke with her last week, they're still waiting for the results.

Yet, there are still lessons the US system could learn from the NHS (and those like it) - and I wish like he*l they would. If only we could combine the best parts of both.

Edited June 25, 2012 by TracyTN

[Holly2234 66]

I wish we could have the best of both worlds too! The NHS started in the right way, and continued like that for many years. But lately, since cuts have been made (in all of the wrong places as usual), it has been impossible for certain people to get treatment.

Wow that terrible about your husband and friends mother! Unfortunately a lot of the time, i dont think its the fault of the doctors or nurses etc, its that the government wont fund the staff or equipment they need.

My husband needed a tooth taken out. Extremely simple and very routine. It wouldnt numb under local anaesthetic and it was cracked in such a way it had to be cut out, not pulled. So it needed to be done under general anaesthetic. They cancelled the surgery 2 days before it was supposed to happen (after we already waited 8 months) and there was an exposed nerve so constant pain. We then had to wait a further 5 months all the while me calling them every week for an appointment. They had referred us to a private hospital because they didnt have the resources to take out a tooth! The amount it cost must have been absolutely insane.

All that time he couldnt work or drive because of taking stong pain medications which caused a stomach ulcer, which he still has. 17 months later and the after effect of a TOOTH is still going on. The surgery took 52 seconds in the end. And the NHS paid privately for that. That spells out major problem to me.

Seeing that written down is completely laughable really, but i sure wished we were in America at the time.

[JohnR! 5,495]

Marmite

Traffic on the M-25, M-4 or everywhere else for that matter.

Weather

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[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

My husband's recent stay in an American hospital was far from stellar.

EMT squad? Excellent! Fast, responsive, caring.

ER room, Doc and staff? Excellent. Very good care but....after all it was a critical situation. Anything less than a fast, stat response would have been malpractice.

Hospital stay? Deplorable. They missed giving him his asthma meds; they left him with blood in his mouth for hours; they asked him if he wanted to do his own bed bath when he could harldy sit up; they weren't reading doctors notes regarding showers, meals, etc. I could go on.

I haven't gotten the hospital bill yet. When I do, there is going to be a discussion about owing them anything further.

[Holly2234 66]

My husband's recent stay in an American hospital was far from stellar.

EMT squad? Excellent! Fast, responsive, caring.

ER room, Doc and staff? Excellent. Very good care but....after all it was a critical situation. Anything less than a fast, stat response would have been malpractice.

Hospital stay? Deplorable. They missed giving him his asthma meds; they left him with blood in his mouth for hours; they asked him if he wanted to do his own bed bath when he could harldy sit up; they weren't reading doctors notes regarding showers, meals, etc. I could go on.

I haven't gotten the hospital bill yet. When I do, there is going to be a discussion about owing them anything further.

Thats shocking I hope he is doing better now despite the disgusting care during his stay.

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

Thats shocking I hope he is doing better now despite the disgusting care during his stay.

Thanks, Holly. Mostly he is. I'm not really satisfied with the medication adjustments, but time will tell on that count I guess.