What Won't You Miss About The UK?

[Elora & Rob 15]

Theres plus and minuses with both systems. I have always been a paticuarly healthy person. Have beem in the GPs office twice in the last 5 years and to A&E twice also.

Obviously health gets worse over time but when you look at the last 5 years I would have been way way better of in the US.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

I thought I would be paying as much for my healthcare in the US as I effectively paid under the NHS system. WRONG. When I first got to the US, I was self-employed and had to get a private plan for the ex and me. Even by opting into a freelancers' pool, I couldn't get lower than $650/month for both of us because we have pre-existing conditions. My acne was considered a pre-existing condition! Our rates went up to about $1000/month without much warning eventually. When I lost a major contract due to the economic downturn, I couldn't afford insurance any longer. I've been without insurance since late 2010. I've avoided having things checked out that in the UK I would have dealt with quickly. My current employer offers no benefits, so I'm still in the same boat.

When I had a miscarriage last year whilst unemployed, I was very, very lucky to be eligible for emergency Medicaid. As it was, the treatment I received as a Medicaid patient was frankly humiliating at a time when I most needed support and understanding. I was booted out of the ER at 4am still under sedation with no way to get home until 7am since I'd been brought to the hospital at 8pm by a friend. The doctors made me repeat my story again and again. I practically begged for a D&C so I could be done with the process, but I was told that since I'd already passed the egg sac I should just go home and bleed. Yes, that's right. And this was at one of the country's best hospitals. To be fair, they ensured that I did not have an ectopic pregnancy, but that's ALL they did (eight vaginal probes later). The nurses were very kind, and one tried to allow me to stay until 6am, but I was basically told to get out. No one asked if I had a way to get home, or how I was feeling emotionally.

Perhaps something similar would have happened in the UK to me, I don't know. But it was terribly humiliating nevertheless.

[Holly2234 66]

I thought I would be paying as much for my healthcare in the US as I effectively paid under the NHS system. WRONG. When I first got to the US, I was self-employed and had to get a private plan for the ex and me. Even by opting into a freelancers' pool, I couldn't get lower than $650/month for both of us because we have pre-existing conditions. My acne was considered a pre-existing condition! Our rates went up to about $1000/month without much warning eventually. When I lost a major contract due to the economic downturn, I couldn't afford insurance any longer. I've been without insurance since late 2010. I've avoided having things checked out that in the UK I would have dealt with quickly. My current employer offers no benefits, so I'm still in the same boat.

When I had a miscarriage last year whilst unemployed, I was very, very lucky to be eligible for emergency Medicaid. As it was, the treatment I received as a Medicaid patient was frankly humiliating at a time when I most needed support and understanding. I was booted out of the ER at 4am still under sedation with no way to get home until 7am since I'd been brought to the hospital at 8pm by a friend. The doctors made me repeat my story again and again. I practically begged for a D&C so I could be done with the process, but I was told that since I'd already passed the egg sac I should just go home and bleed. Yes, that's right. And this was at one of the country's best hospitals. To be fair, they ensured that I did not have an ectopic pregnancy, but that's ALL they did (eight vaginal probes later). The nurses were very kind, and one tried to allow me to stay until 6am, but I was basically told to get out. No one asked if I had a way to get home, or how I was feeling emotionally.

Perhaps something similar would have happened in the UK to me, I don't know. But it was terribly humiliating nevertheless.

Im really sorry that happened to you. Its horrendous to have to go through to start with never mind when the care is like that. To send a patient home in the middle of the night is disgusting whatever the situation.

I had a very similar experience for the same thing in the UK in 2010. There was uproar because i wouldnt tell them if the pregnancy was planned. I wasnt in the mood to be a statistic but they couldnt continue without a tick in one of the boxes!

It just seems hospitals sometimes lack the human touch all over the world.

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

Theres plus and minuses with both systems. I have always been a paticuarly healthy person. Have beem in the GPs office twice in the last 5 years and to A&E twice also.

Obviously health gets worse over time but when you look at the last 5 years I would have been way way better of in the US.

Well, I'm assuming your plan is to move here for the duration of your life? If so, I do hope you get old and don't die young.

If you aren't planning to stay here forever, look up at the pinned thread at the top.

Either scenario gives you something to think about.

I thought I would be paying as much for my healthcare in the US as I effectively paid under the NHS system. WRONG. When I first got to the US, I was self-employed and had to get a private plan for the ex and me. Even by opting into a freelancers' pool, I couldn't get lower than $650/month for both of us because we have pre-existing conditions. My acne was considered a pre-existing condition! Our rates went up to about $1000/month without much warning eventually. When I lost a major contract due to the economic downturn, I couldn't afford insurance any longer. I've been without insurance since late 2010. I've avoided having things checked out that in the UK I would have dealt with quickly. My current employer offers no benefits, so I'm still in the same boat.

When I had a miscarriage last year whilst unemployed, I was very, very lucky to be eligible for emergency Medicaid. As it was, the treatment I received as a Medicaid patient was frankly humiliating at a time when I most needed support and understanding. I was booted out of the ER at 4am still under sedation with no way to get home until 7am since I'd been brought to the hospital at 8pm by a friend. The doctors made me repeat my story again and again. I practically begged for a D&C so I could be done with the process, but I was told that since I'd already passed the egg sac I should just go home and bleed. Yes, that's right. And this was at one of the country's best hospitals. To be fair, they ensured that I did not have an ectopic pregnancy, but that's ALL they did (eight vaginal probes later). The nurses were very kind, and one tried to allow me to stay until 6am, but I was basically told to get out. No one asked if I had a way to get home, or how I was feeling emotionally.

Perhaps something similar would have happened in the UK to me, I don't know. But it was terribly humiliating nevertheless.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Thanks. I had a relatively quick recovery, but it left me wondering if a D&C would have sped things up. It also seemed to turn on a broody thing in me that had been switched firmly off for many years.